Retro-Prospective

Retro-Prospective

Xiao, Rongting Xiao (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)

Frausto, S.E. (mentor)
Groothuijse, B. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

The Berlage Post-MSc in Architecture and Urban Design

Fashion House

2023-02-03

Retro-prospective is an archive of historical costumes in Marseille, which serves as a threshold between the past and the future. It preserves the originals in an optimal state of conservation by the tailored norms in order to create new intellectual works for the future to continue the local fashion culture.
Within the Red Thread, the archive produces replicas through exclusive expertise, as a way to open to the public, serving as a shared platform for fashion industry communication. The accessible knowledge is intended to teach visitors about materials and techniques of local fashion by allowing them to study objects up close. It can be used for academic research, the inspiration of future designs, and commercial programs that feedback to the archive.
The archive is located in the underground part of the Palais du Pharo, a heritage building considered to be the living room of the city. Three layers with different degrees of accessibility undertake a linear workflow for archive originals and producing replicas to be accessible.
As an underground passive building, the archive prevents natural deterioration with energy-saving. The space in the double wall of the building hosts equipment to regulate the interior climate, borrow light and ventilation from the outside and are used for maintenance operations. The construction uses recycled concrete made of stones dug out of the site, using the stones in the caves as a natural formwork. The natural form of the inner wall becomes the replica of the ground.
Through the “Right to Replica “, which is the certification of the archive, the fashion industry internalizes the exclusive knowledge of local traditional costumes by making replicas, into expertise support for production of contemporary simulacrums as a method of heritage conservation.

Continuity
Archive
Fashion Industry

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:31641f4a-7a56-468f-a4d2-03b0235d8698

Student theses

master thesis

© 2023 Rongting Xiao Xiao