Rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West has reportedly purchased one of the only private residences in the U.S. designed by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Sold for $57.3 million, the minimalist concrete home may not look like much from the outside, occupying the full square footage of its compact lot between two more conventional-looking neighbors. But, as former owner and financier Richard Sachs told The Wall Street Journal, “This is not just a house. This is like a Picasso Cubist painting, very important and very rare.”

Vaguely Brutalist in style, the three-story home features views of the Pacific Ocean from every level, and even doubled as an art gallery to exhibit Sach’s contemporary art collection. Its roughly 4,000 square feet of interior space contains three bedrooms on the lower level, a kitchen and living room on the middle level, and a master bedroom on the upper level. In addition, 1500 square feet of outdoor decks allow sunbathers a vantage point from which to view dolphins, seals, and whales.
Sachs bought the land in 2003 and commissioned Ando to design the home, which was built in collaboration with local architecture firm Marmol Radziner. Made with 1,200 tons of concrete, 200 tons of steel reinforcement, and 12 pylons drilled more than 60 feet into the sand, the residence is a prime example of Ando’s iconic style. The home was completed in 2013 after a decade of work, and Sachs says he’s only letting it go because he spends...