From Garment to Building

This research shown here revolves around an installation at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. It illustrates a novel approach to the design of building elements by combining the expertise embedded in the disciplines of Architecture and Textile Design into a hybrid practice. We found that by using textile technologies to ‘build’ architectural elements we can rethink waste in construction, expand the materials available for use in architecture as well as minimize time involved in the post fabrication of complex forms. This paper describes an installation that demonstrates a direct translation between architectural form and whole garment knitting machines without the need for prototyping. The world of architecture and textile design have been closely linked through time, the fi rst shelters were a mix of textiles that were able to effectively shed water and keep occupants dry. Since these primitive structures there has always been a romantic link between the two disciplines, but they have diverged such that techniques, materials and scale have become incompatible with each other. This project seeks to bridge the gap between the disciplines to offer alternative ways to think about ‘skinning’ a building.