For my final thesis project, we were to design a fashion research centre for the University of Westminster in central London. The centre would be a public, academic, and industry-facing resource built around the university’s world-class archive of menswear; The building would also contain exhibition spaces, a cafe, and a fashion-incubator -a communal studio space for start-up fashion designers. The site for the project is an unexceptional existing seven-storey building near Oxford Circus. The challenge was to extensively modify the existing fabric in terms of appearance, spatial quality, and environmental performance. 

The Westminster Menswear Archive collection represents some of the most important and exciting menswear garments covering the last 100 years of design. It intends to shine a light on the invisible men, represented through garments that have been neglected from the fashion industry as well as acknowledged designer clothing. It gives to show that the boiler suit is as important as the Alexander McQueen designer suit. Whilst my project may be inspired by corporate American architecture at first glance with its dark and organized facade, it represents a well-fitted suit that protects the rough and the smooth within. It is a statement in it is surroundings, just like fashion.