Would Have Been Wednesday – Fashion Island Research & Development Community

Continuing our weekly Would Have Been Wednesday journey through the Epstein archives we take a trip back to 2005 Beijing, China to remember the architectural design and planning services we did as part of a design competition sponsored by the Chinese Government to create a unique research and development community. Fashion Island would have served as an incubator to stimulate the fashion design talents of Chinese nationals and, in turn, change the perception that China is just a country where clothing is manufactured, but like France, Italy and United States, a place where designs/trends are developed.

Fashion Island, planned as a 335,000 square meter (3.6M sf) "Town", was designed to include commercial outlets, a hotel and exhibition center, design studios, offices, a training center and a recreational holiday district. Epstein's design scheme was thematically based on the world of fashion. Pedestrian "catwalks" served as the main organization/conceptual idea. Outlet shops, studio spaces and interactive zones were spread throughout like a continuous fabric along this organizational framework, creating synergies amongst themselves. Just as patterns form part of the assemblage for fashion, these dynamic program elements would foster opportunities for creative expression.

For those of you familiar with Beijing the site for this project was located north of Temple Town in the Huairou District of Beijing. It was bounded by the Jinqin Railway to the north, Yinbin Road on the east, the Huai River on the south, and a newly planned street defined the western boundary.

Sadly our concept was not selected as the winner, but more importantly the entire Fashion Island development was never constructed by the Chinese Government. The reasons for the eventual demise of this project were never truly made clear to us or our design competitors, but we still take pride in the concepts that we developed and presented.