Inspired by the textiles and patterns of the fashion industry, the Beijing Fashion-Factory rejuvenates a former industrial site into a diverse collection of creative workspaces. The interwoven nature of the fabric is leveraged as a design driver defining the various interior and exterior spaces, their connectivity, and separation. The design utilizes and borrows several techniques from the fashion designer’s palette, including draping, stitching, printing, and weaving. Theoretically, these processes tie back to the early conceptualization of architecture by theorist Gottfried Semper, who traced the etymology of the word wall back to its origins of textile and fabric, where divisions of spaces were not defined simply by brick and stone, and contemporarily concrete, glass and steel, but rather encompassed the draping of fabric as enclosure and later the application of textiles and patterns in the form of tapestries, incorporating both thermal performances as well as aesthetic and ornamental features.

Taking advantage of the existing industrial infrastructure, many of the remnant artifacts on site were used within the generous outdoor courtyard spaces creating collective gathering through recycling and reuse. Additionally, the interior renovations of the existing buildings took into account the historic impact of pandemics like COVID, orienting each unit’s interior to a private individual entry space. With the spacious courtyards presenting shared space for collective gathering in the age of social distancing, the elimination of any interior collective spaces reduces the potential spread of viral contagions between offices and studios. Particular care was taken to ensure that, while small interior groups may form within offices and studios, HVAC systems are exclusive to those spaces, preventing cross-contamination between companies.