Crafted Archetype — Architecture Design Thesis
The graduate thesis behind Custom Archetype: "Architecture and Apparel Design; Harmony in the Built Environment and Branded Clothing" — a building where garments are made, exploded and displayed as architecture.
- Year
- Spring 2022
- Category
- Architecture + Planning
- Type
- Architecture Design Thesis · Graduate Studio ARCH 9996
- Location
- Philadelphia, PA
Context
The thesis puts a tailoring house and a building on the same design problem. Its centrepiece is a set of cylinders that drop from the roof to the base of the second floor carrying "exploded" clothes — the component pieces of the garment displayed whole at ground level — which double as light wells filtering daylight into the store. The apparel at the base of the cylinders is arranged to weave at the centre of the building and direct circulation through it. This is the thesis the Custom Archetype brand is rooted in, and the exploded-garment idea is the direct ancestor of the halted explosion artwork.
My Role
- Set the thesis premise: harmony between the built environment and branded clothing
- Designed the drop cylinders as display, light well and circulation device in one
- Programmed the tailoring house — tailor shops, embroidery, screen printing, dry cleaning
- Planned the Digital Design Room relaying computer-generated designs to craftspeople
- Designed the customer gallery that keeps clients inside the design process
- Specified the materials library of fabrics, samples and catalogues as a design resource
Process
Thesis Premise
Framed architecture and apparel design as one discipline rather than two adjacent ones.
Programme
Tailor shops, embroidery and screen printing, dry cleaning, digital design room, customer gallery, accessories, and an open office on the fourth floor.
The Cylinders
Developed the dropped cylinders carrying exploded garments — display, daylight and circulation resolved in a single element.
Materials + Fabrication
Materials library, and the computer, printing and fabrication lab supporting custom-fit manufacture.
Drawing Set
Carried the scheme from original sketch through Rhino trace to final set.
Outcome + Impact
The thesis that became a brand: Custom Archetype, the CA monogram, and the exploded-drawing language now running through the studio's artwork and apparel work.
Resume Reference
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