Open Collections

Abstract

Tailored by Tradition: A Women’s Retreat Where Heritage Heals and Color Builds reimagines the wellness retreat as a space where architecture, fashion, and healing intersect. Situated on Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, the project draws from the island’s landscapes, textile traditions, and emotional atmospheres to create environments that support both personal restoration and cultural continuity. The thesis is grounded in interpretive research, precedent analysis, and site-specific study. Fashion design principles, such as layering, rhythm, and partial visibility, are not applied literally, but are conceptually translated into architectural form through material choices, spatial transitions, and light-filtering surfaces. Elements such as double-skin façades, open-air terraces, red clay, and woven textures are reinterpreted to support passive strategies and sensory depth, without directly mimicking vernacular forms. The retreat is choreographed as a healing journey. It begins in the grounding atmosphere of the Red Soil Therapy Room, flows through inner and outer baths that offer cleansing and reflection, and continues into the luminous Golden Salt Chamber. This sequence leads into the meditative Sound Chamber and culminates in the emotionally expressive Zār Ritual Room. The entire retreat is a women-only environment, including shared spaces such as a tea lounge and a local bazaar, designed to foster rest, connection, and celebration. By weaving fashion-inspired ideas with material culture and spatial experience, Tailored by Tradition proposes a new model of wellness, one where architecture becomes a living garment stitched from land, body, and spirit, and where healing emerges through immersion in color, texture, and tradition.