FACADE

T-shirt design concept inspired by famous architecture facades

Takram collaborated with architect Toyo Ito and SOMA DESIGN’s Tamae Hirokawa and Takashi Mori on transforming architectural facades as t-shirt designs. The design borrows from Toyo Ito’s architectural compositions. It is an embodiment of the “wearable architecture” concept, with a goal to unify the surface with underlying layers. Takram repeatedly experimented to recreate three-dimensionality, color, and texture to create a t-shirt that captures the uniqueness of Toyo Ito’s architecture.

Concept: Wearable Architecture

Former Takram member Kaz Yoneda has been concerned with the lack of people’s interest in architecture, despite its significant influence on shaping the society and culture. This led him to the concept of “wearable architecture,” which combines architectural facades with the familiar t-shirt. It makes architecture easily accessible for anyone, and aims to inspire their interest and curiosity in architecture. At the same time, the concept also questions the architectural and physical relationships between the outer and inner layers.

Detail: T-shirt design

The t-shirt design is a collaboration between Takram and SOMA DESIGN. The t-shirt adopts Toyo Ito’s algorithmic architectural facade and structural integration, and is designed with a continuous pattern that covers the entire body surface. By repeatedly experimenting to recreate three-dimensionality, color, and texture, the design succeeds in expressing visual permeability and structural shades with fabric. The final design captures the essence of Toyo Ito’s architecture.

The t-shirt inspired by “Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2002” uses an opalescent finish in which fibers are partially dissolved to make the linear pattern stand out from the base fabric. The t-shirt inspired by “National Taiwan University College of Social Sciences Library” fuses washi paper to the base fabric, and uses pigment and laminate finish to create three-dimensional shadows.

Future work: another story

One of the important aspects of the “T-shirt Project” is its fund-raising activities for the Tohoku relief effort. By collaborating on the t-shirt series with architects who share the same humanitarian philosophy, this project is beginning to take shape as a highly sustainable relief fund. Although the project is currently in the prototyping stage, Takram aims to commercialize the product for the purpose of contributing to the relief efforts.