COMME DES GARÇONS

"Comme des Garçons has always traveled at its own pace and will continue to do so."
Rei Kawakubo, 2010


REI KAWAKUBO

Comme Des Garcons is a famous fashion line designed by Rei Kawakubo who is also its sole owner. She was born on October 11^th 1942 in Tokyo, Japan. What makes her an original designer is the fact that she received no training, instead studying fine arts a

nd literature at Keio University. After her graduation, she worked in a textile company and in 1967 she started to be a freelance stylist. She officially started her company in 1973 called “Comme des Garcons Co. Ltd” and opened her first store in 1975. Although it was at first a woman’s line, in 1978 she designed clothes for men and three years later, she attained real fame by presenting her fashion lines in Paris Fashion Week each season. Her first Parisian boutique opened in 1982.

Comme des Garcons is known for its “anti-fashion, austere, and deconstructed” garments. Meaning, that it is anti-conformist, the clothes are usual very dark with a splash of color, and the garments are usually frayed, with sharp edges and asymmetrical shapes.

Another aspect that makes Rei Kawakubo special as a designer is that she likes to be involved in all the aspects of her company, from graphic design to choosing shop interiors.

Aoyama, Tokyo store is known for its glass façade deco

rated with blue dots, designed by Takao Kawasaki. In the early 1990s, she started publishing her bi-annual magazine “Six”, which is mostly made up of photos that she thinks are inspiring. She is very media shy, and she is known for saying that she prefers her creations to speak for themselves.

Comme des Garçons is a Japanese fashion label headed by Rei Kawakubo, who is also its sole owner.

Comme des Garçons has a dozen boutiques and approximately 200 vendors around the world, with flagship stores in Aoyama, Tokyo's high fashion district, as well as Place Vendôme in Paris.

The company increases $150 million per year.

The label was started in Tokyo by Rei Kawakubo in 1969 and established as a company in Japan in 1973. Comme des Garçons became successful in Japan in the 1970s; a men's line was added in 1978. The year 1981 saw Comme des Garçons's debut show in Paris.

Comme des Garçons collections are designed in the Comme des Garçons studio in Aoyama and are made in Japan, France, Spain and Turkey.

Comme des Garçons have collaborated with various other labels over the years including Fred Perry, Levi’s, Converse All Star, Speedo, Nike, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton. Comme des Garçons and H&M collaborated on a collection which was released in the fall of 2008.

Björk notably wears Comme des Garçons on her video Isovel. Other celebetries have worn Comme des Garçons clothing.

THE H&M LINE

(The Polka Dot Scarf)

Value

The Polka Dot Scarf was a limited edition that could only be bought in 13 H&M stores in the entire world. It cost 24,99 $ (17 euros) but its price has gone down with time and now it can be found for 20,00 $

LINKS


H&M line Ad
Comme des Garçon and H&M


VIDEO

BLACK COMME DES GARÇONS

PLAY COMME DES GARÇONS

TAO COMME DES GARÇONS

JUNYA WATANABE MAN COMME DES GARÇONS

''In terms of creation, I have never thought of suiting any system or abiding by any rules, either a long time ago or right now. In this respect I have remained free.''

Rei Kawakubo, 2010

For SIGNIFICATION

"The project is one of the most visionary since modernism and beyond. It pushes the limits of architecture, not just formally but, more importantly, socially, culturally, and technologically through the reinvention of the tall building. The various functions of buildings, their spatial articulation and organization, have been completely rethought to provoke a new kind of collective construct with the potential for social and urban change."
– Tina di Carlo, assistant curator of architecture and design at the Museum for Modern Art (MoMA)

The CCTV Tower by Rem Koolhaas

REM KOOLHAAS

Remment Lucas Koolhaas was born 17 November 1944. He is a Dutch architect and architectural theorist. He has recently become Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is the founding partner of OMA.

List of Main Projects:

• Lille Grand Palais (Lille, 1988)

• Netherlands Dance Theater (The Hague, 1988)
• Nexus Housing (Fukuoka, 1991)
• Kunsthal (Rotterdam, 1993)
• Educatorium (Utrecht, 1993–1997)
• Second Stage Theatre (New York City, 1999)
• Guggenheim Hermitage Museum (Las Vegas, 1980, 2002?)
• McCormick Tribune Campus Center, IIT (Chicago, 1997–2003)
• Netherlands Embassy Berlin (2003)
• Retail design for Prada stores (New York: 2003, Los Angeles: 2004)
• Seattle Central Library (Seattle, 2004)
• Casa da Música (Porto, 2001–2005)
• Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, (London, 2006)
• Shenzhen Stock Exchange, (Shenzhen, 2006)
• Córdoba International Congress Center (Palacio del Sur), Córdoba, Spain
• CCTV HQ (Beijing, 2004–2009)
• Riga Port City, (Riga, 2009)
• 23 East 22nd Street, (New York City, 2008–2010)
• Bryghusprojektet, (Copenhagen, 2008–2010)
• Torre Bicentenario (Bicentennial Tower), (Mexico City, 2007, unbuilt)
• New Court, St. Swithin's Lane (London, 2010)
• • De Rotterdam, (Rotterdam, 2009–2013)

He has been awarded with the Pritzker Prize in 2000 and in 2008 Time put him in their top 100 of The World's Most Influential People. He has become from the 1970s one of the more relevant architects in the world and in the history of architecture.

QUALITATIVE

MEDIUM

o What is it made of?

This 600,000 square meter project is mainly made of steel, timber, reinforced concrete and glass. For instance, it has required 123,750 tons of steel for 4.8 million square feet of space, or 51 lbs/sf of steel.

It has an irregular geometry.

Composition of the new CCTV headquarters :

- -the main building, an area of 115,000 square meters which includes a hotel, a visitor's center, a large public theatre, and exhibition spaces. It is a highly visible edifice that can be seen from the main intersection of the Central Business District.

- -the Television Cultural Centre (TVCC) (frames the main building which is situated within the “window” of the TVCC building) a Media Park can be found beneath the open spaces of the TVCC and forms a landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas, and production studios as an extension of the central green axis of the CBD.

- -the Energy Service Centre

The total size is 575.000 m2 :

- -TVCC total 95,000m2: hotel 52,000m2, public facilities 23,000m2, parking 20,000m2

- -CCTV total 465,000m2: administration 75,000m2, program offices 65,000m2, news production 70,000m2, broadcasting 40,000m2, program production 120,000m2, staff facilities 30,000m2, parking 65,000m2

The gate of the CCTV tower is without any doors and is transparent.

o How can it be reproduced using its raw materials?

The tower is not designed as a traditional skyscraper pointing directly to the sky, but as a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical sections that establishes an urban site. “The towers press their overhanging heads together, as if each were wearied by the effort to remain upright,” writes contributor William B. Millard. It uses triangulated structure with diagonal support beams.

The main tower is comprised of two symmetrical L-shaped high-rise towers linked at the top and the bottom at an angle and this disorientates the viewer. It also looks like two Zs joined together, which has been described as a ‘Z’ criss-cross. They reflect and signify each other.

To understand how it was made, one can take a look at this well-done presentation:

http://www.slideshare.net/peterbach/cctv-building-a-structural-design-overview

the slides 2-3 explain how it was made and the slide 40, the construction process

STYLE

The building does not have the traditional shape of a skyscraper. First of all, it is not as high as technology today might give the opportunity. Secondly it is from by two tilted towers, which are connected by a huge horizontal section in the air creating a big empty space in the middle. The new work of architecture certainly distinguish it self from the other buildings, most of which look much the same.

From

any perspective we will never see only one of the towers. We will always appreciate the connection. It actually looks like a big empty cube, it has been called the “twisted donut”. The building is not only two independent towers but everything becomes one. The building is based on functionality but as well in architectural design.

Its shape can be sum up in 4 words:

• Constant loop
• Cantilever overhang
• Diagonal structure grid systemà little triangles connected with nodes and rings at their intersect
• L-shaped

It has capability for 10.000 people. The butterfly links can be appreciated since it is covered with glass. It has a brilliant colour when it is at night since it is illuminated and the light reflects on the glass. It looks sophisticated and fragile, it even seem impossible that such an structure will be able to stand by itself.

EXPRESSION

What is it used for:

• 
  
  
  

  - The building is used for the Chinese Central Television
• 
  
  
  

  - The CCTV building was part of a media park intended to form a landscape of public entertainment, outdoor filming areas, and production studiosThere news programs, interviews, journals recorded in there.
• 
  
  
  

  - Administration, news, broadcasting, and program production offices and studios are all continued inside.
• 
  
  
  

  - It was one of the buildings built in time for the 2008 Olympic games to make the city more modern and beautiful to host this event. While the tower was used to “brighten” the city, it actually contains inside the news programs that recorded the Olympics and then broadcasted them to the world.

How does it function:

-

It is an “earthbound structure, not a skyscraper”

- It was built in three buildings that were joined together to become one and a half buildings 30 May 2007.

- Components:

o CCTV Building (Headquarters & Broadcasting)

o TVCC Wing (Cultural Center & Performing Arts)

o Media Park (Social Gathering Place)

- Nicknames: “Twisted Donut”, “The Pants”, “Two drunken, upside-down Ls”, “Each Tower is a banana, built with a deliberate slight curve”, “Contorted Loop”

- Seismic Stability Design Approach:

o Frequent Earthquake -> No structural damage

o Intermediate Earthquake -> Repairable Structural Damage

o Rare Earthquake -> Severe Strucutral Damage permitted, must not collapse

http://www.slideshare.net/peterbach/cctv-building-a-structural-design-overview

QUANTITATIVE

VALUE

o What is the cost of production, distribution & sustainability?

Budget: €600 million but COST: €850 million ($1.2 billion)

o How long does it take to manufacture and where is it done?

The construction began in September 2004 and it was due for completion end of 2009 and was actually finished in 2008.

It was constructed on the 20-hectare site of an abandoned motorcycle factory in Beijing’s new Central Business District.

ORIGINALITY

Among the skyscrapers in Beijing there is one in particular that catches the eye. Most architects and designers argued that since the area is one in development it was needed to put together the highest skyscraper possible. Koolhaas dislike this idea and with his team decided then to try to reinvent the idea of skyscraper.

The main idea was to create a skyscraper that really capture the essence of the media and that sum up the purpose and facilitate the work for this one. The building changes of shape depending from which perspective we are looking at it, but we never see a unique tower since this one from whichever perspective is always connected to something else.

From the outset, it was determined that the only way to deliver the desired architectural form of the CCTV building was to engage the entire façade structure, creating in essence an external continuous tube system. This would give the structure the largest available dimensions to resist extreme earthquakes.

The building represents Koolhaas ambition and challenge to traditional forms of architecture. The Building that he created has a strong visual impact. All the surroundings become the background that highlight the presence of his work.

His work is different from the other because it is more pioneering, more exaggerated and it is based in a strong visual impact. Furthermore, it was risky in terms of earthquake and it seemed unstable. Nevertheless, the structure is the result of numerous researches and proved to be much more securing than normal skyscrapers due to several factors:

• Super elasticity of the desing
• The towers deflect under their own weithgt

Furthermore, the building offers the best system in case of emergency, reducing the time for evacuation:

Koolhaas work is one of the biggest buildings ever constructed and the work is also architectural configuration and design.

The building is different as well from others of his family because since the building is for the CCTV it needed to fulfil some necessities. Rem Koolhaas himself argued that one of the reasons why his building was different is because it was the product of the challenges that have been overcome.

SIGNIFICATION

o How does this object go beyond initial interpretation?

The construction of the building is considered to be a structural challenge, especially because it is in a seismic zone. Because of its radical shape, it's said that a taxi driver first came up with its nickname dà kùchǎ (大裤衩), roughly translated as, "big boxer shorts".


This headquarters for China Central Television, combines the entire process of TV-making – administration, production, broadcasting – into a single loop of interconnected activity. Rising from a common platform accommodating production facilities, two towers – one dedicated to broadcasting, one to services, research, and education – lean towards each other and eventually merge in a dramatic, seemingly impossible cantilever.

CCTV's distinctive loop aims to offer an alternative to the exhausted typology of the skyscraper. In spite of their potential to incubate new cultures, programs, and ways of life, most skyscrapers accommodate merely routine activity, arranged according to predictable patterns. Formally, their expressions of verticality have proven to stunt the imagination: as verticality soars, creativity crashes.

Instead of competing in the hopeless race for ultimate height and style within a traditional two-dimensional tower 'soaring' skyward, CCTV proposes a truly three-dimensional experience, culminating in a canopy that symbolically embraces the entire city. CCTV consolidates all its operations in a continuous flow, allowing each worker to be permanently aware of her colleagues – a chain of interdependence that promotes solidarity rather than isolation, collaboration instead of opposition.


The loop also facilitates an unprecedented degree of public access to the production of China's media: visitors will be admitted to a dedicated path circulating through the building, connecting all elements of the program and offering spectacular views from the multiple facades towards the CBD, the Forbidden City, and the rest of Beijing.

VIDEO