World's largest & smallest residences

In Mumbai, India, Mukesh Ambani, 2008's fifth richest man in the world, lives in a 27 story house, if you can call it that, costing almost $2 billion. In reality, it is more of a sky scraper, reaching 550 ft high (normally equal to 60 stories), with approximately 400,000 total sq ft. He and his family of a wife and three children originally lived in a 22-story home, but that's just not spacious enough. Impressed by the design of Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York, they hired the same architecture firm and interior design company; Will and Perkins, and Hirsch Bedner Associations, respectively. They almost literally designed the building on the spot, making up floor plans and arrangements while construction went on. They must have had quite a flow of creative juice, though, because every floor is unique, even in their materials. In addition to that, the house boasts

• 3 helipads
• 3 floors worth of gardens (After all, you wouldn't want have to go down 27 stories to look at your tulips. However, the plants also absorb sunlight, keeping the house cooler.)
  
• 9 elevators
• parking lots on 6 stories
• 600 staff members
• ballroom with crystal chandelier ceiling
• pools, gyms, yoga studios, health clubs
• a room filled with man-made snow (air conditioning is so outdated)
• theaters- movie and stage
• multiple "safe" rooms
• bars
• silver-coated railings
• everything else you can imagine
  

Oh, the things you can do with money...
That's all grand and lovely, but what about those houses on the other end of the scale? How small can a house be while still being inhabitable?
Inspired by the billboard, Front Architects of Poland developed Single Hauz, prefabfricated structures that house single residents on a mere 290 sq ft. Because it mounts on a post, the Single Hauz can exist virtually anywhere on Earth, from cliffs, to the middle of the ocean (though I'm not sure why anyone would want to live there). The complex contains a kitchen & eating area, a living room, and a bathroom on the first floor. Upstairs is the bedroom, and access onto the roof. What more do you need, anyway?










 *note* The world's largest residence, at more than 2 million sq ft, is actually Istana Nurul Iman palace, where the Sultan of Brunei lives. However, it is also used as an administrative building and includes offices so I didn't count it.