My architectural intervention seeks to prioritize garment workers in the LA fashion district where numerous sweatshops exist.This ‘slow fashion’ model aims to protect garment workers and improve their working conditions by bringing visibility and transparency to the manufacturing operations. The design decisions I took to achieve this are: The steps involved in garment production are arranged by floors. This allows each operation to be visible from the street and provides sufficient natural lighting for the operations. Introduction of shopping into production space through a spiral ramp that takes visitors from the street level through each production floor while having the opportunity to directly shop the garments that are being produced. Additionally, this will push fashion brands to foster ethical working conditions knowing that the workers will come in contact with the consumers. There are practice sewing stations where visitors can learn the basic operations of a sewing machine and perform simple amendments on their old clothes. A pulley system runs through the central core of the building, carrying garments from each step of production to the other. This provides efficiency in the production process and serves as a visual representation of the amount of garments that are produced daily.
