Italian Fashion Hub: Call For Entries

Published on October 23, 2017

YAC – Young Architects Competitions – and Centergross launch “Italian Fashion Hub”, an architectural competition to redevelop a multi-service area of the wider fashion district in Europe. A cash prize of € 20,000 will be awarded to the winners selected by an internationally-renowned jury made by, among the others, Patrik Schumacher (Zaha Hadid Architects), Ben Gilmartin (Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Marie Hesseldahl (3XN), Aurélien Coulanges (Ateliers Jean Nouvel).

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Fashion is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon. Alongside the historic brands that have created the made in Italy legend, other giants have emerged. Such new companies have managed to meet the urgent need to create excellent products at an affordable price. They are the fast fashion companies, giants and artisans, which have endorsed the features of speed and dynamism that are part of the contemporary society.

The future of fashion is in speed. If fast fashion has its own capital in Europe, such place is- without any doubt- Centergross. Centergross is located on international transportation roads. It's comprised of one million square meters of office space, showrooms, and warehouses. Centergross is one of the most important groups of fashion companies at a global level. It is a titan with staggering figures: 6,000 workers, 700 companies, and 10,000 daily visits. It is a fashion citadel with stylists, models, buyers, and businessmen. Every day this army designs, purchases and provides the market with collections and accessories generating a 5 billion euros turnover.

The original project is still highly functional. On the contrary, the importance and centrality as fashion citadel acquired by Centergross are no longer consistent with a facility starting to bear the marks of the ravages of time. For these reasons, 40 years after its foundation, Centergross decided to let designers redesign its most representative building: the service area. It is a 1-kilometer area with restaurants, wellness centers, offices and hundreds of shops. As if they were a huge lymphatic system, they supply the whole fashion district with services.

Which identity to offer- through architecture- the biggest fashion citadel of the international scenario? How to make the most of such large intervention scale to create a monument to Italian fashion? These are the questions of Italian Fashion Hub, the competition by YAC and Centergross aiming to give the capital of the European Fast Fashion a new look.

Oma and Prada, Chipperfield and Valentino, Ito and Tod’s: the bond between fashion and architecture is strong. Today, this connection is renewed thanks to Italian Fashion Hub. Through this competition, designers will have the opportunity to work with an unprecedented intervention scale. As the most important design brands, they will have the chance to leave a mark in the history of contemporary architecture offering their creativity to one of the most demanding and refined pillars of the global economy: fashion.