MARRAKESH — French fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent will soon have a museum dedicated in the city that gave him much inspiration over his life. Studio KO is building the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, which is scheduled to open in Marrakesh in fall 2017.
The builders told Designboom that the museum is built of cube bricks made of Moroccan earth. When seen together on the facade, they make a pattern that resembles threads of fabric. This contrasts with the interior, which takes on the look of a couture jacket lining, “luminous, velvety and smooth.”
Images from Studio KO>.
The suit jacket building will archive Saint Laurent pieces from the Fondation Pierre Bergé collection. This includes some 5,000 articles of clothing, 15,000 haute couture accessories and thousands upon thousands of objects such as sketches. These will occupy a 400 square meter permanent exhibition space. The museum also includes a 150 meter temporary exhibition space, a 130-seat auditorium, a book store, a terraced restaurant and a research library with more than 5,000 volumes.
The museum is more than a decade in the making, with no small amount of research going into how to preserve the late designer’s clothing in the Moroccan climate. The building includes an air conditioning system augmented by temperature and moisture controls so that each piece in the exhibit is preserved in archival condition.
The incredible Jardin Majorelle.
In addition to images of this museum, we’re including another beautiful Moroccan building, the Jardin Majorelle, a bright blue building that was the source of much inspiration to the jet-setting fashion kingpin. Whereas the museum creates a sense of austerity and accomplishment, it’s possible that the Jardin possesses a piece of Saint Laurent’s soul.
Do you love or loathe this terracotta fashion museum? Let us know in the comments.
The man himself, chilling in Marrakesh.
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