BlouinArtinfo
by Mark Beech
Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, exterior (© 2016 Studio KO, Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent)
The Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent has revealed plans for its new Morocco museum designed by Studio KO.
Drawings for the new Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech (mYSLm), which has a provisional cost of €15 million, show a building of terracotta bricks made of Moroccan earth, concrete and an earthen colored terrazzo with sweeping walls and Moroccan stone fragments.
The complex is planned to open its doors in autumn 2017 and is dedicated to the work of the French designer. It will contain a selection from the Foundation’s collection, which comprises 5,000 items of clothing, 15,000 couture accessories and tens of thousands of sketches and other archival items, which are currently retained in Paris.
Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier, founders of the French company Studio KO, came up with proposals after researching the YSL archives. The men were intrigued by the duality between curves and straight lines, loose and clean cuts. Therefore, from the exterior, the museum has cubic forms with bricks like threads of fabric. The interior, by contrast, has sweeping lines resembling a jacket lining. The terrazzo is made using both local stone and marble. The building will blend harmoniously with its surroundings on Rue Yves Saint Laurent and greenery of the adjacent Jardin Majorelle.
The new building, covering more than 4,000 square meters, will have an air conditioning system to fight Moroccan heat and preserve everything from couture dresses to books. It will have a large exhibition space conceived by Christophe Martin; smaller temporary spaces; an auditorium for concerts, screenings and other events; a bookshop, a café-restaurant with a terrace and a research library of 5,000 books covering Yves Saint Laurent’s works, fashion, history and culture.
Work began last September on the demolished urban plot. The inauguration of the building in autumn 2017 will coincide with the new Musée Yves Saint Laurent at 5 Avenue Marceau, Paris, the former fashion house and current headquarters of the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent.
“Yves Saint Laurent and I discovered Marrakech in 1966, and we never left,” said Pierre Bergé, President of the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent. “This city deeply influenced Saint Laurent’s life and work, particularly his discovery of color. The Studio KO architects share this passion.”
Studio KO’s founders said in a statement that they knew and loved both fashion and Morocco. They have worked in the country since the start of their careers and eventually opened an office there. Studio KO’s private and public projects include the Villas E and K in Morocco, the Chiltern Firehouse restaurant in London; and the Balmain boutique in New York.
The museum will be sited at Rue Yves Saint Laurent, Arrondissement Guéliz, Marrakech, Wilaya de Marrakech, Morocco
