Hiroshi Sugimoto’s $135 Million Apartment: When Architecture Becomes Art

The dining room, which features the original bonsai tree art installation. Devon Banks

A Manhattan condominium meticulously designed by renowned contemporary artist Hiroshi Sugimoto and architect Tomoyuki Sakakida of the New Material Research Laboratory has hit the market for a staggering $135 million. The price tag? Nearly $60 million more than an identical unit just three floors up. So what makes this apartment not just real estate—but a masterpiece?

A Penthouse with Provenance

Located on the 79th floor of 432 Park Avenue, one of the tallest residential towers in the world at 1,396 feet, the apartment spans approximately 7,500 square feet. With soaring ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, and panoramic views of Manhattan and Central Park, it already checks every box for luxury living.

But this isn’t just another high-end penthouse. It’s a complete aesthetic vision, crafted by one of Japan’s most revered artists and his architectural collaborator. The interiors were designed down to the last detail by Hiroshi Sugimoto’s New Material Research Laboratory, blending centuries-old Japanese materials and craftsmanship with minimalist, contemplative design.

A Living Gallery

The tea room. Photo: Devon Banks

Originally purchased by an art collector six years ago, the space was transformed into a sanctuary of stillness and light. The 5-bedroom, 5-bathroom residence includes a traditional Japanese tea room, custom-made furniture, and hand-finished surfaces. Materials include Yakusugi cedar over a thousand years old, ancient stones from Muromachi-era gardens, and wood repurposed from Nara temples built during the Tenpyo period (circa 8th century). Art and architecture converge—Sugimoto’s own works are carefully integrated throughout the apartment, not merely placed but installed as part of the design.

Japanese artisans were flown in to finish the space with painstaking precision. The result is a minimalist, meditative environment that feels more like a Zen museum than a home. Every surface, every shadow, every silence was considered.

A New Category of Value

The primary bathroom. Photo: Devon Banks

In most real estate transactions, interiors and art collections are auctioned off or removed before the sale. Here, however, the apartment and its contents are being sold as one cohesive artwork—a radical departure from how architecture is typically valued.

The price reflects not only the location and scale, but the complete, unrepeatable vision curated within it. That’s why the unit is being offered at nearly $60 million more than a similarly sized apartment in the same building just three floors up.

Could this sale signal a new trend? Where architectural interiors crafted by world-class artists are no longer seen as add-ons, but as integral to a building’s intrinsic value—as collectible art? If so, Sugimoto’s Manhattan apartment may become a watershed moment for real estate, where space itself is no longer just lived in—but collected.