Hotelier and real estate developer Alan Faena is the man behind Buenos Aires’ Faena District—an urban oasis merging art, sustainable architecture and technology. Faena opened the Faena Hotel, designed in partnership with French designer Philippe Starck, in the hip Puerto Madero district. As passionate about his city as he is about the arts—he also set up the Faena Prize for the Arts, awarding emerging contemporary artists.
The Faena Hotel + Universe, centrally located in Puerto Madero, is the vision of Alan Faena featuring everything from yoga to art galleries. Refurbished and decorated by Philippe Starck, it’s tongue and cheek five-star fun; with everything you could ever ask for in the heart of the capital city.
Opened in 2004 in the newly-developed Puerto Madero district (and featuring décor by Philippe Starck), the Faena Hotel + Universe is one of the trendiest places in town hosting a slew of international celebrities and hip locals alike. Alan Faena, the mastermind behind the Faena Hotel and Arts Center, was the first to see the deteriorating neighborhood’s potential and has worked tirelessly to instate Buenos Aires’ status as a global art destination. The hotel is just one of several endeavors by Faena that have helped revitalized the Argentine capital.
A Triplex in a Former Grain Silo in Buenos AiresLocated in the heart of the artsy and gentrifying neighborhood of Puerto Madero, the century-old apartment was once a part of grain silo. The industrial building was renovated in 2009 by Argentine developer Alan Faena. It is now a modern mixed-use structure with about 90 condominiums on the upper levels and an art gallery (as well as shops) below.
Visionary entrepreneur Alan Faena put Buenos Aires back on the cultural world map by launching the Faena Arts Center in the Puerto Madero district. Faena revitalized the once-deteriorating neighborhood by constructing the non-traditional museum, as well as various residential projects within the Faena Arts District.
Known for their large-scale, ironic installations which subvert notions of architecture, the Cuban duo Los Carpinteros have landed in the Faena Arts Center, in Buenos Aires. To bring their “Aviao” piece to Argentina, which was purchased from a World War II ex-pilot, the piece had to be disassembled into five parts.
The contemporary Faena Arts Center creates buzz for Buenos Aires by adding to the cultural and artistic growth of the city. Featuring a crocheted installation by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto—the FAC has reinvigorated the city with innovative projects and exhibitions.
The contemporary art scene in Buenos Aires got more than a boost with the opening of the Faena Arts Center— 14,000 square feet of exhibition space in a renovated grain mill—housed inside of the up and coming neighborhood of Puerto Madero. Brazilian sculptor Ernesto Neto inaugurated the FAC with a floor-to-ceiling instillation of crochet nets.
Cuban artist collective Los Carpinteros is showcasing three large-scale (and site-specific) installations at the Buenos Aires’s Faena Arts Center. Other initiatives include the past exhibition Ernesto Neto’s “O bicho suspenso na paisagen” and the FAC’s Faena Arts Prize, Latin America’s biggest award for visual artists. Both the FAC and the Arts Prize are the result of mastermind Alan Faena, who all but “invented from scratch” the center for the culture-starved area.
Alan Faena is responsible for giving back Buenos Aires the fascinating Belle Époque which lent grandeur to the city during the past century. Alan Faena, propeller of the real estate Big Bang that positioned Puerto Madero as one of the world’s most desired urban zones, developed his particular creative vision in a colossal project called Faena Arts District: an urban oasis in Buenos Aires that redefines the experience of living in great metropolises combining art, recreation, nature, sustainable architecture and first-world technology. Faena is an authentic visionary whose primary motivation is nurtured by his biggest dreams. In the middle of the 2002 crisis, a man put the first bricks in his pharaonic crusade.
Operating out of a historically-rich windmill built a century ago, the Faena Arts Center breathes new life into Buenos Aires. Within the original architecture there are two vast exhibition spaces including a mass-installation by Ernesto Neto and future presentations by Los Carpinteros and Franz Ackermann.
During the worst moments of the 2002 crisis in Argentina, Faena began constructing buildings in an abandoned area. Today, these 7 blocks are not grazing pastures but the Faena Arts District, an exquisite micro neighborhood within Puerto Madero. When talking about success, Faena prefers to refer to his new child: the Faena Arts Center, a site where art is experienced, not just observed.
A woven structure by Ernesto Neto that fills an entire room, nearly wall-to-wall, is the inaugural exhibit for the newfound Faena Arts Center in the portside Puerto Madero neighborhood. Created with the help of over 70 assistants, the single (but massive) exhibit appeals to both adults and children by evoking both play and nostalgia. In just under three months, more than 75,000 visitors have come through the FAC to experience the whimsical and imaginative installation.
In Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, the work of Rio de Janeiro artist Ernesto Neto inaugurates the Faena Arts Center, the new cultural space which integrates an ambitious hotel, commercial and residential project. Before creating the piece for the exhibit, the artist experienced Buenos Aires in loco, having stayed at the Faena Hotel and in another hotel located in the heart of Buenos Aires to feel and observe the Argentine people. The project is another gem in the crown of the Faena Group, conceptualized by Alan Faena, transforming the abandoned Puerto Madero region into an icon of first-rate living.
Faena is the big name behind the transformation of the abandoned region of Puerto Madero into an icon of first-rate living. In almost 20 years of work, the developer Alan Faena built the best boutique in the capital, a huge cultural complex and a luxurious residential compound.
Neighboring the celebrated Faena hotel, a recently opened cultural center is the new addition to the Puerto Madero district of Buenos Aires. Installed in a 20th century former grain mill, the Faena Arts Center features two large exhibition halls and chose Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto for its inaugural exhibition.
The most modern neighborhood in Buenos Aires is developing the most ambitious luxury projects in the city. Faena Aleph is the latest venture by developer Alan Faena in Puerto Madero. The Argentine businessman commissioned Norman Foster to create the architect’s first building in Latin America.
The Faena Arts Center in Argentina is still relatively new, but Executive Director Ximena Caminos already has a list of ten exhibitions for next year. “It’s important not be attached to a certain kind of art” said Caminos.
In Buenos Aires, an unconventional entrepreneur is supporting the arts in a very big way.Over the last decade, Alan Faena—one of the most recognizable figures in Buenos Aires—has reshaped the Argentine capital by spearheading a cultural and real estate revival in the blighted Puerto Madero district. Starting with his famed Faena Hotel + Universe, his newest project, the Faena Arts Center, is four-stories of a renovated wheat mill-turned-art and performance gallery currently featuring a mixed-media large-scaled installation for Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto. Along with his business and personal partner, Ximena Caminos, the FAC has become one of several successful endeavors to place Buenos Aires in the center of a cultural renaissance in South America.
