The REAL eSTATE OF THINGS

It seems in New York City who can avoid the seemingly ubiquitous conversation of the current state of the real estate market. Newpapers, magazines, blogs and any other media source have dedicated pages to “what does it cost? and is it worth it?” conversations. The New York Times has added the, WHAT YOU GET FOR .... X AMOUNT OF DOLLARS, feature. Here they compare and contrast three properties around the country currently on the market for the same price. Brownstoner features THE HOUSE OF THE DAY and the CONDO/COOP OF THE DAY questioning readers to weigh in on the asking price and value of the featured property. Both readers of the NYTimes and Brownstoner look for a simple comparative measure... the price per square foot. This unit of measure is watched like a share of a blue chip stock. The state of the market is talked about over dinner and at cocktail parties all over town.

Our proposal seeks to merge the quantitative characteristics of a unit of measure with its emerging qualitative relationship tomonetaryworth. Wewanttogiveaphysicalpresencetothissomewhatabstractedandconceptualizedunitofmeasure by printing a large tear pad of SQUARE FEET that the viewer can tear off and take with them. Firstly, we want the viewer to understand the boundaries and size of this space. We hope they will stand on it and see how their body consumes the space. How more is needed to accommodate the body’s needs. What do they need? How much space is needed to live and what are the programmatic needs of a luxury lifestyle? Secondly, we want them to see the price of that piece of space in NYC. And to think about how many of these pieces are needed to build a room and what is the cost of that space. Lastly, we are part of a global real-estate market and what would this buy you in another large city center? And for all of the tourists and visitors here in DUMBO they can find comparison to their country or one near-by.

We are using a tool familiar to us and to real estate development and sales, THE PLAN. We take this visual diagram and lay it out in public in full-size scale. The viewer can step from the $1385 square foot in NYC to the fourteen square foot kitchenette also costing $1385 in Mauritius.

While on one level this can be a simple exercise in the cost of real estate in the global market, but it can also open up discussions of the divide between the haves and have-nots. How governments and economies affect our cost of living.

The luxury lifestyle packaged for global consumption.