Porsche. Bentley. Dolce & Gabbana. Armani. Even for people who will never be able to afford their products, these luxury brands are household names. Now, they’re also becoming homes.
A growing number of luxury brands, from cars to fashion to fine dining, are linking their names to high-end residential projects around the world. Branded luxury residences are now on the rise in Dubai, South Florida, New York, and Phuket, Thailand, where single units can sell for hundreds of millions of dollars. With prominently placed logos and interiors that recall or reflect the aesthetics of a select brand, these buildings are architectural stand-ins for companies that have little, if any, connection to the built environment.
“Quite remarkable” growth
Hotels such as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton have used this approach for decades, stretching their brands to create extended-stay residences and condos. Over the past 20 years, a wider range of brands have gotten into the game. According to a recent report from Savills, there are nearly 700 branded residences around the world, and another 600 in the pipeline for completion by 2030. Hotel brands make up the majority of these, but among the growing number of non-hotel brands venturing into residential development, luxury car companies are the most active.
The trend started around 2012, when the design firm Pininfarina, known for its work designing sports cars for such brands as Ferrari, announced it would design the interiors of a 42-story condo tower in Miami. That building opened in 2015, followed by another nearby that was designed in collaboration with Porsche. Since then, luxury carmakers have started building towers throughout Florida, and increasingly in the United Arab Emirates and South America.
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