City Dress was made for the exhibition titled Echo / City – An Urban Register, which was curated by Jeremy Till and presented in the British pavilion at the Biennale di Venezia in 2006. It is a soft model, sewn from fabric, that represents our Jessop West project in Sheffield. A specially made pattern for visitors to sew their own haute couture wear was handed out during the exhibition.

City Dress interprets the façade of the university building as an independent layer that can be worn like an item of clothing.

Clothes keep us warm, protecting us from the environment, from wind, rain and sun. They are also an expression of the person they dress and at the same time form a response to the social environment in which they are displayed, be it to signify membership of a group or to mark a social occasion.

All of the above also applies to the façade shown here: it is a performative skin, tailored to fit the body of the building; it creates a significant flagship for the Jessop campus and generates a unique atmosphere, as a specific urban occasion. The use of the weaving motif refers to the façade’s textile character.