Somewhere between an opera house and a runway, a Sybarite Architects-designed digital venue will host a Metaverse Fashion week performance.
To be performed within Sybarite Architects’ House of Synergos in Metaverse Labs’ platform Dragon City, #Capital is a so-called fashion-opera by Scottish composer Alastair White. The 28 March event is part of the Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 programme and will showcase digital fashions by brand ChenPeng, curated by ambassador Gemma A Williams. White and Williams’ collective UU Studios developed the fashion-opera format to reimagine the relationship between garments and music; its digital representation highlights the collaboration and coexistence of mediums afforded by the metaverse.
As explained by Sybarite Architects cofounder Simon Mitchell of the cyber opera house, ‘The hyperbolic paraboloid is a structure symbolizing modernization and progress and so it appears here in Dragon City as a defining feature of the “House of Synergos” existing at the intersection of what is inspired by the past and yet transcends us infinitely beyond that, the dream of all architects.’ A grey curved-plane roof encompasses a bright, sleek space with clinical overtones and stadium bench seating. The circular skylight that punctuates the ceiling corresponds to an abyss-like undulation in the middle of the round runway.
FRAME’s take
Now is the time for fashion brands to innovate, with the widespread shift in consumer behaviour post-pandemic, rise of digital fashion and changing face of luxury. Operators of event and cultural spaces must adapt to new social circumstances and technologies too. House of Synergos embraces these two realities, presenting a new type of performance venue that could very well help retailers bridge the divide between physical and digital. Designer Chen Peng puts it best: ‘The definition of consumers and audiences, goods and spaces, will continue to evolve as times change. What we are doing now is preparing for the arrival of this near future.’
While the function it serves is noteworthy, the graphic design language of the space could be taken much further, surpassing the parameters of real-life architecture. We live in a digitally saturated world, and lasting metaverse engagement for these types of events will likely rely on more engrossing visuals.