The Office of Academic Affairs awarded Sheng Wei (Wilson) Yang ’22 (MFA1), whose thesis project is featured on this page, the Chairman’s Award for her overall performance at NYSID. At NYSID, thesis projects are long journeys that challenge students to brainstorm, conduct research, and synthesize all they have learned. The journey ends with a presentation to a jury of faculty and industry professionals. Our students work closely with faculty to create hypothetical designs that offer solutions to real-world problems.

Student: Sheng Wei (Wilson) Yang
Project: The Museum of Fashion Design & Technology
Program: Master of Fine Arts (Professional)
Instructor: Barbara Weinreich

When Wilson Yang began Thesis Preparation, he knew he wanted to integrate his passion for his first career of fashion design with his new calling of interior design. He said, “I wanted the thesis to be a container to display these two sides of me, but as I learned more about the history of fashion and garments in NYC, the concept became bigger.” Yang designed his museum in the footprint of a structure that is the length of a city block, the IRT Powerhouse on the border of Hell’s Kitchen in NYC. The structure was designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1904, and the adaptive re-use of the gorgeous historical building was part of what fueled Yang. He envisioned museum-goers walking through three distinct experiences in the museum: history, innovation, and creation. He says, “The first section is focused on design history; the second, ‘the weaving center,’ is about textile inventions and technologies; and the third portion is a studio tower and workplace that supports emerging designers.” A particularly poetic detail is the fact that the circulation path for the layout is based on a sewing pattern. The showstopper of the museum is the brightly lit, cone-shaped stairwell in the weaving tower, which is meant to be like “a giant weaving machine that allows users to get inside the experience of how fabrics come together.” An interesting exhibition space is the Green Screen Gallery, which allows the user to observe costumes in a space that mimics the way actors work within CGI films. Yang says he could not have accomplished all he did without the guidance of his mentor, NYSID alumnus Joe Hynn Yang, and his thesis instructor, Barbara Weinrich.