Robert Downey Jr. Now Lives In A House That Looks Like A Turtle Shell
Robert Downey Jr. lives like Yertle the Turtle in a wacky looking house.
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Robert Downey Jr. crawled out of a world of addiction to redeem himself in Hollywood. Starring in 2007’s Zodiac from director David Fincher (Mank) was a good starting point, but 2008 was his revival with the comedy Tropic Thunder with Ben Stiller (Zoolander 2) and Jack Black (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), and helping kickstart the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man. Now, he has raked in approximately $300 million. He has done plenty with that to live the big life, but most interesting is his seven-acre home in Malibu, California.
The dome-shaped home is like a turtle shell in a weird futuristic utopia. Robert Downey Jr. has spent years perfecting it to make his home as eco-friendly as possible with solar-generated water systems and wind turbines.
Purchased for $13.4 million in 2009, Robert Downey Jr. owns a place that is equally sci-fi and modern with some hints of retro inspiration. It has no straight lines or rectangular shapes, it is wavy and one of a kind compared to the typical behemoths that celebrities are known to own. Below you can see an Instagram post from Nicolò Bini, the architectural designer from Binishells who created the home.
The Purist got a deep look at the eco-friendly home with Robert Downey Jr. and his wife Susan (with a behind-the-scenes look from the Avengers actor’s Instagram you can see below). The home, created from large inflatable bladders that get covered in concrete, was originally designed in the ’60s in Italy by Nicolò Bini’s father. The Downeys talked to plenty of architects about a sustainable house, but none of them quite captured their attention until Bini came around.
The unconventional style created a few problems here and there for Robert Downey Jr. as he worked with his team to make his dream home. The round shapes had to get custom-fit doors and windows, but in some cases, with the limited budget, they had to go for the cheapest and most eco-friendly options possible. Another, as his wife Susan Downey mentioned in the Purist interview, was striking a balance to make the house not look cartoony or of a parody of these styles that are seen in utopian fictional worlds or go into a prehistoric realm of The Flinstones.
The flow of the house creates different spaces that feel unique from room to room. Robert Downey Jr. wanted a variety in elevations to reach this goal. So, if you step into the theater room, then go into the kitchen and step into a bedroom, each will have some difference in flow and structure that still fits into the overall aesthetic of the mansion. That does not even get in touch with the massive pool in the yard, which looks stunning at night with how the house is lit up.
The furniture purchased by Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey is also unique. They have a custom couch that looks to roll into itself and a dining table that has multiple circles put together like a snowman.
No price was given for the renovations to create the entirety of this living space as Robert Downey Jr., and his wife went off the record to tell the interviewer the final price.
