Art Enhances Spaces: The Latest Real Estate Design Trends

These days, eye-catching art pieces in the foyers and lobbies of new condos have become ubiquitous. This design trend is so beloved that condos without sculpture gardens or bold portraits look bland by comparison.

At a 44-unit condo in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a riotously colored composition made from stepped, backlit panels of aluminum, laser-cut into patterns is integrated into the facade at ground level.

A six-unit condo building in Manhattan’s NoHo district features Federico Uribe’s “Fly Mosca” a 10-foot-long insect sculpture made from salvaged boat parts. A sculpture of cascading gold crowns by Roy Nachum fills a street-level window.

New residential developments across New York are turning away from big-name architects and outlandish amenities and rather toward outsized art compositions by both blue-chip and emerging artists. Some developers go so far as to turn model units into full-fledged art galleries.

The boom in real estate artwork makes aesthetic sense as well as business sense.

Art spectacles and activations create excitement in a neighborhood. They offer a stop-and-look quality for passers-by and a type of buffer for residents of the new, trendy building.

Art signals quality. If a developer cares about art in the lobby, one can reasonably assume they care about beautifying and ensuring the quality of the rest of the building.  

Art is a low-cost/high-impact investment. Especially in expensive metro areas like Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, the cost of art giving a unique character to a building is affordable compared to the cost of construction.

Finally, art is an effective cross-marketing tool. Open houses regularly attract art lovers who ask about townhouses and housing-seekers inquiring about the art. Developers claim art in foyers have acted as lightning rods to new customers who don’t normally attend open houses. All are additional testaments to the power of art in our society. 

And as always, if you’d like to learn more about leasing art for your space, feel free to get in touch with IPaintMyMind’s curators directly via SharedWalls.org!