FASHION GEM

MArchI, Moscow Architectural Institute – State Academy

Project idea

In the last decades, the increasing presence of big fashion companies has eroded other peoples artistry and capacity to define their own identity in this industry.

The proposed concept tries to create a new paradigm that will redefine the relation between brands, shows and general public giving openness and letting people to participate in an explicit fashion - cultural concept. Thus, the project aims to create an access of regular people to fashion industry and promote emerging talents in the field of fashion, art, and design through a tight relationship of creativity and commercial promotion.
Furthermore, the concept is driven by the idea of integrity and connections which are the backbone of any type of development especially in the fashion industry. The volume includes diverse programs which are defined by the principle of collaboration and intersections.

Project description

Following the idea of sustainable fashion, the building contains mini - recycle factory has been created to provide both curators and visitors to be involved into recycle process. Building users can bring their worn clothes as the material for father clothing manufacture. Given that a fashion week means a lot of waste that left after it has been finished, recycle factory enables people to bring both clothes and plastic products. The design process has started from finding a programmatic variety of functions that has been stacked into a diagram which depicts the relationship between them in terms of the area they occupy.
While investigating the methods to set forth the design principle, the way building reacts to the environment was the central. As a result, the circular volume enables public to take in panoramic views from the upper levels and engages with the city and its public. The resulting form of cascading gallery boxes make the museum experience more accessible by creating a clarity in circulation and curation while allowing abundant natural light into the galleries.
In order to create a vivid and diverse fashion environment, the building contains distinct functional areas which are an education, a museum, a runaway, and office spaces. They are condensed in the single shape which ambition is to become a diverse and lively region with a wide selection of public functions, and generous provision of open and enclosed spaces. Each floor plan is sub-divided into zones which have a diverse programming - work, education, play and a variety of types of spaces for these different purposes. Visual connections between zones create an awareness of the activities taking place throughout the building. Even though the building has a strong directionality towards both urban and countryside zones, it represents openness and accessibility on all levels giving visitors an opportunity to experience extraordinary surroundings and cityscape. While connected to the city, both visually through a large new glass facade, and functionally through the creation of a new, enlarged passage that acts as a public square, from which the main entrances clearly recognizable.
While choosing materials, the main goal was to combine the feeling of iconic appearance and rationality. Metal surfaces combined with reinforced concrete and laminated glass with metal mesh, will provide a simple, unified exterior, with a material that recalls modern aesthetics, yet allows for a higher degree of transparency. The three atrium stairs allow people to experience natural wood which completely blends in the buildings interior. The building's materiality and architecture establish a dialogue with the site's complexity and appears to be a mysterious object wrapped in a glass which determines the volume as icon.
Making the concept, programmatic opportunities that building possess organize a large number of creative spaces that determine the concept to the highest degree. Various of engaging experiences, such as, fashion – shows, films, concerts constitute a new complex which is conceived as a core, where interdependent functions both introverted and extroverted, around an open center, expose themselves in different ways. Work and education spaces generate certain tension between disciplines which is indispensable element of any kind of creative work. As a civic center where people meet and share knowledge and information, public space is at the core of the fashion hub’s design. At the entrance level on the ground floor, there is a large open space with several access points to co-vorking spaces and different public activities. The final configuration is expected to manifest itself as a solid core where functions not only assert their own identity but can work as one fashion machine.
Considering the building as devise that can provide users with different kinds of experiences, it is considered to be able to enhance it functional possibilities. Driven by this idea, the catwalk space at the top enables curators and visitors to reprogram its configuration to meet various needs. This arrangement options offer different ways for the audience to experience the show, while simultaneously defining a perimeter within the room, sparking a dialogue with the industrial character of the hub. Different levels accommodate the guests creating varying conditions to perceive the show. This flexibility activates the capacity for a range of activities. Additionally, the basic idea of the building can prompt an architecture society to look at the current fashion spaces at a different angle. It can encourage fashion industry to revise their approach towards sustainability and create a new base for recycle domain.

Technical information

The building is made of mullion-free, triple-glazed IGUs with floor to ceiling clear glass.

Documentation

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