Architectural Design: Explorations
FAST | SLOW The Facade of Fashion Michael Chisholm s0942133
CONTENTS
- Body Politics
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- Subjectivity
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- Speed Analysis
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- Graphical Representation of Theory
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- Hypothesis
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- The Fashion Museum
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- Siting Strategy
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- Programmatic Layout
BODY POLITICS: The Site
Princes Street: Main street in Edinburgh for retail attracting mass amounts of pedestrian traffic and potential shoppers. Edinburgh Tram Construction: Princes Street is ever changing. At present it plays host to the ongoing construction of Edinburgh proposed tram service. An interesting relationship is created between traditional monuments, the view of Edinburgh Castle and the modern industrial aesthetic of the tram construction.
Positioning AllSaints in the Edinburgh Context: Princes Street epitomises mainstream consumer culture within Edinburgh; the main shopping street, filled with dominating retail outlets, as well as being a hub for tourism.
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BODY POLITICS: The Shop AllSaints Spitalfields is a British High Street retailer, which produces clothing aimed towards a progressive/fashion-forward niche market. It sells menswear, womenswear and children's clothing, accessories and small home decorative furnishings. The company was established in 1994 as a menswear brand wholesaling to the likes of Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Barneys New York and Japan and in 1998 Womenswear was born directly out of the expanding menswear collection of sharp tailoring, fine knits and the signature washed leathers.
AllSaints: Located on a corner lot on princes street, AllSaints Edinburgh maintains the brands pledge to create a different facade for every store, in an attempt to maintain a independent and non-corporate image.
Theatrical: Through the use of various light fittings around mirrors in the company logo, a dramatic and theatrical aesthetic, while maintaining a vintage feel.
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Creation of an Interior Experience: The shop interior in a way seems contrived, opting for a non-conventional theme throughout, suggesting a different shopping experience takes place here. However this is all purely aesthetic, with arguably more effort being put in to make the shop appear some-what run down than would of taken to create a more up-market feel.
Industrial: The striped back walls exposing rough concrete and rustic eroding wood and seemingly dirty tile work suggests an abandoned warehouse, while still maintaining a high quality feel to the clothing on display.
Mechanical: A common theme of machinery and traditional workmanship runs throughout the store, incorporating items such as sewing machines and bench clamps to house displays.
Mannequin Presentation: Mannequins within the shop are presented in various ways. Keeping to an industrial and slightly sinister feel, the mannequins are headless and hanging by linked chains from their necks. Their is also a mechanical, inhuman element to them, with wooden puppet style hands, including some with missing fingers; continuing the dilapidated feeling of the brand. The mannequins represents what the brand is about, down to the slightly shabby unlaced leather boots.
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Relationship with Music World : Since the brands conception, AllSaints has had a strong relationship with the music industry. From its fashion collections with subtle grunge influences to working in conjunction with bands. The brands web site includes interviews with artists and exclusive performances. AllSaints is also known for holding its own underground music parties promoting unsigned and emerging British talent. Could this be purely just an interest of the brand? Or a marketing ploy to create a particular image for
Style: AllSaints succeeds in maintaining a powerful brand image. As culture and trends change, AllSaints manages to remain true to its roots; edgy rock music culture inspired styles incorporating leathers, jeans and boots.
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BODY POLITICS: The Mannequin
The Mannequins attempt to differ themselves from ‘the norm’; incorporating a rustic, industrial style as opposed to the glossy aesthetic usually portrayed by other retailers.
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BODY POLITICS: Analysis of a Look
Leathers
Denim
Boots The Roots of AllSaints Style: AllSaints is very particular in the style of items it chooses for its collections, making heavy use if leather jackets, boots and denim; items with much cultural and historical context becoming symbolic of rebellion and sub-cultural lifestyles.
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BODY POLITICS: Analysis of a Look
Culture is constantly changing with the emergence and alteration of various social and political phenomena. The commercial world influences our lives dramatically; we are conditioned by images we portray in the media in a way which manipulates our lifestyle and fashion choices. 12
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BODY POLITICS: Analysis of a Look
AllSaints chooses which aspects of culture it wants to evoke in its style and reputation; it aims for a similar aesthetic ideologies as many subcultures and counter-cultural groups in a way to appear ‘cool’, however the shop is still firmly rooted within the retail circuit in the same way in which other high street stores are in an attempt to sell its clothes. 14
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SUBJECTIVITY: AllSaints in relation to its surrounding block in terms of Light and Sound projected from within it. 16
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SUBJECTIVITY: Retailers attempt at enticing consumers; how inviting is the aesthetic?
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Retailers employ many tactics in order to attract consumers, some attempt to emmerse their customers more than others. AllSaints has a lower amount of communication with the body than other retailers on the street, suggesting that it is trying to portray a more exclusive facade to us and out surrounding city.
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SUBJECTIVITY: Exploration of Spacial Phenomena; What makes public spaces appeal to certain cultural groups?
Cockburn Street: A Hub of ‘alternative stores; the street attracts many members of subcultural groups. The retail outlets project a less dominating or capitalist aesthetic, suggesting a removal from the mainstream.
St. James Centre: The epitome of consumerist culture. The shops within this constructed environment promote themselves to their surroundings fully. This is a haven of capitalism, attracting all sorts of people, as well as providing a place of gathering.
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SPEED ANALYSIS: Strength of Communication Phenomena
Journey Through AllSaints Store Relationship Between AllSaints and Edinburgh Context Brand Intensity Stock/Display Altering Frequency Surveillance Intensity by Technology/Humans Ability to Manoeuvre Through Spaces
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GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF THEORY
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Attempt to Escape Mainstream Consumer Culture: Over time, subculture and counter cultural groups have lost their social and political ideals which gave them depth. Various groups and shops can attempt to separate themselves from mainstream culture, however fail, as without mainstream culture there is nothing to counteract.. Architecture and people can put on false pretence in order to portray themselves as something they are essentially not.
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HYPOTHESIS: Contrived Spacial Experience
“From this belvedere Paris is visible in all its horizons... but the parti was to suppress this panoramic view of Paris... offering [instead], at precise places, moving views of four of the things, visible from there, that establish the prestige of Paris: the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Sacre-Coeur, Notre Dame.� BEATRIZ COLOMINA, Privacy And Publicity
An architecture which detaches itself from its location. Choosing at which particular moments it wants to engage with the site, generating alternative spatial phenomena. Alter the geometry of the museum according to its surroundings to focus on certain aspects of the city.
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Windows have moved from being simply an object which allows light to enter a building to a frame which enables a particular orientation of ones environment to take place. Make heavy use of glass, also ties into idea of lightweight flexible structure.
The Situationalists An internationalist European revolutionary group founded in 1957, and which reached its peak of influence in the general strike of May 1968 in France. With their ideas rooted in Marxism and the 20th century European artistic avant-gardes, they advocated experiences of life alternative to those admitted by advanced capitalism, for the fulfilment of human desires. For this purpose they suggested and experimented with the "construction of situations," namely the setting up of environments favourable for the fulfilment of such desires. Architecture can construct our environment, implementing chosen phenomena in particular ways.
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HYPOTHESIS: Controlled Environment AdBusters ‘Culture jamming’ website Adbusters comes under scrutiny in ‘The Rebel Sell’. A site which has built itself on its powerful stance against capitalism, bad-mouthing big brands and creating spoof ads in particular Nike, then went on to promote their own brand of footwear as an alternative. This might be seen as contradictory and puts Adbusters on level with other brands which attempt to steal consumers of Nike products, albeit a more brutal campaign against the brand. This suggests Adbuster is part of the corporate machine which is modern culture. We cannot unplug ourselves from the system, no matter how we try to portray ourselves.
To detach itself from a corporate look, Adbusters uses an unconventional layout of pages and does not make use of the same logo twice.
The style reminds me of the Deconstructivist aesthetic in architecture, forms which appear random but a placed so for a reason; a style which removes itself from its place in culture and history. 28
The Matrix “The world we live in might be an elaborate illusion, that our brains are simply being fed sensory input by machines, input that tricks us into thinking that we live in a world of physical objects...” The Rebel Sell, 2005
“The world that we live in is not real. Consumer capitalism has taken every authentic human experience, transformed it into a commodity and then sold it back to us through advertising and the mass media” The Rebel Sell, 2005
A space may have differing spacial qualities to its exterior- create the idea of ESCAPISM. Sensor what is seen by the museums inhabitants and what can be observed of the museum by external pedestrians. Architects can dictate the Body through the spatical qualities in their designs, they can dictate routes, actions and the observations the public make. I am to create a new route through my site which engages the public with the aspect of a fashion museum.
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HYPOTHESIS: (False)Glamour “Let’s face it, when you’re a story line on Friends, it’s hard to keep thinking you’re radical” JAY BLOTCHER, New York magazine, September 1996
Counterculture Without a ‘mainstream culture’ there would be nothing to counteract; therefore counterculture is part of the mainstream itself. Possible Museum Location: Firmly rooted within retail circuit surrounded by shops, however tries to remove itself from the mass consumerism of the area; and architecture which acknowledges the distinction between its physical and metaphorical existence.
Mass Dessemanation It is generally seen that the fashion world can be explained through this method of mass dessemenation. However, through my research so far through the project I have come to see fashion as a more capitalist subject, a subject which is made especially for the world of retail and consumerism. Due to this I plan to alter the retail circuit by introducing a design workshop with is firmly imbedded within a highly consumerist environment in the context of Edinburgh. Can achieve by taking over a shop and embedding this workshop between existing shops
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Fashion may be seen as simply aesthetic, a covering of what is true. Our perceptions of people can be influenced by their look, and the same can apply to architecture. Possible integration into Museum: Make use of a functionless, purely aesthetic secondary skin which alters the perception of the building.
It is possible for people as well as architecture to be overshadowed by the aesthetic they portray. A person has the capability to alter their appearance; hence altering peoples perception of their character.
The world of Fashion is often seen in 2D, with only the final product being viewed, back of house areas and behind the scenes activities are generally not viewed by the masses. Separate these functions from the rest of the museum programme.
Unknown
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Fashion Museum :The Facade of Fashion 33
SITING STRATEGY
Location Plan 1:15000
Princes Gardens overshadows Princes Mall roofscape when it comes to the desire for an escape from the fast pace of the retail circuit.
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I aim to re-vitalise a generally redundant space. Fixing the museum to the site as a parasite while working with its existing geometry. Acting as a link from the Old Town and Waverley Train Station and the New Town Retail area, I wish to create a space which embraces this link, allowing the a permeable flow of pedestrian traffic through the integration of new routes.
Opposing the monumental institutionalism of the Galleries sited alongside Princes Gardens, the Fashion museum should appear light, and flexible; an entity which evokes the essence of fashion, that of one which is in a state of flux and constantly changing.
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PRECEDENT STUDIES
Daniel Libeskind, Garden of Love and Fire: Installation in the landscape with a secondary facade in a particular planar form.
James Stirling, Staatsgalerie: A Gallery/Museum can become part of the urban environment, allowing for the passing through of pedestrians
Frank Gehry, Gehry House: A 2nd aesthetic skin envelopes the buildings primary structure.
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Arne Quinze, Art Instalation in Brussels: A lightweight canopy manoevering through a site, ‘sticks’ more condensed at certain points.
Daniel Libeskind, Studio Weil: Division of programmes with route running through.
Daniel Libeskind, Ko-Bogen Dusseldorf: Facade reveals full glazing at certain points. Also creating a visually stimulating aesthetic.
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PROGRAMMATIC LAYOUT
Museum Space: Choosing to reject its surroundings; transcending time
Commercial Space: Depicting the ‘brand’ of Edinburgh; focussing on its retail opportunities and iconic sites
Catwalk Space: Promoting itself to its surroundings
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Social Space/Function Area: Glamorizing Edinburgh
Architecture can chose to absorb what it chooses from its environment to create a particular spacial experience.
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Framing Views by Programme: Allowing the City to Determine Architecture Reception Shop Cafe Bar/Function Room Museum
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Conceptual Positioning of Programmes
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FASHION MUSEUM DESIGN
Lower Ground Floor Plan 1:400, Design Workshop within Princes Mall 44
A Design Workshop is located directly within Princes Mall, suggesting that consumerist culture is key in the design world.
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Ground Floor Museum Plan 1:400 46
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1st Floor Museum Plan 1:400 48
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The Museum acts as a parasitic volume , feeding of the retail circuit and the Mall
Museum Roof Plan 1:400 50
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Section A-A 1:400
ARRIVAL: The Museum acts as a Fashion Landscape merging the Old Town and Waverley Station with the fast pace of the retail circuit.
Section B-B 1:200
Encouraging pedestrian footpath, the Museum provides a shortcut through the site.
Metallic second skin;engulfing the building to create particular spacial experiences throughout
Bar/Function Space and Model Changing unit.
Catwalk Commercial Programme
Museum Space
Design Workshop
Exploded Axonometric 1:400
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FASHION LANDSCAPE: Allowing a platform for the viewing of fashion.
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The Museum encourages pedestrian interaction, acting as a faster route from Old Town to New Town
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Cafe: Acting as a moment of Slow; shielding from the speed of Princes Street. 65
Shop: Aligning itself along the same lines of Edinburghs main retail street: Princes Street.
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Bar / Event Space: Glamorizing the Edinburgh setting.
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The Museum Space: Flexible space allowing for numerous exhibitions to take place, the Museum transcends time, only allowing precise glimmers of an outside world. Walls are posted with iconic imagery from particular cultures, with key pieces being featured on mannequins.
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The Museum aims to revitalise its site in the context of FAST | SLOW. Connecting to the retail circuit, vigorously yet subtle; it acts as a beacon, with the catwalk exposing the fashion world to the Edinburgh Context.
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