Living art with promoter Eduardo Costantini
19/06/2015
The Spring 2015 issue of ONE Life Magazine (Miami) features world trends, culture and design, the award-winning exclusive lifestyle publication from ONE Sotheby’s International Realty. Today, on our blog we publish preferred content available in this exclusive publication.
The first edition will deal with the real estate developer Eduardo Costantini, who knows that it is not money, but art, that makes the world go round. This is the spirit that guides his new luxury residences in Miami.
For Eduardo Costantini, 68 years old and founder of Consultatio Real Estate and the MALBA contemporary art museum in Argentina, both in life and in business, everything begins with art. For example, the exhibition area dedicated to the luxury works of art in his new project —Oceana Bal Harbor in Miami— is adorned with works of art personally selected by Costantini, with works by Lucio Fontana, Wifredo Lam and Pablo Fonseca.
On a busy afternoon, sales agents work in the soothing surroundings that deliver such inspired artwork, but Costantini thinks long term. "For me, art is a constant, I feel it in my blood", explains Costantini. «I have been collecting for 40 years. Art energizes our buildings. It is not just a marketing tool and we do not seek short-term success. We have a team of curators, like a museum; art is integrated into the design of our projects. »
When the celebrated Argentine developer got involved in his first job in the United States - the 142-home Oceana Key Biscayne - he was quick to infuse the building with art. "We include two murals specially commissioned from the Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes," says Costantini, who also loaned one of his works for the Milhazes exhibition at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, his first solo exhibition in the United States. “Personally, I really enjoy the conception of the project, meditating on the interplay between art and design. When art and architecture are good, they change people, they elevate them; this is the effect you are looking to create as a promoter. "
The 240-home Oceana Bal Harbor is larger and has an even more ambitious arts program. "Oceana Bal Harbor will have more than 10 museum-quality works of art in public areas, plus two sculptures by Jeff Koons," explains Costantini, noting that all art will be "owned by the residents of Oceana Bal Harbor."
“Koons is a truly international artist and he appeals to Oceana residence owners as they are often art collectors themselves,” he explains.
Costantini himself has been a collector all his life. In 2001, his love for art transcended to a new level when he donated his entire collection - some 200 works - and he founded the MALBA, a contemporary art museum in Argentina that now houses more than 500 works.
Costantini - who controls a real estate portfolio valued at more than $ 3 billion - is from humble origins. He grew up with 13 brothers and sisters in a city outside of Buenos Aires. At the age of 28, he managed to save enough money to study a master's degree in quantitative economics at the University of East Anglia, in England, and obtained it in 1975.
After returning to Argentina, he worked in the banking sector for a time before entering the real estate business. Since then, he has led some of the largest projects in his country - such as the urbanization of Nordelta, the "city within the city" in Buenos Aires, a planned community with some 30,000 residents and several neighborhoods, schools, a medical center, health centers. commercial, cinemas, banks, restaurants, sports clubs and five-star hotels— as well as multiple projects in Uruguay. At the moment, he is working in another planned community in Argentina, Puertos del Lago.
As for Oceana Bal Harbor, Costantini worked with some of the world's leading designers. “Our residence owners are citizens of the world and we have assembled an international team for Oceana Bal Harbor,” he explains. «Piero Lissoni is our interior designer and Enzo Enea has created the landscape design. Bernardo Fort-Brescia, from Arquitectonica, has made the building itself. Miami has become a global city and the Oceana team is perfect for a project with global ambitions. "
Aside from serving as an ideal showcase for contemporary art, Oceana Bal Harbor, located behind Collins Avenue, is a thoughtful structure in all respects: the garage is underground which beautifies and cools the property and the entire project is LEED certified. . The 28-story building runs parallel to the ocean and Biscayne Bay and is situated on a 5.5 acre lot with 400 feet of beach frontage. The building's central corridor, connecting the ocean and the bay, is 50 feet wide and 60 feet high. In addition to opening up the property and creating a sustainable gathering space, the corridor serves as the setting for a Koons sculpture, which can be viewed from Collins Avenue.
Pluto and Proserpina - one of two Jeff Koons pieces for which Costantini set aside $ 14 million - will be displayed in the covered hallway reflecting in the pool. Before it lands in his permanent home, the largest sculpture yet, it is traveling the world as part of "Jeff Koons: A Retrospective." Centerpiece of the retrospective, Pluto and Proserpina began their journey at the Whitney in New York. The sculpture can currently be visited at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, from June 9, 2015 to September 27, 2015.
In 2016, coinciding with the opening of the Oceana Bal Harbor, Pluto and Proserpina will be unveiled in the condo, along with other Koons sculptures, such as Bailarina. (Dancer will be on display at Costantini's MALBA in May.)
For Costantini, offering residents joint ownership of the Oceana Bal Harbor art collection is a logical step in his belief in the unifying power of contemporary art. "Within Miami, a city that is becoming an arts center, we find ourselves in a neighborhood, Bal Harbor, where art is especially important," he explains. "Oceana's art collection will also establish a sense of community, which is an important aspect of all my projects."
When the architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia became involved in the project, he knew that art would be an essential element from the first moment. “Eduardo wanted to create a sister project for Oceana Key Biscayne, with significant exterior artwork,” explains Fort-Brescia. So Fort-Brescia carefully designed a space where these works could shine. “From the beginning, we set out to create a minimalist design solution, going back to the 'less is more' principle,” he explains. "The creation of simple volumes brings conceptual clarity, thus preparing an ideal setting for exterior works."
"The two gently curving towers are connected by a glass bridge," he continues, "creating a covered corridor of monumental proportions. This large-scale gateway dramatizes the connection between land and ocean. The tall, wide arch sits in perfect alignment with an inner linear park that connects the Oceana Inlet to the Bal Harbor Yacht Inlet. The combined elements of the arch and park make an urban design statement with rarely seen dimensions. Naturally, the front door is the perfect place for Jeff Koons. "
To showcase art and architecture, Costantini and Fort-Brescia relied on Enea Landscape Architecture. The Swiss-based company - which also works on Miami buildings designed by OMA, Zaha Hadid and Enrique Norten - was the perfect choice for Oceana according to Fort-Brescia: “Enzo [Enea] understood the idea of geometric purity and translated it into landscape. The minimalist approach is seen in the simple stretches of lawns and the planning of the green areas, spaces that welcome art in Oceana. " Without a doubt, Enea understands Costantini's vision. "Oceana was designed to celebrate art, and all the elements - all the colors and textures in the garden - need to be arranged to achieve the setting for Koons' sculptures," explains the designer.
For Costantini, the importance of art in Oceana is a reflection of Miami's place in the world, both in the realm of contemporary art and in terms of international cache.
"I recently read that in 2023 Miami will be the third city in the West in terms of concentration of inhabitants with an important heritage," he explains. "We will be right behind New York and London."
“I've been coming to Miami for 25 years,” he adds, “and I bought a flat here in 2008. It was such a different city 25 years ago. Then I couldn't imagine the city it would become. But I always trusted Miami — the city of the future. "
For more information, visit: ONE LIFE Spring 2015
From Andorra Sotheby’s International Realty we want to thank the kind collaboration of our colleagues at ONE SIR.