FUNCTION OF FASHION

The Function of Fashion in Architecture seminar will survey the history of fashion in parallel to architecture starting from Ancient Civilization to Present. The focus will be on the relevance of garment design, methods and techniques and their potential to redefine current architectural elements such as envelope, structure, seams, tectonics and details. The functional, tectonic and structural properties of garment design will be explored as generative platforms to conceptualize very specific architectural elements. One of the challenges in the course is the re---invention of a means of assessment, the development of notations and techniques that will document the forces and the production of difference in the spatial manifestations of the generative systems.

Current fashion design and couture methods are converging with architectural digital technics. This is an opportunity that provides fertile ground for architects to re-examine the ‘digital’ in a variety of scales in relation to the human body. These techniques of pattern, texture, tactility, shape, profile, color, kinetics and augmentation found in fashion can be closely read and translated into new architectural elements and details. This course will research the design of a detailed ‘architectural part’, a building element, generated in dialogue with the scale of the wearable. We will question the notion of scale as it manifests in innovative digital territories.