FT Article: Artistic pop-up developments boost Moscow’s property market

A very interesting article appeared recently in the Financial Times (FT.com), about how in Moscow they are using the presence of pop-up art galleries and museums in building to enough "chic" to sell high end condos.

Per the article, written by Gisela Williams:

"From the taxi, glowing in the Moscow skyline, there is a light in the darkness: the words Door 19 written large in neon on the top of a five-storey brick compound. At a two-building complex still under construction, visitors give their names to the first of two bulky doormen. Ushered into an elevator, they are taken to the top floor where they are confronted by a strange human-like sculpture with the face of a weasel. Eventually, they enter a sprawling industrial-style penthouse with stunning views of the city. The brick walls are covered in graffiti sprayed by one of the city’s best-known street artists, Zhenya Ozzik, and the room showcases an eclectic mix of industrial chandeliers and vintage furniture. 

Over the past two months, many of Moscow’s oligarchs, art collectors and curious food lovers have filled this soaring loft to eat at Door 19, a pop-up dinner series. Each week a different pair of international star chefs, from Paco Morales to Sebastian Mazzola, took over the kitchen and served four courses each. Award-winning mixologists, many from London, served speciality cocktails.  

Door 19 was not just a successful pop-up restaurant and the man behind the project is not a restaurateur but a real estate developer. Andrey Grinev owns the sprawling top-floor loft in which the temporary restaurant took place, a high-end apartment on the market for $25m."

See the rest of the article here on FT.com

Wall Street Journal reports Collectors suffering from "Art Fair Fatigue"

The WSJ reports that art collectors are beginning to experience, "Art Fair Fatigue." This may sound a bit precious, but when art fairs and pop-up galleries not only coordinate so that there are 4-20 taking place in one week in a specific city, and then expand the concept internationally... well, there are only so many art buyers who can  keep up this breakneck pace.

See review by Kelly Crow and Ramsay de Give:

Pop-up House you can build in 4 Days

Refrigerator.com reports on a pop-up house you can build in four days with a screwdrivers. As wild as the claim may be, there has been a great deal of momentum in creating pre-fab homes, and pre-fab home modules. This trend has been covered and supported extensively by Dwell Magazine/

In this case, the home, called Passivhaus ("Passive House") was designed by MultiPod Studio. According to Refrigerator.com:


The Marseille-based design firm has come up with a prototype called the Pop-Up House—made out of wood, foam, and screws—that you can supposedly assemble with just a basic screw gun.

According to the designers, the whole shebang should cost about €200 per square meter, or roughly $26 per square foot. Right now, the MultiPod website showcases two different styles of the Pop-Up House: a single-room, 70-square-meter rectangular cube and a 150-square-meter prototype with two wings (think bedrooms) on either side of a larger connecting room.

Not only does this pop-up building have interesting potential as a home, or temporary shelter, but also as a pop-up restaurant, cafe, gallery or museum.