Multidimensional Sculpture by the Sea – OMC Fashion Center
Instead of placing a typical urban office building on a seaside, we considered whether it would be possible to introduce some freedom and break the predictable pattern.
The design tries to develop a new spatial form from Corbusier's homogeneous Domino structure. We started from exploring the essence of fashion industry, "the relationship between fabric and body", as our base of spatial imagination, introducing a series of tangential and diverging curved surfaces to form the main components of architectural space -- a huge spatial geometry that intervenes and interacts with the homogenous space.
The project is located in the corner of the apartment complex in Shandong Huangdao Fashion Industrial Park, facing the tidal sea, and is an extension of the "Vertical Tides" project of the Atelier Alter Architects. The building is 5,300 square meters, with a total of 6 stories. The first floor is connected to the outside traffic and has the function of fashion release and showroom. The second floor is connected to the apartment complex, and the four floors above are co-working spaces for designers.
Space Re-Generation
Instead of placing a typical urban office building on a seaside, we considered whether it would be possible to introduce some freedom and break the predictable pattern.
The design tries to develop a new spatial form from Corbusier's homogeneous Domino structure. We started from exploring the essence of fashion industry, "the relationship between fabric and body", as our base of spatial imagination, introducing a series of tangential and diverging curved surfaces to form the main components of architectural space -- a huge spatial geometry that intervenes and interacts with the homogenous space.
Interaction with Functions
The building has two main functions: one is for fashion product launches and runway shows, and the other is a co-working space for different designer brands. The interaction of the surfaces with the original homogeneous office space considers the complexity of combining the new fashion industry and office function. Instead of using a stacking language as the traditional office buildings, it combines a more open and communal launch space and designers’ offices that encourages interactions.
The ground floor, where the geometry touches the ground, has plenty of white space for more open shows and presentations and a 4-story tall atrium shared space. As the floors rise, the open offices, display booths, and communication spaces attached to the surface are intertwined and evolving, providing more possibilities for brand display and mutual communication between designers. To reduce the repetition and redundancy of space, the designers have integrated the spaces organically, emphasizing their unity through changing functions. The interaction of these functions and Spaces is a combination of sculptural geometries and conventional floors.
Multi-dimensional Space
The final form creates a special detachment between the horizontal, the floor slab, and the vertical, the glass curtain, rendering a vibrating spacial feeling: sliding from a generous space to a narrow, sharp gap, or twisting from a tangential vertical wall to a horizontal floor slab. The space is filled with movement over time, starting with the form of the facade, then gliding into the interior, and changing both vertically and horizontally. The result is a highly sculptural building on the waterfront.
