The Softened Wall

5th Yeaar, 2025, Brian Ambroziak

Fashion houses. Every student chose a well-known fashion designer and was tasked to research the design style each designer incorporates into their clothing brand. Afterwards, the students would then design a facade for a seven-story building along a runway/road for their designated designer. For this project, Giorgio Armani was the focus of focus; what his fashion design was, the attitude towards not only his coworkers and models, but also to himself. Then, the transformation of their studies into a facade for the fashion designer would take place.

This facade takes part in the investigation into the potential of drapery and folds as an inhabitable facade. The envelope of the folds becomes a spatial experience. The exterior surface is composed of cascading vertical folds that create a blurred boundary between enclosure and ornament. The facade creates pockets of privacy, shadow, and small glimpses of light within the depths of the facade. Perforations in the facade allow light to access the interior through the folds, allowing the facade to come to life with atmospheric variations by echoing the softness and tonal richness of fabric through a rigid material. With this, the facade allows individuals to traverse within a vertical landscape, turning the act of inhabitation into an entirely new experience of dwelling within a gesture of a fold.

Giorgio Armani was born on July 11, 1934, in Piacenza, Italy. Before he ever stepped into the world of fashion, he studied medicine and even served time in the military. Once out, he changed courses and found himself drawn to fashion by becoming a window dresser for a department store in Milan. In 1975, Giorgio and his partner, Sergio Galeotti, founded the clothing brand Armani.

Armani’s design style became well-known for its soft, unstructured tailoring. He mainly used muted tones, natural body shaping, and fluid silhouettes. He designed clothing to be worn throughout decades, a traditional look.

“Elegance is not standing out, but being remembered.” - Armani

“I love things that age well, things that don’t date, that stand the test of time, and that become living examples of the absolute best.” - Armani

Armani is a traditional man. He designs for longevity, not one time use only.

Initial Study Photos

The drawings are the initial sketches to determine varying possibilities of how the design of the facade could be. The majority was based more on the topic of the drapery of fabric over a mass. The mindset of needing to work in two dimensions rather than three dimensions is not a process many students think about, due to this project only really works in a two-dimensional mindset.

One way to alter the mindset and view fabric in a different light was drawing the sketches on the right to discern highlights and shadows over the course of varying fabric layouts and folds. Within the sketches, it almost feels like an external force that is unseen within the image is manipulating the fabric to create a new outcome.