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THE FASHION AUTOMATON
A reinvention of the runway, taken from models and given to the public, creating a truly public fashion experience.
THE PROBLEM
The runway is monopolised by high fashion brands who give the public no opportunity for interaction. Attended by only the elite, it is a culture of exclusivity dominated by the lack of affordability. With the rise of the digital age, people now watch the show through a recording on their own screen in an attempt to extend to a wider audience, but the public has long been disengaged from the experience that few are watching.
THE PLATFORM
The Instagram culture does not and never will have any exclusivity attached to it, explaining its exponential growth. Anyone can be part of it, making it the perfect way to engage the public. It gives a platform for fashion which previously didn’t exist, one in which everyone is invited. Social media gives the platform for promotion and the opportunity to reach the world, but what it does not give is the physical space and conditions to create these images.
THE PROPOSAL
The Fashion Automaton creates the physical node necessary to produce this global digital show, by hybridising fashion, photography and promotion into one public building of constant modelling. Small brands/designers in the surrounding area and beyond, who would never have a creation in Fashion Week, can now reach the same audience. The clothes will be displayed at the start of a continuous journey through the building, with the ‘models’ having the choice of what they want to wear. It gives an accurate representation of what the public want, rather than the runway trying to dictate what they should wear.
Once you enter the space, you are the ‘model’ - not to a select group of people, but to the world. Images are constantly captured in this physical space and pushed out into the digital world. People are continuously putting on a show in their everyday life, from the way they dress to how they present themselves socially. The true character of people is captured in these photos, parallel to the stone-faced models.
With the focus on capturing the perfect shot, the lighting conditions in each space are designed to create an interesting spatial experience. Using natural light as the main method of lighting, it gives the widest opportunity for unique photos as one day to the next no two photos will be the same.
In creating such a space, the gap between the public and the fashion world is bridged.
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To capture the perfect shots, the lighting conditions must match the purpose of the space. Through research combined with model experiments, this building accommodates the varying environments each area demands, creating a whole series of different but connected spaces. This gives the maximum potential for photography, providing the opportunity for the public to explore this range under one roof.
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Expanding on the structure of the building, a 3m x 3m cube influenced each design move (not accounting for floors and walls which were offset from this initial grid). I continued this element of design into the tectonics of the building, creating both the exterior precast panels and the interior in-situ concrete under the same rule set. The waffle slab construction runs 1m x 1m instead to ensure the building can support itself but does not contrast with the existing grid.
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YEAR 2, SEMESTER 2, 2019
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