THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL UNIVERSITY

DIVISION OF ARHITECTURE

FASHION AND AECHITECTURE

By

Kahtura Fernander

Chair: Valerie Goodwin Arena: Fashion Museum

Topic: The technical relationships between fashion and architecture

Issue: Design techniques for both designers

Question: How are design techniques in fashion related to design techniques used by architects for architectural designs?

Design Application: The aim of this project is to design a fashion museum in Nassau, Bahamas that will be located within the downtown district. This project will use fashion techniques to create functional architecture design.

Table of Contents

List of figures

Abstract

Introduction Overview Problem Statement Suggested Solution

Chapter 1 Literature Review

Introduction

Candidates

1. Folding techniques for designers 2. Skin + bones: Parallel practices in fashion and architecture 3. 3. Icons of Architecture and Fashion: An Exploration of the Complex Relationship between the Two Fields

Conclusion

Chapter 2 Precedent Studies

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Frank Gehry

Louis Vuitton Foundation, Frank Gehry Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku, Zaha Hadid Pleats.M / Hironaka Ogawa & Associates, Hironaka Ogawa & Associates Milwaukee Art Museum, Santiago Calatrava Conlusion

Chapter 3 Analysis of Fashion Designers and Architects

Design Techniques used in Fashion design

Folding

Pleating

Warping/Twisting

Designers who uses these techniques:

Fashion

Viktor & Rolf

Yohji Yamamoto

Thierry Mugler

Architecture Frank Gehry Eero Saarinen Zaha Hadid

Conclusion

Chapter 4 Design Application Introduction Site Analysis Program Concepts Conclusion

Chapter 5 Final Design Introduction Bahamas Fashion Museum Concepts Precedents Final Design Conclusion Appendix Reference Bibliography

Diagram with explanation

RESEARCH -become familiar with what is already out there pertaining to the relationship between fashion and architecture

PRECEDENT STUDY -analyze buildings and their visual aesthetics and techniques. Some of these lessons can be used for the proposed design.

ANALYSIS - Study of fashion designers, architects, and the similar techniques between the two. -study of techniques used in

fashion design and pair them to architects and architecture

THE DESIGN - Above lessons and research will be used to design the proposed museum of fashion

Abstract

The relationship between fashion and architecture are more related than the obvious. Both practices orbit around a field of techniques which varies based on the designer. My research focuses on these design techniques where I will explore them in detail. High fashion designers and architects creates innovative designs which are influenced by techniques and tools available in these fields. Although both designers have different purposes, it all goes back to relating their ideas to the human body.

This thesis intends to explore the relationship between clothing and building design. The goal is to explore how techniques used to design clothing in the fashion world relates to techniques used to design buildings aesthetically. This thesis research will then be translated into an architectural language to design a fashion museum.

Bibliography

Skin + bones: Parallel practices in fashion and architecture (book)

The fashion of architecture (book)

Louis Vuitton: Art, Fashion and architecture (book)

Marimekko: Fabrics, Fashion, Architecture (Press)

Wear: Where? The convergent geographics of Architecture…(Scholar)

Techno Fashion (book)

Fashion (magazine)

History of Design: Decorative Arts and Material Culture, 1400-2000 (book)

Construction and Building: Design, Materials, and Techniques (Sophie G. Doyle)

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology (book)

Patternmaking for Fashion Design (Hardcover) by Helen Joseph-Armstrong

Fashion Design Course: Principles, Practice, and Techniques: The Practical Guide for Aspiring Fashion Designers

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People by Susan M. Weinschenk

Fashion Design Course: Principles, Practice, and Techniques: The Practical Guide for Aspiring Fashion Designers by Steven Faerm

Fashion: A Visual History: from Regency & Romance to Retro & Revolution Draping for Apparel Design (Hardcover) by Helen Joesph-Armstrong

Designing Design by Kenya Hara

CLOTHING AS ARCHITECTURE AT M.I.T.

InStyle (magazine)

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People

Couture Sewing Techniques (Paperback) by Claire B. Shaeffer

1963: The Year of the Revolution: How Youth Changed the World with Music, Art, and Fashion by Ariel Leve

Literature Review Candidates

1. Folding techniques for designers 2. Skin + bones: Parallel practices in fashion and architecture 3. 3. Icons of Architecture and Fashion: An Exploration of the Complex Relationship between the Two Fields

Literature Review

Jeffrey D. Gaudet, “Icons of Architecture and Fashion: An Exploration of the Complex

Relationship Between the Two Fields,” Tufts University. 2011

Introduction

Gaudet explored the complex relationship between fashion and architecture, using icons of both fields to bring together this relationship. He found that even though many may argue that the two fields may be unrelated and independent of each other, they both draw inspiration from one another.

After exploring the topic, Gaudet realized both architecture and fashion have like purposes, such as organizing spaces and creating aesthetic characteristics through design techniques. These relationships arguably affect “the daily lives of people throughout the world.”(1) He also argues that the use of buildings and fashion for survival are just as important as the aesthetic qualities. This literature review focuses on the ways in which architecture and fashion are addressed similarly, both spatially and with the use of design techniques. “Whether intentional or unintentional, we provide indications about our ‘personal, political, religious, or cultural’ identities through our choices for the spaces in which we live and the garments with which we clothe ourselves”. (1)

Research Gaudet studies the numerous intersections between architecture and fashion, stating both are three dimensional characteristics of a design exploring similar techniques, “place on proportions, geometry, and mathematics, as well as an understanding of mass and space”. (1)

Both architecture and fashion control the decisions we make “through the world around us”.

When comparing the scales and organizing spaces, architecture appear to play a more important role than fashion. “The space immediately surrounding the body is created and altered by fashion. It is the space that architecture must contain.” (2) This relationship forces the two fields to be based on like principles.

Apart from the organization of spaces, both fields create a visual interest using similar techniques to create successful aesthetic features. These similar techniques creates like styles in both fashion and architecture. Most of the time when these similar styles are created, they are overlooked and normally comes to life after both fields look to each other for inspiration.

Most often, fashion designers would use architecture terms such as “architectural” and

“structural” to describe some of the qualities of their work which are like those present in architectural structures. “Since the 1980s, a growing number of avant garde fashion designers have approached garments as architectonic constructions, while architecture has boldly embraced new forms and materials – thanks to numerous technological advancements that have revolutionized both the design and construction of buildings and made techniques like pleating, stitching, folding and draping part of the architectural vocabulary.” (3) It appears that fashion designers haven’t started using architecture principles until the 1980’s which made the relationship between both fields grow. In turn, architecture designers have been finding some of their motivation from the design and language of fashion, for example “folding”, or even learning lessons from the use of materials and applying them to the structure. This use of fashion techniques, “such as drapery” can be traced all the way back to architecture history, even as far as designing some of the Greek columns. These same techniques can be found in the clothing related to this time period. Although designers may look to certain buildings or architects for ideas, architects pay closer attention to fashion on a more general basis. Most commonly, when they draw inspiration from fashion, they learn lessons from fabrics and how they can relate them to building materials to create the techniques and terms studied. “Today, terms including ‘pleating, stitching, folding, and draping’ are used architecturally”. Frank Gehry and Peter Eisman are two architects who mainly reveals the folding term in their architecture.

Although folding is one of the most popular techniques used in the architects’ design, they use a number of the other terms throughout their design as well. Because most architects are

“design focused” individuals who pay close attention to their image, they are known for

“maintaining a fashionable appearance” as they begin to learn more from the fashion industry.

Gaudet went on to study some of the most popular architects, linking them to some of the most popular fashion designers who design similar to one another. He went as far back as when they designed their first piece or buildings, following their moves, theories and even their lifestyles. He found that as time passed, both the architecture of the buildings and fashion evolved in a parallel directions.

Conclusion/Lessons learnt The realization of the relationships between fashion and architecture is becoming even more popular as an investigation by scholars, allowing the study to grow even more every year.

There are varieties of writing from the ways in which they are alike to the ways they are totally unrelated, each perspective being drawn from individuals of different backgrounds.

Precedent Candidates:

Fondation Louis Vuitton by Frank Ghery

Pleats.M/ Hironaka Ogawa & Associates

Milwaukee Art Museum b Santiago Calatrava

National Museum of the American Indian

Opera House in Tenerife | Spain

Niort Zorhof building | Dusseldorf | Germany

Brasilia Cathedral | Brazil

surreal housing | Rotterdam | Netherlands

Baha'i Lotus Temple | Delhi | India

The glass building in the Principality of Andorra

EMP Museum of experimental music | Seattle | United States

City of Arts and Sciences | Valencia | Spain

Other Promising Candidates: Precedent Study

Name: Fondation Louis Vuitton

Architect: Frank Gehry

Location: Paris France

Frank Gehry designed a master piece of a museum for Louis Vuitton in Paris, France.

Great emphasis was given on the form of the building which was intentional to be the main focus and “merge harmoniously with a late 19th century park and to house exceptional works of art. The way the design of the building wraps, warps, folds and dances are similar to dress pieces made for high fashion clothing.

Conceptual Approach

The architect first produced sketches, gaining inspiration from architecture in the late 19th century. These architecture precedents used glass in a light way in its garden and glass architecture. He then made models of wood, aluminum, and plastic, using lines and shapes to imply movement. The choice of materials became evident in the final design, where the glass covered majority of the building, with the heavy material giving it volume

The building/design

“With its ship-like exterior of billowing glass sails, the 126, 000 square foot, 2.5 story building suggests an avant-garde update of the Jolly Roger gracefully piloted by Peter Pan through the Bois’s verdant sea of centuries-old trees with a trail of pixie dust in its wake.” The building’s design clearly shows Frank Gehry’s means of expression, aesthetics and design techniques.

 “Placed in a basin especially created for the purpose, the building fits easily into the

natural environment, between woods and garden, while at the same time playing with

light and mirror effects.”

 Gehry used some of his earlier work to influence the design of the museum, some

techniques like swirls, “dynamic asymmetries”, and optimism are relevant.

 Taking a look at the design of the structure, one can easily relate it to Gehry’s

Guggenheim Museum or the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

 Because the building serves as a museum which houses 11 galleries with hung art work,

the illusion of the floating overlapping glass floats atop a solid structure which are

referred to as icebergs.

 The Building is covered in a dozen glass sails.

Materials

The glass, concrete, and steel materials are used to bring the building to life expressing the architect’s idea of luminous, light and motion. To move away from the regular approach to glass on a structure, the material was “fashioned” allowing it to curve in a customized way.

“Each of the 3,600 panes in the twelve glass sails gives the structure its volume.”

Relation to fashion The building uses similar techniques and function like a fashion designer would use in their pieces.

 There are exterior layers covering the outer layers like clothing would cover and protect

the human body.

 There are techniques such as swirling, warping, wrapping, and folding which are also

used in the fashioning of clothing. Some of these techniques are shown in the precedent

provided below.

 The avant-garde fashion of the building is similar to avant-garde high fashion pieces

used in fashion design.

 The conceptual approach the architect did with this structure are also used in the

conceptual approach of fashion pieces by fashion designers.

Level 1 In Context

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4 Level 5

3D Section

Bibliography

fondationlouisvuitton.fr architecturaldigest.com archrecord.construction.com archdaily.com

Annotated Diagram

FASHION & ARCHITECTURE

A B C D E F DESIGNERS DESIGN TECHNIQUES ARCHITECTS BUILDINGS LESSONS/APP CONCLUSION A 1 A B 2 C 3 B D 4 E 5 C F 6 G 7 D 8 PIECES 9 E 10 11 F 12 G

A – A number of designers and their pieces will be analyzed

B - From this, a list of their design techniques will be studied

C – These techniques will be linked to a number of architects whose work uses or relates to these techniques.

D – These works will then be looked at in detail.

E – The works of both designers will be analyzed and used for further investigation Building and how it relates to thesis Fashion Museum – This museum will house pieces and designers related to thesis topic

Site and how it relates to thesis The site is located downtown Nassau Bahamas. It is located near the harbour which has many different building types including retail, offices, museums, and markets and can serve as a visual link between them and the harbour. This can tie in and relate to the proposed museum which is related to the thesis topic.

Site size – Entire Site will not be used 634’ x 265’ – 168,010 sq ft

Rough Program Lobby 3,900 sq ft 8 Major Exhibitions 15,000 5 additional exhibitions 6,500 sq ft Restaurant/ Cafeteria 3,000 sq ft Gift Store 150 sq ft Library 800 sq ft Courtyard 3,500 sq ft Lecture Rooms 1,500 sq ft Auditorium 4,600 sq ft Workshops 3,600 Administration 1,000 sq ft Storage/ Warehouse 15,000 sq ft Parking

Location

Festival Harbour Place (Water front) Union Dock

Shopping Project site plaza

Retail stores(2 stories Retail Retail stores and high) police station

Streets