Aby Rosen, a real estate tycoon in New York (with perhaps larger spaces at his disposal), said the work didn't grab him.
“It's so hard to place something like this,” he said after inspecting Gluckman Tang's art pavilion, a 12.5-foot tall rectangular white structure with one wall leaning in at an angle. “It will always look out of context with surroundings. Anywhere you put it, it will look like a spaceship.”
The structures are the first stage of a much bigger project, said Antonio, who declined to comment on whether or not the pavilions were done on spec or part of a later profit share. The end goal is to create a line of livable prefabricated homes designed by famous architects, complete with kitchens, bathrooms and funky interior design. With the average unit price of $300,000, the structures should appeal to the broader middle market, he said.
“I've been doing branded luxury towers for a while,” said Antonio, who has worked with nine Prizker Prize-winning architects. “Now I am applying the same approach to the prefabricated homes that are more affordable.”
The concept is not new. Just around the corner at the Design Miami show, Galerie Patrick Seguin is offering a prefabricated wooden hut designed in 1939 by Jean Prouve.
The 4-by-4-meter structure has a steel frame and the exterior lined with wooden panels. Originally, 300 units were produced for the French military. Only this one unit, now priced by the gallery at $2 million, is known to have survived.
“These are being sold as antiquities,” Peter Brant, newsprint mogul, said about the Prouve hut. "It's architectural and very beautiful.”
Will he add it to his design collection?
“I wouldn't be adverse,” he said. “I just don't need it.”