ARGENTINE JET-SETTER TURNS DESIGN TALENTS TO RURAL HOPKINTON

BY SHERYL JEAN

APRIL 8, 1990 -- Designer Carlos Almada, a hot name in the downtown New York City club scene, comes to Rhode Island to express his art in another form: building one-of-a kind houses.

This artist/architect/theater director known for his designs of trendy nightclubs in Manhattan and Buenos Aires, Argentina, is christening his first venture in single-family houses in rural Hopkinton.

Wood River Landing Corp., in which Almada is a partner, plans to building 15 houses on 100 acres of land. So far three houses have been built on Woodvile Road and Crowthers Place in east Hopkinton.

Almada chose Hopkinton because he loves the area and is familiar with it. About twice a month, he said, he spends weekends at his father-in-law’s house there.

Almada and his partner, John Crowther, have designed the houses so that no two are the same. They are intended to combine visual drama with personal comfort and regard for their setting.

Two houses have been sold and the third is on the market now, he said. The houses are priced between $325,000 and $400,000.

The first house, on 3.3 acres of land with three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, two fireplaces, cathedral ceilings, a deck and terrace and a two car garage, sold for $325,000. The second, a converted three-story barn with four bedrooms, high ceilings and an indoor courtyard, sold for a bout $375,000.

“My original idea was to create weekend houses for people who know each other,” Almada said. The land is an old farm and part of the concept was to work with existing structures such as the barn, he said.

“I wanted a place for people to go in the spring, summer and winter,” he said. “I think Rhode Island is great in the winter. Winter in the Hamptons Is bad and Connecticut is too developed already.”

Almada targets wealthy people who want a large weekend house with lofe-type space near the water. The first two buyers are families from New York. One is using the house on weekends only but the other plans to move into their Hopkinton house permanently, Almada said.

Further construction has been halted because the market is too soft, he said. But Almada said the economy will bounce back and then will build the other 10 houses.

South American Beginnings

Although he began his career by designing houses in Buenos Aires and Brazil, this project is a deviation for the flamboyant Almada, who is now famous for his nightclub and urban renewal designs. He is booked solid with commissions for projects such as a film production studio for actor Robert De Niro.

“I’ve always been more interested in the creative said,” he said. “I’m very much involved in the design and entertainment world”

He is involved in a project revitalize five building in TriBeCa, an older area in lower Manhattan. He is converting factory space into residential loft space.

Almada also is one of the men behind the tony M.K., a dinner/dance club on New York City’s Fifth Avenue that one national magazine called a “temple of retrochich.” IN 1998 he renovated the former bank to resemble a town house and gave the interior the eclectic look of four different time periods. The club has a lounge, a salon that looks like a bedroom and bathroom, a billiard room and a display case containing a butterfly collection. It also sports a cllaw0foiot bathtub in one of the rooms. The coat checkroom is in the vault.

Liking the fast-pace club atmosphere, Almada decided to create his own nightclub. The Building, of which he is part owner, is scheduled to open this month, Almada said in a telephone interview form the site.

The dance club is located in an old factory building in Chelsea, an area that home to many jet-set clubs, and maintains the industrial look.

Almada’s Hopkinton houses are evocative of The Building in that they are utilitarian in design, he said. Almada has kept or replaced much of the industrial machinery in the 10,000-square-foot building.

The dance club will feature “house music,” an avant-garde mélange of psychedelic music and off-beat dress in London a couple of years ago that made it to America last year and remains the rage on the club scene

Expanding The Imagination

When Almada came to New York City in 1983 he designed may theater sets for famed producer Joseph Papp at the Public Theater. “I learned to be an American there,” Almada said.

Originally from Argentina, Almada’s Latin heritage and style give him a flair in a competitive design field. At 37 Almada looks like a young Picasso and speaks English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Almada has been an architect for about 10 years. After graduating from Buenos Aires University with a degree in architecture, his first big project was creating a theater in an old space in Buenos Aires.

As with many artists, Almada is involved in other areas of art. He has always been interested in the theater, as his earlier set designed and theater work in Buenos Aires illustrates, and recently expanded his scope.

He directed La Mama, a play that jut finished running in some of New York’s avant-garde theaters.

Almada said he would like to do more directing. “Design is a concept. The bigger architects design art, furniture, houses, and they did theater,” he said.

“Other art forms expand your imagination about architecture and design.”