The sartorialists: Wearing the city

Students from Monash University Art, Design and Architecture transform Melbourne's contemporary architectural icons into wearable art.

Students from Monash University Art, Design and Architecture have transformed a selection of ten iconic Melbourne buildings – including the RMIT Design Hub by Sean Godsell Architects, ACCA by Wood Marsh Architecture and the new Melbourne School of Design by John Wardle and NADAAA – into wearable art. Working in collaboration with the architects as well as artist Callum Morton, fashion designer Miriam Borcherdt and architect Cate Hall, the designs reinterpret the buildings’ forms at human scale, exploring the way the tectonics react to human movement. They use a range of techniques, from folding and pleating to wrapping and draping.

Lyons Architecture's Swanston Academic Building reinterpreted by Emilia Firus and Alexis Infeld.

Lyons Architecture’s Swanston Academic Building reinterpreted by Emilia Firus and Alexis Infeld.

Image: Matthew Stanton

Architecturally, the effects of surface design can be seen in many of the designs as they are a literal translation of a building’s facade into a textile. Of particular note is Emilia Firus’ and Alexis Infeld’s interpretation of Lyons Architecture’s Swanston Academic Building: the patterns and forms of the building’s facade have been extruded and recrafted into an origami dress. Other projects also play on concepts of silhouette and form.

The project is inspired by the legendary 1931 costume ball of the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, in which over twenty of New York’s pre-eminent architects of the time dressed up as a building they had designed. It’s a tradition that lives on in many of New York’s architecture schools.

The inspiration: The 1931 Beaux-Arts Ball where New York's architectural elite dressed up as their buildings. From L-R: A. Stewart Walker as the Fuller Building (1929), Leonard Schultze as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1931), Ely Jacques Kahn as the Squibb Building (1930), William Van Alen as the Chrysler Building (1930), Ralph Walker as 1 Wall Street (1931), DE Ward as the Metropolitan Tower and Joseph H. Freedlander as the Museum of the City of New York (1930).

The inspiration: The 1931 Beaux-Arts Ball where New York’s architectural elite dressed up as their buildings. From L-R: A. Stewart Walker as the Fuller Building (1929), Leonard Schultze as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1931), Ely Jacques Kahn as the Squibb Building (1930), William Van Alen as the Chrysler Building (1930), Ralph Walker as 1 Wall Street (1931), DE Ward as the Metropolitan Tower and Joseph H. Freedlander as the Museum of the City of New York (1930).

Image: New York Times

The students’ designs will be presented for one night only on Saturday 15 November 2014 at MPavilion.

More industry news

See all
The proposed Gurrowa Place designed by NH Architecture, Kerstin Thompson Architects, 3XN Australia, and Searle × Waldron Architecture. Queen Victoria Market towers approved

The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning has approved a $1.7 billion project to create three towers adjacent to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market.

The building’s design incorporates elements to reference both Vietnamese and Australian culture. ‘Nationally significant’ cultural museum on its way

Brimbank City Council in Melbourne’s north west has agreed to sell a parcel of land to the Vietnamese Museum of Australia, paving the way for …

Most read

Latest on site

LATEST PRODUCTS