Walter Finch
MARBELLA may be home to a multitude of pricey luxury villas, but there are some qualities for the wealthy that cannot simply be tacked on to the real estate shopping list – such as the signature of one of the most famous designers in fashion.
The announcement of five villas designed and constructed under the visionary design principles of the late haute couture legend Karl Lagerfeld in Marbella’s Golden Mile has awoken a frenzy among international property buyers as they vie to snap up the new exclusive prizes.
Announced two years after the death of Chanel’s creative director in 2019, one property has already found a buyer – a Dutch businessman willing to part with €15million for the honour of owning an apartment inspired by the designs of Karl Lagerfeld. And all before a brick has even been laid.
The keys for the luxury developments, financed by a €51million investment in the project, are expected to be handed over to the future buyers in 2024.
But the villas, to be built on a 9,000 metre plot of land and each one distinct from one another, have not actually been designed by the great creative director himself.
Instead, they have been designed by international architecture house The One Atelier, under the principles, vision, and iconic aesthetic of the designer and photographer, with Costa del Sol real estate developer Sierra Blanca Estates charged with finding the buyers for the villas.
“These villas are a translation of what he would have imagined, his legacy in every detail, in sustainable and responsible architecture,” said Karl Lagerfeld’s CEO Pier Paolo Righi.
The website for the project says the villas reflect Lagerfeld’s ‘own vision, the organic yet rational architecture bends and twists to offer breathtaking points of view.’
It boasts that ‘each bespoke residence is built to shimmer like a faceted gem as it reflects the environment,’ and outlines the five principles of Lagerfeld’s design: sustainability, genius loci, inclusiveness, dualism and framing.
Michele Galli, head of The One Atelier, explained how they were translating Lagerfeld’s vision and principles into the architectural design.
“Everything to do with this project, from the master plans to the minutest interior details,” has been painstakingly researched before being put into practice in a unique, unprecedented architectural language, taking into account “Karl’s life, his passions, his values and his work,” he said.
But luxury is still a guiding principle as well – private swimming pools, movie theatres, spas, fire pits, white gold powder-covered facades and photovoltaic panels will also be some of the selling points.
