“For more than a decade, as property values soared, luxury condominium developers found creative ways to promote projects. Some touted exclusive addresses and lavish amenities while others enlisted celebrity architects and endorsers to help drum up enthusiasm. Now, as numbers of sales fall in even the most resilient real estate markets, developers are having to work even harder. And many are turning to an area that once received only perfunctory attention: landscape design.
“Today, a buyer is just as likely to ask about the gardens and public spaces at a development project as what kind of kitchen or bath amenities there are,” says Edward Lewis, a London estate agency that specialises in new properties. And in a slowing market, every detail matters.
In New York the backers of Beekman Plaza have listed their landscape architects, Field Operations, in collaboration with Dutch planting expert Piet Oudolf, alongside their star architect, Frank Gehry.
For their part, top architects say working closely with landscape designers from the outset of a project is essential, particularly on large-scale housing developments. “Landscaping used to be one of the weak links in residential condominium design,” says Gisue Hariri, a partner at design firm Hariri & Hariri Architecture.”
Read more @ the SOURCE: FT.com / Home UK / UK – Wrapped in green.
