Art for Amenity Spaces in New Developments

Sep 23

By Arushi Kapoor, Founder, Art House Staging

Art for amenity spaces in new developments does a different job from art in a model unit. The model unit sells the home. The lobby, the residents' lounge, the fitness center and the corridors sell the building, and they keep doing it long after the sales team has gone.

They are also public-facing, heavily used and cleaned daily by people who are not art handlers. This guide covers how we think about each kind of amenity space and what developers should decide before a single work is chosen.

How art for amenity spaces differs from model unit staging

The first question is how long the art will stay. Model unit staging is temporary. Amenity art may be a sales-phase program that is removed once the building sells out, a permanent collection that passes to the association, or a mix of both. Each answer leads to different choices about budget, ownership, insurance and documentation.

The second question is who will look after it. Once residents take over, day-to-day care usually falls to a management company and its janitorial staff. Art that needs specialist care it will never receive is the wrong art, however good it looks on opening day.

The third is exposure. Amenity spaces see luggage carts, strollers, deliveries, wet swimsuits, gym bags and events. Durability and secure installation belong in the curatorial brief from the start, not as a fix added later.

Lobbies and arrival sequences

The lobby is the building's first impression for buyers, residents and guests, and it is photographed constantly. Lobbies usually reward a single work or installation with real scale, placed on the sightline from the entrance or at the point where the arrival route turns toward the elevators.

Durable materials suit lobbies: sculpture in bronze, stone or other robust media, paintings on panel or canvas hung well above reach, and wall works installed with security hardware. Glazed works on paper can work if they sit out of the traffic path and are properly secured. Keep all works clear of the routes where carts, strollers and deliveries pass, and of the places where people sit and lean.

A staffed lobby helps security, since a concierge desk with a line of sight to the art is a real deterrent. Lighting should be designed for the work, not just for the room, and it should be checked at night, when many residents and visitors arrive.

Think about how the lobby art will look in the building's marketing, too. Lobby images often appear in brochures, on websites and in press coverage, so the work there becomes part of how the building presents itself.

Residents' lounges, dining rooms and co-working spaces

These rooms are more intimate. Works are seen from seated positions and at close range, and people spend longer with them. That favors pieces that reward attention over pure scale.

Food and drink change the risk. Keep unglazed works on paper and delicate surfaces away from bars, catering kitchens and dining tables. Place works out of direct sun, or use window treatments and UV-filtering glazing where they cannot be moved. Large textile works can help soften a hard, echoing room, but they collect dust and need a cleaning plan.

Lounges and co-working rooms are also where a rotating program makes most sense, if the developer or association wants one. Changing a few works periodically gives residents a reason to use the space and keeps the room from feeling like a showroom.

Fitness, spa and pool areas

Humidity, heat, chlorine, sweat and impact make these the hardest spaces for art. The guiding principle is to choose materials suited to the environment and install them so nothing can be knocked, splashed or pulled down.

Avoid works on paper, unsealed wood and delicate organic materials in humid rooms.
Favor materials suited to moisture and cleaning, and confirm their suitability with the artist, fabricator or a conservator.
Keep works clear of equipment swing zones, weight racks and splash lines.
Mount wall works with secure hardware, and avoid freestanding pieces that could tip.
Use only outdoor-rated, anchored sculpture on pool decks and terraces, and consider wind.
Give cleaning staff specific instructions, including which products must never be used near the work.

The American Institute for Conservation's public guidance on caring for collections is a useful plain-language reference on how temperature, humidity and light affect different materials.

Corridors, elevator landings and service routes

Corridors are long, often narrow and lit at low levels. Shallow-profile and flush-mounted pieces avoid snagging people and furniture. Repetition works well here: a consistent series along a corridor gives rhythm, and a distinct work on each elevator landing helps residents and guests recognize their floor.

Move-in periods are when corridor art is most at risk, as movers carry large furniture through narrow spaces. Either install corridor works after the main move-in period, protect them while it lasts, or place them where a sofa carried on its end will not reach them.

Corridor lighting is usually designed for safety rather than display. If art is part of the plan, raise accent lighting with the lighting designer early, while it is still easy to add.

Security, maintenance and handover

A developer handing over a building should hand over a proper record of the art. That means an inventory with images, titles, artists, dimensions, materials, locations and care instructions for each work, plus the installation method and any keys for security hardware.

Build a maintenance plan into that handover: routine dusting by trained staff, periodic condition checks by a qualified handler, and a clear rule that nobody moves or rehangs works without professional help. Light exposure deserves a line in the plan too. Works near lobby glazing or pool windows may receive strong daylight for years, and the Northeast Document Conservation Center's guidance on light damage explains why that exposure adds up.

Insurance needs attention at handover. Responsibility for the works usually moves from the developer to the association, and the transfer of coverage should be confirmed with an insurance broker rather than assumed. If some works are being removed at sell-out and others are staying, the handover documents should say exactly which is which.

Finally, agree who has authority over the art after handover. Without a named person or committee, works tend to be moved by whoever is redecorating a room, and the records quickly stop matching what is on the walls.

Sources

About the author

Arushi Kapoor is the founder of Art House Staging and The Agency Art House, where she leads the curation and installation of fine art for luxury real estate across major United States markets. Her work bridging fine art and high-end property has been featured in Forbes, Artnews, Inman, and the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Arushi Kapoor