FASHIONING ARCHITECTURE FOLDS

Abstract

Fashion and Architecture have always reflected each other in terms of parallel forms and aesthetics. The Curators of the exhibition Skin+ Bones: Parallel Practises in Fashion and Architecture tracked this process and took to highlighting a further progression in this relationship.1 They noted an increasing trend of architects adopting fashion design tectonic strategy of draping, to create architecture; and devoted a section of the exhibition to document this. However, the analysis proved to be unsatisfying, since it only compares literal formal resemblances and does not critically analyze the process of translation. As such, this dissertation is written in reaction to the above critique. The primary purposes of this dissertation are to further analyse the effect of drapery and attempt an exploration on plausible techniques to translate this tectonic strategy of drapery in fashion garments to parallel architectural practices, beyond the mere literal adoption of the folding imagery in fabric drapery. In this paper, the tectonics of draping will specifically be discussed in relation to the fit of garment and materiality of fabric respectively. Concepts from Gottfried Semper’s aesthetic theory of style, Gilles Deleuze’s philosophy of the fold and Junhani Pallasmaa’s attitude towards multi-sensorial architecture will be introduced to enhance these explorations. The knowledge gained from the understanding of how draping relates to the fold will be discussed to bring a new discourse in the spatial experience and construction logic of architectural skin. In the course of this discussion, this paper also recognizes that folding is not a new concept in architecture. It has previously been introduced to the field by architects like Peter Eisenman and Greg Lynn who created architectural forms based on Deleuze’s philosophy of the fold. In the concluding chapter of this paper, a critical review will demonstrate the limitations of translating vague philosophical notions to architectural forms and proposes that philosophy should be read within the wider context of fashion design, as shown in the earlier chapters.