October 3, 2016

Studio KO Fashions a Museum Tribute to Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech

Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech exterior. Photography courtesy of Studio KO, Fondation Pierre Bergé—Yves Saint Laurent.

Paris-based design firm Studio KO, in collaboration with Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, has been tapped to design a museum honoring the late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. The project, Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, pays homage to the world-renowned designer and his usage of bold colors, shapes, and patterns inspired by his international travels—including to Marrakech, Morocco, where the museum is based.

The 4,000-square-meter floor space will feature a permanent exhibition of arrayed couture pieces and sketches spanning Saint Laurent’s more than 50-year career. In addition, the museum will include a fashion library, restaurant, and terrace, and will feature Duravit fittings in the restrooms.

The founding architects Karl Fournier and Olivier Marty designed the building like one would cut fabric for a dress, by composing curves and lines. Using that as inspiration, the duo incorporated a latticework design on the building’s facade using locally crafted terracotta bricks. The resulting structure appears almost fabric-like in texture.
 

Musée Yves Saint-Laurent Marrakech exterior. Photography courtesy of Studio KO, Fondation Pierre Bergé—Yves Saint Laurent.

“We designed the building like one would cut fabric for a dress,” says Karl Fournier.

Olivier Marty adds, “The building’s facades will be wrapped in a brick trim, like a drape, throw, or cape. We also wanted it to be mysterious, opaque, inward, and with textures and materiality that would help it mingle with [other buildings within the city center].”
 

Musée Yves Saint-Laurent Marrakech. Photography courtesy of Studio KO, Fondation Pierre Bergé—Yves Saint Laurent.

Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech will open in fall 2017.

Recent DesignWire