Grimshaw’s competition-winning design for the Garibaldi Repubblica Fashion and Design Events Building falls within Cesar Pelli’s masterplan. The building will anchor the eastern edge of the Garibaldi Repubblica site, addressing equally to the major road-access route of Via Melchiorre Gioia, the newly created Exhibition Street to the South, the Piazza to the West and the public park that lies to the north.

The design concept is directly inspired by the fashion industry but takes as its starting point a simple ‘black box’ that forms the core of the building. Within this box, there are two levels of exhibition hall creating the possibility for between two and eight separate exhibitions at any one time.

This functional core is then loosely wrapped, as though draped with fabric, in a metal skin that follows the shape of the site, creating something of an urban sculpture. This external fabric, at once a roof and facade, is cleaved down its length into ribbons, exposing its warm timber structure internally and allowing light to penetrate, thus creating a variety of spatial and lighting conditions.

At piazza level, the building is transparent: full glazing allows the public immediate connection with the interior.