Beirut House of Fashion
Fashion Creation Office: centre providing workspaces & resources to support the rebirth of Beirut's fashion ecosystem
G. Goedert (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
H.A. van Bennekom – Mentor (TU Delft - History, Form & Aesthetics)
Jelmer van Zalingen – Graduation committee member (KAAN Architecten)
H.L. van der Meel – Mentor (TU Delft - Architectural Technology)
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Abstract
Once, counting as an important banking hub and capital for fashion design within the Arabian countries, Beirut’s favourable economic positioning was weakened by social unrests, political standstill, and economic volatility. Beirut’s population has been facing severe socioeconomic challenges for the past decades, also reflected in the fashion industry. This thesis aims to analyse how workspaces can be reimagined and redesigned toward a future-proof fashion industry in Beirut.
The destruction of infrastructure due to the Port Blast in 2020, and the last aspect of a triple crisis, forces local designers to adapt their hitherto habits and seek alternative economic opportunities in order to sustain the country’s fashion industry. As a result, ongoing changes have been observed in Beirut in the way businesses operate and how people perform their work: telecommuting and remote work became a daily routine leading to a need for a reimagination of workspaces. Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19, these tendencies have been increasingly observed global-wide.
The proposed building “Fashion Creation Office” will function as a centre for local fashion designers and entrepreneurs that seek to operate within the Lebanese economy while tackling social and environmental issues. Functioning as a spatial incubator, the building will become a place of exchange where talented people are given the opportunity to launch and realize innovations and business ideas that enhance the sustainable rebuilding of the Lebanese economy. Identifying the spatial needs of start-up entrepreneurs and designers, the building will incorporate the architectural answer of how the workspace will evaluate in the future with the fashion industry functioning as a case study.