Proposal for the Fashion Museum Omotesando, Japan by Donald Shek

Here is the proposal for the fashion museum Omotesando Competition by Donald Shek.
The challenge consists in designing a 100 meters high tower-museum, containing exhibition areas of 20th century fashion history and becoming a landmark for Tokyo. For this purpose, the site is located at Omotesando Street, since this avenue gathers the world’s most important fashion houses, at their maximum magnificence. These buildings have been designed by Japan and the world’s best architects. It is an incredible opportunity for the winning architect to gain professional acknowledgement at a potential growing market, such as fashion houses buildings in Tokyo.

The stacks of layers that create the façade scale up the entire building creating a semi transparent skin; this skin allows both the outside to view the internal exhibitions as well as allowing the internal events to animate the public realm. The skin at the lower levels around the street edge form canopies for passers-by and visitors; as well as forming habitable spaces for the public to appropriate. the core is formed around the centre of the site allowing
full penetration of light through the skin into the building.

These lines of sedum and plantation act as both a changing façade that alters throughout the seasons like fashion itself with its altering colours and textures, but also as solar shading to filter direct sunlight. As these trays of flowers and grass flow around the building they reach the sky gardens, forming micro climates and filtering the surrounding context. the protrusions that form the runway and gardens are to seamlessly flow from the main structural façade, piercing the skyline allowing the users take advantage of the panoramic views of the city, and to allow the city to appreciate the events that occur within the museum.

As the building grows over the years the colours and textures of the museum slowly initiate growth throughout the rest of the city giving something back to the people of Tokyo in the future, thus creating another layer to the already rich fashion culture that emanates from the city.