Oppidumâs Multi-Million Dollar Underground Sanctuary: The Interview with Architect Marc Prigent

Oppidum/ Marc Prigent

Underground cities, underground homes associated with supra crushed homes, bunkers, shelters, adjacent cultures wrong cities, person been with america for millennia.  But arsenic regards millennia, our is the lone civilization wherever an existent apocalypse, whether earthy oregon quality made, has been crushed capable for gathering important underground residences.  Now a institution named Oppidum, has taken it aggregate steps beyond – successful the instauration of multi-million-dollar underground luxury sanctuaries, costing, mostly betwixt $40M to $100M and over. 

Oppidum/IBP Media

Oppidum is simply a institution that creates fortified underground residences and has precocious unveiled its caller L’ Heritage series, for those whose request for the equilibrium of information and luxury living, nary substance what is going connected supra ground.  Designed by the French designer Marc Prigent, his plan purpose was successful proviso of a unafraid determination for UHNW individuals during what the marque calls unprecedented times.

Oppidum’s underground residences, dissimilar bunkers and weaponry shelters and catacombs of old, connection implicit location and concern environments, with implicit 10,000 quadrate feet of space. In addition, the residences tin beryllium customized with the enactment of choosing other facilities specified arsenic a backstage creation gallery, a store important capable to location the owner’s car collection, gathering lounges, indoor gardens, and a spa with backstage pool.  

BUT nary substance however elite the creation oregon the plot amenities, the raison d’etre for these residences is security. The entranceway offers fortified blast doors, controlled by a multi-biometric maine areter that simultaneously scans face, iris, palm, and fingerprints, truthful lone the proprietor and designated others whitethorn enter.  In addition, each residences travel equipped with an integrated information strategy with military-grade protection. 

JustLuxe communicated precocious with the French designer Marc Prigent, astir the designs and meanings of these unique, highly unafraid residences. We are grateful for the clip helium took with us. 

Oppidum/IBP Media

JustLuxe:  Have you ever architected immoderate task similar Oppidum before?  Please explicate your inheritance and however you spot the Oppidum task arsenic defining sanctuary arsenic good arsenic security?

Mr. Prigent: The thought of designing a subterranean residence was thing I ne'er considered. My acquisition involves moving with five-star hotels similar designing with Four Seasons Paris and galore different luxury properties wherever we created elite interiors of each kinds. 

All Oppidum underground surviving spaces see incredibly precocious volumes of space, with innovative layouts, and spatial functionality. My Futurist plan for Oppidum, for example, is simply a modern-day castle with a minimalist, modern attack defined by creaseless shapes, agleam whites, and peaceful, calm areas. Initially, we divided the abstraction into 4 antithetic parts with nationalist areas for business, a backstage country for family, an expansive assemblage for art, and a 4th country that housed each the indispensable method components to support the residence moving optimally. 

We are the lone subterranean surviving abstraction builder that serves this high-end of the marketplace. The levels of luxury, design, and operation lone makes consciousness to definite people. Oppidum equilibrium the highest level of comfortableness with the highest level of security. 

Oppidum/IBP Media

JustLuxe: In the video, determination is what looks similar an underground garden. How is this accomplished without sunlight?

Mr. Prigent: At Oppidum, we indispensable plan a implicit ambiance to make the feeling of comfortableness successful each room. Lighting exertion is cardinal successful our occurrence arsenic we springiness clients the feeling of openness, expansiveness, precisely similar their everyday, supra crushed surroundings. 

Indirect airy from the ceiling is used. And the 2nd airy is the patio, which has an artificial skylight utilized to make the feeling of time and night. Using the aforesaid artificial skylight, Oppidum besides weaves successful seasonality via the patio done our screens. Not each time is the same, truthful determination indispensable beryllium saltation connected show to make comfortableness and found a consciousness of normalcy. The complexity of the airy plan successful each country is remarkable. Each abstraction has its ain circumstantial requirements engineered to alteration passim a 24-hour period.

JustLuxe: How agelong tin the Oppidum residence oregon sanctuary support itself, electronically, and arsenic regards nutrient and water?

Mr. Prigent: The hidden exertion that sustains beingness underground is housed successful a suite of method rooms. The main systems run wholly autonomously, requiring nary quality intervention, with backup circuits that deploy instantly. Oppidum has 2 autarkic aerial filtration units. The superior portion is designed for mean peacetime use; the secondary portion is simply a military-grade chemical, biological, radiological, and atomic (CBRN) system. Oppidum is afloat airtight and gastight and tin beryllium wholly isolated from the extracurricular ambiance if required. A unsocial high-pressure aerial reserve and interior circulation enables occupants to respire usually and safely for up to a month.

The aerial filtration portion is equipped with a CO2 removal system; combined with an auxiliary oxygen supply, this provides breathable aerial erstwhile determination is insufficient oregon nary caller aerial entering the building. Water is supplied from heavy underground by a backstage well, wholly autarkic of the nationalist supply. In lawsuit of a powerfulness outage, blackout, oregon instability successful the

grid, the powerfulness strategy seamlessly switches to 1 of its aggregate fail-safe alternate powerfulness sources, including duplicate diesel generators and back-up batteries. Applying reasoning and exertion from NASA, the storerooms incorporate stocks of long-lasting but highly nutritious food, capable for months oregon adjacent years; the abstracted aesculapian country has its ain unafraid retention for indispensable aesculapian supplies.

Oppidum/IBP Media

JustLuxe: In the video also, determination is simply a portion of the residence that whitethorn let for a backstage creation gallery. How is that situation that contains the art, successful presumption of temperature, sustained?

Mr. Prigent: With the postulation and preservation of good creation often a focal constituent for Oppidum clients, the Futurist exemplary serves galore purposes. First, the Futurist protects clients portion besides preserving one-of-a-kind pieces successful the mounting of a modern creation assemblage underneath the home. Oppidum delivers the bank-level information of a vault successful a peculiar abstraction specifically made for decently showcasing, lighting, and preserving each portion and objet d’art.

It’s paired with state-of-the-art technologies including blast protection, aerial tightness, off-grid power, somesthesia power and different much precocious technological instrumentality protecting clients from thing successful the world, including safeguarding these good creation pieces.

JustLuxe: In presumption of implicit security, however heavy into the world indispensable this environment, this unafraid sanctuary beryllium built and however agelong does it instrumentality to physique one?  

Mr. Prigent: Each Oppidum physique indispensable respect geological conditions, location, size, and galore different factors connected the client’s property. In presumption of size, it depends connected the exemplary selected by the lawsuit (e.g., Model L’Heritage requires astatine slightest 3 000 quadrate meters) With this successful mind, we enactment with each lawsuit to plan their perfect abstraction by taking location, size, and acceptable retired into information anterior to building. Building an Oppidum tin instrumentality astir 3 to 5 years involving a squad that has decades of operation acquisition and turns each Oppidum into a caller luxury sanctuary. 

Oppidum/IBP Media

JustLuxe:  Is determination immoderate place, successful presumption of h2o levels oregon ungraded erosion, wherever the Oppidum sanctuary cannot beryllium built?  What is the perfect country for a residence to beryllium built?

Mr. Prigent: Local geological and hydrological conditions person a large interaction connected each Oppidum’s plan and operation arsenic well, truthful aggregate surveys are conducted successful the project’s aboriginal stages to guarantee it is suitable for the build. If the onshore isn’t harmless to physique 1 of these subterranean residences, Oppidum volition not statesman the operation process.  There is nary existent “ideal area” for an Oppidum residence from the geographical constituent of view. We enactment with clients to specify their operation of privation and need, and past spell from there.

Oppidum/IBP Media

JustLuxe: What are the terms points of your residences? 

Mr. Prigent: The terms of an Oppidum plan depends chiefly connected factors specified arsenic location, size, and acceptable out. Oppidum offers models astir the $10M range, portion the caller Futurist plan costs astir $40M. For clients wanting to adhd different elements of customization successful presumption of layout, unsocial requests specified arsenic a ample store space, creation gallery, vault room, etc., the terms volition proceed to rise. Our L’Heritage exemplary has a terms scope astir $100M owed to the sheer level of item and luxury that goes into the design. No different institution offers the aforesaid painstaking level of plan enactment and customization that Oppidum does, which is reflected by the terms point.

JustLuxe: What is your adjacent project?

Mr. Prigent: The Futurist exemplary is Oppidum’s latest improvement and volition beryllium a genuinely one-of-a-kind residence. It is fundamentally a modern-day castle built arsenic a subterranean fortress that keeps unwanted guests out. It has much of a minimalist plan than the L’Heritage model, which is each astir luxury and implementing arsenic galore amenities arsenic possible. It’s absorbing that antithetic clients privation antithetic things from their surviving spaces, and Oppidum aims to tailor each subterranean residence to each circumstantial client.