DIGI Fashion House : A Fashion Studio for Carole Roger

LIVE – WORK – SELL

A mixed-use development at individual, regional and urban level where people can Live, Work, Play. A system that has a variety of housing, is close to local companies where the community works and provides recreational outlets for eating/entertainment/retail activities.

Live – work -play communities are no longer limited to city centers, metropolitan areas but are also developing in suburban areas. In this project, the traditional typology of dwelling, working and retailing in the same building will be reinterpreted as a new archetype. The site for the same is in Charleston, SC along North and South market street.

Design Challenge

The first challenge of the project was to develop a suitable architectural program for a site. After analyzing the nature of North and South Market streets I decided to propose a garment shop for the site. The next challenge was to observe the changing market trends in this industry. While researching I came across the most sustainable ongoing practice in the fashion industry which is ‘GREEN FASHION’. It works with the concept of 3d printing and 3d modeling of fabric with zero chemicals involved in the process. This ‘Digi (digital) fashion house is designed for a designer named Carole Roger, who is currently experimenting with this concept to support her ideology of high-performance green fashion. Project Vision - To design a Technology and sustainability assisted garment production process for a Fashion and Luxury Designer, where consumers can contribute to produce their own required design styles to attain flexibility and quick responsiveness to changing market.

Physical Context

The building design and the space it encloses are seldom explored as potential tools for a beneficial indoor environment. The Live-Work-Sell unit has been designed considering the subtropical climate of Charleston having mild winters, hot, humid summers, and significant rainfall. Strategies such as cross-ventilation, avoiding direct heat gain, wall insulation, rainwater harvesting helps building to leave less impact on the environment. Maintaining high and permeable ceiling and operable windows help alleviate heat inside the building. The building has movable louvers on the west façade. They cope well with the sun ‘s changing altitude and can also be adjusted as per the angle of altitude. The open floor (3rd floor) is a semi-open green floor that encourages cross ventilation and let air pass-through structure. The exposed part of the wall is covered with a green/vegetation layer to avoid the heat island effect. The building has a digital screen-solar energy panel on the south side of the building, which would attract people to this street. This building would maintain the character of the North-South market street of Charleston intact.