Fashion Design Museum in Tokyo
Arquitectum and Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, 2010
Design Competition of a 100 Meter-Tall-Tower for a Fashion Museum landmark on Omotesando Street. Solo-Entry

How can textiles be expressed through building materials? How can building design reference fashion fabrics?

The connection between Fashion and Architecture is significant. New materials are designed, engineered and applied in similar ways using human proportions, mathematics and geometry. We dress ourselves and are ‘dressed’ by the building environment. Fashion and Architecture create protective layers that envelop and protect people each day.

The proposed building incorporates Tokyo’s urban context, tying together elements of the views in all four directions from the nearly square site. The ‘mass’ of the building - a solid structure made of perforated concrete – is of a similar height as the surrounding buildings. Above that the glass blends with the sky, preserving a sense of lightness and respecting surrounding buildings rather than covering them in shadow. The lobby is accessed by a ramp, and bridges allow visitors to circulate through the building at various angles and in different directions; exhibition rooms are organized chronologically in ascending order.  

The site constraint is an activator for the design concept: program and tectonics are in line with a modular thinking, and determine flow as well as an intelligent use of the building space.