A fashion museum in a dynamic dialogue with the metropolis and nature 2010
Fashion has always been a reflection of the social, cultural and technological progression of the times. Similarly, the fashion museum reiterates its surroundings with its reflective surfaces and transparent glass framing the metropolis beyond. Nature is suspended within twelve specific gardens, forming an expression which stands proudly as a subtlety iconoclastic monument that adapts to the contemporary values of Japan’s legacy in fashion history and its distinction in provoking international exchange through intelligent design. The architecture is dematerialized, where nature absorbs its surroundings and connects to the urban fabric of Tokyo. It is simultaneously counter to the logic of a conventional landmark by becoming a dynamic projective landmark of fashion as a highly multi-disciplinary profession.
The museum refuses to be timeless, just as fashion has never been constant. The appearance of the museum evolves with its immediate surroundings and metamorphoses with the four distinct seasons. The twelve hanging gardens are designed to bloom and wilt, all in the will of nature. These distinct sensorial perceptions interact and engage the public to address the intimate relationship between human and nature. Parallel to this concept, the museum contains workshops and ateliers to engage the public in the production of fashion in the different eras.
Exhibition spaces are defined by the hanging crystalline boxes, each dedicated to exhibits from a particular decade. An escalator transports the visitor from the street to its entrance hall. The journey onwards then weaves between outdoor gardens and indoor exhibition halls. One reflects the content of each hall through a passage of contemplation, a space defined by the gardens. As the visitor ascends to the summit, the cantilevered runway is at sight, where the lounges are activated by an al fresco skybar and display which exhibits the pinnacle of fashion of its time. The twelve gardens respond to the seasons and climatic conditions, where cherry blossoms to Zen gardens are reinterpreted in a playful and dynamic method for a museum which is contemporaneous to the vision of fashion in the 21st century.
