In a sea of Spanish Mediterranean Revival townhomes, how do you stand out? With an architectural vernacular so cutting-edge that it redefines modern aesthetics and pushes buildings into the realm of public art, of course.
Art Colony, designed by Dreamscape Modern, is Houston’s largest modern-design community. It broke ground in 2013 in the Museum Park District, and today its two phases are forever changing the city's architectural landscape with their innovative and avant-garde residential structures.
So what makes Art Colony so revolutionary? To begin with, each residence is one-of-a-kind yet priced under $1 million. Phase I was composed of two cantilevered, perpendicularly stacked boxes (subsequently coined Lego Stacked Box Houses) that was inspired by the distinctive look of the New Museum in New York City's Bowery neighborhood. Accolades appropriately followed, the homes were featured on several modern house tours, and sales price records were broken within a few short weeks of listing.
Phase II's three homes are recognized for the first residential use in the U.S. of a LED lighting screen and exterior video projection. The screen façade provides shade, privacy from the street, and reduces solar gain by at least 50 percent. It also creates a stellar architectural light sculpture at night (Tampa Museum of Art was a major inspiration, but Stephen Holl’s new expansion wing of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will also feature a LED exterior facade, showing that great minds think alike).
Other innovative features include an inside/outside shower and bath spa deck with cutaway roof, a vertical wraparound palm tree deck, and white pebble stone landscaping that contributes to water conservation. Even the sidewalks are unique, with irregular, trapezoidal configurations.
One of the Phase II properties has already sold one to an architect/construction professional from Denver, and national and worldwide inquiries keep flooding in for the remaining two.
Phase III is designed by Mars Culture Architects and will commence in late 2017. New construction and design concepts include fretted window glazing facing the street (inspired by Frank Gehry’s iconic IAC headquarters in New York City), as well as a never-been-used-before basketweave rain screen cladding that bleeds the light through the walls. AstroTurf driveways are also a possibility, meaning that literally nothing is off limits with these revolutionary buildings.
Julia Wang of Nan & Co. Properties, which is the only Christie's affiliate in Houston, is representing the Phase II dwellings. She has extensive experience working with builders, and a corporate background in marketing that translates to measurably greater visibility.
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To learn more about Art Colony's purchasing options, contact Julia Wang at 713-714-6454 or julia@nanproperties.com.
Art Colony's modern aesthetic is daring, unique, and pushing architectural boundaries.
