by Johanna Agerman Ross

“To us denim is not nostalgic, but it is often romanticised as a product,” says Pieter Kool, head of design and development and art director of 3D design at the Dutch denim brand G-Star Raw. “We see denim as a very good fabric, used for a certain purpose. We address the functionality and purpose of the product, rather than the romantic story that is built around it.”

Yet in visiting G-Star’s new headquarters in an industrial estate southeast of Amsterdam’s picturesque city centre, nostalgia is one of the first words that comes to mind. Here industrial nostalgia reigns supreme. Even if no manufacturing takes place in the building, which has been designed by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), it is steeped in an industrial aesthetic. It fetishises raw materials and exposed trusses. A cement factory and a newspaper printing plant are its closest neighbours and this just adds to the G-Star experience.

The first time I see the building it's from the window of a car travelling on the raised highway between Schiphol Airport to the city centre. Seen from this perspective its dark volume in glass and black concrete – measuring 140m long – is reminiscent of an airport hangar. This reference was a starting point for the project.

“One of our first ideas was that it could present itself like an airport hangar in which anything can happen and the creative process can take any shape that is necessary,” says Ellen van Loon, lead architect on the project and partner of OMA.

We're sitting in one of the G-Star boardrooms and as van Loon speaks she flicks through a presentation of the project. She stops at a picture of the development of a Boeing 787. The images shows a peculiar clash of desk-bound designers and engineers, juxtaposed against industrial manufacture. The body of the aircraft is taking shape in a bustling production facility and it's surrounded by people who look more like ants than humans. There is a fundamental difference between G-Star and Boeing – the design development of denim clothing requires less volume – but the size of the G-Star HQ is nonetheless reminiscent of the aircraft manufacturer. It's an ode to industry of old....Continue Reading

> via Disegno Daily