As a billionaire, it’s not just about living a life of luxury—it’s also about surviving the apocalypse in style.
Gone are the days when a basement panic room was enough to calm the nerves of the world’s elite. Today, the super-rich are transforming their palatial homes into state-of-the-art fortresses, complete with all the bells and whistles to ward off everything from invaders to the end of civilization as we know it.
Al Corbi is a veteran in the world of luxury security and knows how to protect the wealthy. His company, SAFE (Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments), has been serving the needs of the super-rich for half a century.
Nowadays things are a little different.
“If you’re going to survive underground, we want you to have fun,” Corbi told CNN, which reported on the luxury trend.
Take one of his latest projects: a sprawling, top-secret estate nestled in 200 acres of American wilderness.
This isn’t your typical doomsday-preparer’s hideout. There are blast-proof doors, windows that can withstand a sledgehammer, and a biometric access system that puts James Bond’s gadgets to shame.
And then there is the moat – nine meters deep, but with a modern touch.
“Look at the Middle Ages, a moat was one of the best deterrents,” Corbi told the outlet, though he was quick to clarify that “there were no jet skis back then.” His client, an adrenaline junkie with a penchant for water sports, plans to use the moat as his personal race track.
It is no secret that the super-rich have always been the target of attacks, be it by kidnappers, activists or angry mobs who want to “eat the rich”.
But today these fears have intensified.
Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi, for example, was recently the victim of a serious incident of vandalism by a radical group of climate activists in his villa in Ibiza, Spain.
Corbi notes that 50 years ago, bunkers looked like underground Ritz-Carltons, but today’s billionaires would turn up their noses at something so modest.
The desire to outdo each other also drives demand.
When news broke of Mark Zuckerberg’s underground hideout in Hawaii, which includes a 5,000-square-foot bunker, other tech moguls and CEOs couldn’t get busy furnishing their own homes fast enough.
Bill Gates is reportedly one of those who has taken the bunker craze to a new level by building doomsday bunkers beneath all of his properties.
Graham Harris, a big name in luxury design at London-based firm SHH Architecture, has noticed a shift in the desires of his high-profile clients.
“Now they’ve really gotten bigger and more significant,” Harris told CNN, pointing out that it’s no longer just about having a bulletproof bathroom. One client turned his entire 3,000-square-foot art gallery into a security room, complete with its own power supply. Another had his home theater outfitted as a bunker, complete with filtered air, secure doors and enough provisions to last a week.
The hidden passageways and secret rooms are no longer just decorative, but are real security features.
Companies like Creative Home Engineering in Arizona are making fortunes installing rotating chimneys that double as secret doors and phone booths that open slides to underground bunkers. Forget escaping to the mountains; today’s rich slide down to their luxurious hideaways, right past the shark tank and into a flight simulator.
Corbi notes that paranoia is no longer just affecting billionaires. Millionaires are starting to get in on the act, too. For a few thousand dollars they can secure an existing space, for a few hundred thousand dollars they can build a prefab bunker under their new home.
Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel is currently building an elaborate bunker lodge in New Zealand. And celebrities such as Post Malone, Kim Kardashian, Shaquille O’Neal and Tom Cruise have built bunkers or safe rooms in their homes.
But even the best security systems can only do so much. Corbi said, “If someone breaks in at night, they’ll still get in, but they won’t get into the bedroom, where the family will be safe long enough for the police to finish their coffee and donuts.”
Even for the rich and paranoid, health is a major concern, especially after COVID-19.
SAFE’s business has expanded to include rooms that could pass as hospital operating rooms, complete with decontamination chambers and personalized pharmacies.
“Forget about nuclear bombs. We should prepare for real life,” Corbi said.
