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Andre Balazs Planning London Hotel

Andre Balazs has a new toy to play with, and for once it's not a hotel project! The hot hotelier paid close to $5 million for this flat pack aluminum-and-steel house that once stood in Brazzaville, Congo.

How can any trailer home cost that much? This one was designed by architect Jean Prouve and is famous enough to be exhibited outside London's Tate Modern. Balazs thinks the inspiration is well worth the dough:

This was one of the first examples of a building truly engineered for its climate, and for a minimal impact. We'd like to take this as a centerpiece, and develop some environmentally sound prefabricated resorts in similar settings as to where this building was first built.

After the London show, the house will head to Miami where it'll be set up outside the Raleigh Hotel until next year's Art Basel fair. As for those future resorts... We're guessing they appear later than 2009. Maybe the new hotel he's planning for London will help ease the wait?

Related Stories:
· Balazs Flaunts Tropical Jungle House [Bloomberg]
· Andre Balazs' Maison Tropicale on Display [HotelChatter]