Maria Gracia Santillana Maria Gracia Santillana | March 18, 2021 | Culture, Home & Real Estate,
NFTs have now entered the architecture and real estate space. Contemporary artist Krista Kim just sold an NFT-minted digital house for 288 ether (valued at $500,000, at the time of purchase).
According to CNBC, the creation titled "Mars House" is the inaugural piece of crypto real estate, marking the expansion of NFT technology’s growing popularity. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital files secured by blockchain technology that verify file identity, ownership and authenticity. This year has seen NFTs skyrocket in popularity, catching headlines across the globe with Beeple’s recent $69 million sale of an NFT via Christie's auction.
"Mars House" is fashioned as the epitome of modernity. With sharp lines and rounded edges, the glass furniture inside the digital abode functions as an open concept, one floor property in the middle of a digital Martian landscape. Neon lights contrast with the warm, Earth-tone accents. According to Kim, the house is supposed to look cool but also promote meditative well-being.
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Kim first ventured into NFTs while exploring meditative techniques during quarantine. She told Architectural Digest that her hope was to use the influx of digital life as an opportunity to promote mental well-being. Kim also partnered with musician Jeff Schroeder of Smashing Pumpkins, who composed the ambient soundtrack for "Mars House."
The new owner will receive the unique file and be able to upload it into multiple metaverses –- 3D immersive worlds –- to experience the digital space via virtual reality. Kim told CNBC that such a lifestyle piece is the “next generation of NFT art.”
“I actually foresee that we will be living in an augmented reality lifestyle within a very short period,” she's quoted, “a couple years.”
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In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Alley, Kim argued that NFT houses and real estate can become the vessel for more NFT art.
“You can buy Times Square virtually," she says, "and then you can add digital assets and place them there."
Kim is also making her digital art accessible for those who prefer touching and feeling their purchases. The home and all the furniture can be built in real life by glass-furniture makers in Italy, as well as through MicroLED technology.
“Everyone should install an LED wall in their house for NFT art,” she told Architectural Digest. “This is the future, and Mars House demonstrates the beauty of that possibility.”
Check out the video below for a tour of Mars House, and read more about Kim's groundbreaking sale via CNBC.
Photography by: Krista Kim