Alan Faena: The Passionate Inspiration For Dynamic Urban Transformation And Creativity

Faena District Miami Beach’s arts focus has created a cultural renaissance and vibrant community connections between North and South Beach.

- Rick Muller

In today’s millisecond and megabyte world, the term “Renaissance man” may seem slightly outdated. But as we experience the game-changing of the fourth Industrial Revolution, it just might now be a descriptive more valued than ever.

Traits of a Renaissance man include quality, passion, knowledge, creativity, vision, philosophy, dreams, curiosity and perhaps that seemingly rarest of personal traits, the magic of one-on-one personal connection that comes from human interactions instead of screen time.

Just such a man is Alan Faena. He is the creative Argentine hotelier and real estate developer who has constructed cultural incubators and forward-thinking urban districts in his native Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as Miami Beach, while building his global Faena Group brand that touches architecture, design and art. His fascinating life story is revealed in his memoir released this year, Alan Faena: Alchemy & Creative Collaboration, published by Rizzoli International Publications.

Perhaps how you impact the world is somewhat preordained by when you experience it, and Faena arrived at a seminal moment of the 20th century. He was born in Buenos Aires on November 20, 1963. It was a Wednesday. Just 48 hours later, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, and the world changed in the blink of an eye.