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In December, Wired journal revealed that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta and one of many richest people on the planet, was constructing a $100-million US compound in Hawaii.
The truth that Zuckerberg is endeavor a nine-figure renovation is hardly revelatory. The extra telling element is that the compound features a bunker — 5,000 sq. toes, to be particular, with concrete partitions and an escape hatch.
What does this inform us? It is an indication that a minimum of a few of the ultra-rich are anxious about world occasions and are making contingency plans for the Massive One — no matter kind that will take.
The sensation may be very a lot within the air. Architectural Digest named “luxurious bunkers” one of many actual property developments of 2023, and a finely appointed redoubt figured prominently within the latest Netflix thriller Depart the World Behind.
Brian Cramden, president of Hardened Buildings, a Virginia-based agency that builds multimillion-dollar fortified houses and bomb shelters, mentioned work has been “regular” for years however that he has seen a “main uptick within the final two, three months.”
“With Putin and North Korea and what is going on on in Gaza, I am getting a number of inquiries,” he mentioned. “It is [wars], it is Trump, it is the divisiveness of the nation.”
Cramden mentioned probably the most generally cited threats embody a breakdown of regulation and order; the detonation of a nuclear weapon; a hostile energy activating an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to disrupt the communications community; and the diffuse results of local weather change.
Vivos, a California-based firm that gives “shelter options,” instructed CBC “inquiries and functions are up over 2,000 per cent 12 months over 12 months.”
A historical past of taking shelter
The idea of a bunker goes again to antiquity. It was a spot the place somebody may retailer valuable belongings away from “warring factions and social unrest, but in addition the surroundings,” mentioned Bradley Garrett, a cultural geographer primarily based in California and the writer of Bunker: Constructing for the Finish Occasions.
He mentioned the notion of a shelter as an architectural kind began to emerge through the Second World Warfare. Because the Chilly Warfare advanced, governments dug deep underground to construct more and more elaborate bunkers. Some, like Canada’s famed Diefenbunker, have been meant to guard political elites, however in lots of circumstances they have been meant to accommodate atypical residents within the case of an assault.
Certain, middle-class “preppers” additionally constructed shelters of their backyards, however they could not match the size and grandeur of these state-sponsored tasks. That modified within the early 2000s, mentioned Garrett, when extra expansive non-public bunkers began to proliferate.
He believes it is the results of two elements: the tip of the Chilly Warfare and the runaway wealth of the world’s elite.
“You’ve got obtained lots of people with unbelievable quantities of cash who are actually able to shopping for these bunkers that have been constructed by governments,” he mentioned.
Firms like Hardened Buildings and Vivos deal with all points of the development, from the architectural design to the engineering, which generally means making it blast-resistant, hermetic, troublesome for invaders to breach and able to producing its personal energy.
Garrett mentioned probably the most elaborate bunker he discovered whereas researching his e book is the Survival Condominium, positioned in a former missile silo in Kansas. Constructed round 2010 by a property developer who used to work for the U.S. Division of Defence, this “nuclear-hardened” construction options partitions as much as 2¾ metres thick and might home between 36 and 75 individuals.
Along with offering every unit with a five-year provide of “freeze-dried and dehydrated survival meals,” the complicated comprises an indoor pool, a classroom, a library and two flooring of hydroponic gardens to “present contemporary produce.” It additionally has filtered air and water provides. Items go for between $1.5 million and $3 million.
A privileged clientele
That is pretty low cost in comparison with the choices of Swiss-based Oppidum, which focuses on constructing “ultra-luxury fortified underground residences” wherever on this planet. It has a variety of swishy choices, together with Mannequin D’Heritage (“the last word bespoke sanctuary”), a five-bedroom unit that is 12,000 sq. toes, features a pool and residential theatre and begins at $60 million US.
WATCH | A promotional video for Oppidum’s luxurious bunkers:
Tom Grmela, the corporate’s head of communications, instructed CBC Information “Oppidum’s luxurious bunkers aren’t nearly survival. They’re about sustaining a top quality of life and peace of thoughts in any circumstance.”
Camden mentioned Hardened Buildings has grow to be so busy that the corporate passes on tasks of lower than $1 million US. It has been concerned in tasks around the globe, together with a $90-million bunker within the Center East and a 100-person shelter within the Canadian Rockies — however that is about as particular, geographically, as he’ll get.
“One of many tenets of shelter design is you do not need anybody to find out about it,” he mentioned.
Shopper confidentiality for these corporations may be so intense that the builders usually solely meet with intermediaries corresponding to attorneys.
“Not often do I ever really meet the billionaire consumer,” Cramden mentioned. “And even if you do, they at all times have aliases.”
‘Dread retailers’
Within the pursuits of safety, the wealthy aren’t solely investing in subterranean housing, however they’re additionally shopping for military-grade autos that seem like variations of the Batmobile.
Rezvani Motors — one other California-based firm — produces a fleet of “tactical city autos,” together with the Vengeance, a muscular SUV with seating for seven and “non-obligatory bulletproof package deal.” It begins at $285,000 US. NFL broad receiver Tamari Cooper has one.
Rezvani’s Hercules 6×6 Navy Version has six wheels, in addition to security options corresponding to on-board gasoline masks, electrified door handles and “underside explosive safety.” That may value you $459,000 US.
“Having safety features on a automotive is one thing that offers numerous my purchasers peace of thoughts,” mentioned Cynthia Karimi, head of public relations and consumer relations at Rezvani Motors, who would not reveal what number of autos the corporate sells in a 12 months. Her purchasers “have the sources to offer themselves a further aspect of safety of their lives,” she mentioned, noting “these are the identical individuals, typically, who even have bunkers.”
Whereas he admits to having a fascination with this kind of end-days planning, Garrett is anxious “when the bunker turns into a enterprise proposition.” Within the e book, he calls these corporations “dread retailers.”
WATCH | A promo video for Vivos’s Europa One bunker complicated:
“It isn’t simply the area that they are promoting, it is the narrative that they are promoting,” he mentioned. “It is within the curiosity of those bunker builders … to promote you a narrative about how horrible issues are and about how the world is falling aside and so that you’re going to purchase into their scheme.”
Grmela sees it in another way. Oppidum’s “purchasers are forward-thinking people who perceive the worth of preparedness in an unpredictable world,” and spending thousands and thousands on a luxurious fallout shelter “displays a broader pattern amongst ultra-high-net-worth people in the direction of prioritizing safety and resilience of their private and monetary planning methods.”
Particular person safety
Whereas the wealthy might have the sources, they can not predict the longer term. They’ll solely anticipate the challenges.
In a 2022 piece for the Guardian, know-how pundit Douglas Rushkoff talked about attending a extremely secretive gathering with ultra-wealthy individuals who wished to choose his mind about easy methods to put together for “the occasion.” They peppered him with questions not solely about shelters, but in addition the knowledge of buying mercenary armies and the place on Earth they have been prone to be most secure.
His conclusion: “Their excessive wealth and privilege served solely to make them obsessive about insulating themselves from the very actual and current hazard of local weather change, rising sea ranges, mass migrations, world pandemics, nativist panic and useful resource depletion. For them, the way forward for know-how is about just one factor: escape from the remainder of us.”
As Garrett factors out, collaboration is prone to be the profitable technique in any post-apocalyptic situation.
“Group is actually essential, as a result of nobody particular person can have all the talents that you simply want to have the ability to survive an occasion,” he mentioned.
“Take into consideration locking your self in a bunker for 3 years, as an example.… There’s some horrible occasion occurring exterior and also you get a tooth an infection. I imply, except you are a dentist, the probability which you could clear up that downside is extraordinarily low.”
Vivos addresses this with its xPoint compound in South Dakota, which is a bunker neighborhood of 575 models constructed on a former U.S. army base.
“Vivos will not be merely about concrete, metal and blast doorways. It’s about having a backup plan for mankind to outlive and for households to have the chance to doubtlessly be a part of a like-minded neighborhood as these occasions unfold,” mentioned Dante Vicino, director of operations at Vivos xPoint, in an e-mail to CBC.
This can be a newer growth, mentioned Garrett.
“You see individuals now constructing these bunker communities, the place their purpose is to get folks that have complementary expertise to maneuver in with one another,” he mentioned.
“There is a type of matchmaking course of that I discover completely fascinating.”
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