While some billionaires are building rockets to escape to Mars to avoid humanity’s untimely demise, others have chosen to build survival bunkers here on Earth. Some are probably doing both.
Ranging from simple underground rooms to sophisticated, fully equipped facilities, survival bunkers – also known as underground shelters, fallout shelters, and doomsday bunkers – are engineered to withstand natural disasters, nuclear wars, and, if push comes to shove, a zombie apocalypse.
Usually built for prolonged habitation, the bunkers will often boast the likes of sleeping quarters, sanitation facilities, ventilation systems, and even renewable energy sources, along with plenty of food, water, and medical supplies.
“Our vision is to build the world’s most beautiful and secure contemporary fortified residences,” says Jakub Zamrazil, founder and CEO of Oppidum, a Swiss-based firm that specialises in luxury underground bunkers. “They are places of serenity and absolute safety for owners and their families. We offer clients the highest levels of service, creating beautiful places that will protect them, and their legacy, for generations to come.”
Oppidum bunkers comprise three models – L’Heritage, Linear, and Futurist – and incorporate the likes of art galleries, spas, and indoor gardens, all engineered to “withstand a comprehensive spectrum of security threats” whether they come by way of warfare or Mother Nature’s wrath. Though having “an optimistic view of the world”, Jakub stresses that it is an “uncertain one”. “Not all events are foreseeable or preventable,” he says, “and it is wise to be prepared to weather the storm when necessary. An Oppidum provides peace of mind. It is a place of strength that enables our clients to preserve and protect what matters most.”
Last December it was revealed that Mark Zuckerberg is constructing a similar sanctuary – around the size of an American football field – at his Hawai’ian complex, which, all up is expected to have cost a combined $270 million.
Closer to home, Queenstown has long been tipped as the destination of choice for overseas billionaires to ride out the apocalypse; there are also rumours of bunkers in Northland and Canterbury. The most famous example is, of course, venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who is said to have not given up hope of building his luxury survival compound in Otago having recently had his plans rejected owing to “sufficient adverse landscape and visual effects on the environment”.
For those that feel the idea of a survival bunker is a little too isolating, the 15-storey Survival Condo offers some level of community to make those end days a little less lonely. Akin to an inverted high-rise luxury apartment block, the condo is built in a former US Airforce missile silo in rural Kansas that was constructed during the Cold War and reaches 60 metres underground. Retrofitted with three-metre-thick concrete walls, it’s designed to survive everything from tornadoes to12-kiloton nuclear warheads and promises to keep residents well fed and entertained by way of a library, theatre, bar, gym, pool, general store, and more. Around a dozen families can choose from luxury units starting at US$1 million, plus an extra US$2,500 per month to cover living expenses.
Last December it was revealed that Mark Zuckerberg is constructing a similar sanctuary – around the size of an American football field.
But fear not all those financially ineligible for such refuge. A recently published study by the University of Nicosia, peer reviewed by the American Institute of Physics, looked at how to best survive a blast wave from a nuclear explosion. Using advanced computer modelling, they found the safest spot to shelter is in the corner of a concrete building – the structures most likely to remain upright should the unimaginable happen – away from windows, doors, and corridors (though this all seems quite obvious sans the computer modelling). However, none of his matters should you find yourself too near the centre of the blast zone as you’d be “instantly vaporised”, anyway.
