When the international contemporary art fair the Armory Show opens next week, furniture designed by architects and artists will be in the spotlight – at a side fair taking place 40 blocks south of the piers, at the Richard Meier-designed 165 Charles St.

The Design + Architecture fair, which opens Friday, March 10, will feature limited-edition and one of a kind 20th-century and contemporary pieces from six leading New York dealers including the Scandinavian specialists Antik, Barry Friedman Ltd., and R 20th Century. The dealers each will have an unsold apartment in which to install their shows.

The fair – the first to use unoccupied apartments, according to several participating dealers – is the brainchild of the developer of 165 Charles St., the chief executive of Alexico, Izak Senbahar.

“People want to live in great architecture and want to live in great design. I think there’s a big synergy,” Mr. Senbahar said.

Asked whether the fair was a clever way to attract buyers, Mr. Senbahar said, “Of course there’s a marketing angle. But there are gimmicks and real shows. You can ask Seal to have an opening party for the building, but when Seal is gone, you still have the same building. This building is the perfect environment to show this work and to enjoy it. I am going to buy a few pieces myself.”

Context makes a difference. Barry Friedman Ltd. plans to display mirror-polish stainless-steel tables by the architect Ron Arad next to the window of a 10th-floor unit overlooking the Hudson River. “The reflection off the table lets the outside in,” a director of the gallery, Carole Hochman, said. The tables were a hit at Art Basel Miami Beach, with 30 of 69 sold. The gallery has 25 left.

Ms. Hochman noted that in the past few years, as prominent architects have taken on luxury projects, interest in the gallery’s contemporary furniture has boomed. “We’ve been incredibly busy. It’s a vibrant, energetic market.”

Like the design fair in Miami, Design + Architecture likely will draw crowds of international collectors in town to buy contemporary art at the Armory Show. “We find that people collecting contemporary art generally feel there’s no reason to get mass-produced furniture when it can be art, too,” Ms. Hochman said. She added, “The best of design is still less expensive than contemporary art.”

Not everything on view will be in the stark, modern style of 165 Charles St. The Scandinavian dealer Antik plans to show vintage pieces from the 1960s, creating contrasts between wood and leather and the white and glass architecture.

The fair is further proof that art and design are driving the marketing of the city’s newest luxury homes.

“In this day and age, the bar has been raised and you have to be foolish not to pay a lot of attention to the design and aesthetics, if you want to get the prices that we’re getting,” Mr. Senbahar said.

The architect Peter Marino has selected sculpture by the French artists Claude and Francois-Xavier Lalanne to occupy the garden courtyard of the luxury condominium he is designing at 170 East End Ave., to be completed in 2007. The sculptures – a family of sheep – went on view this week in the sales office near the property and are meant to reflect the family-oriented nature of the building, which features residences with three to five bedrooms, a toddler playroom, and a billiards room. The sheep also double as benches.