A museum dedicated to the life and work of French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent will be coming to Marrakech – his home away from home.

From the 1960s, he and partner Pierre Bergé spent much of their spare time in the Moroccan city. They also bought the Jardin Majorelle, a botanical garden created by artist Jaques Majorelle, to save it from demolition in 1980.

French practice Studio KO, which designed London’s Chiltern Firehouse, has now conceived a 4,000 sq m museum that will stand adjacent to the gardens, just outside Marrakech’s medina.

‘The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech succinctly mixes two universes which we know well, and which we both hold particularly dear: Morocco and fashion,’ said Studio KO.

Made of terracotta, concrete, terrazzo and Moroccan stone fragments, the museum will display the collection of Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, including 5,000 items of clothing, 15,000 accessories as well as sketches and objects.

Added Bergé: ‘Yves Saint Laurent and I discovered Marrakech in 1966, and we never left. This city deeply influenced Saint Laurent’s life and work, particularly his discovery of colour.’

The museum will also have a 130-seat auditorium – for concerts, film screenings and conferences – alongside a restaurant and a 5,000-book research library, covering Arabic history, Berber culture and Saint Laurent himself.

Costing $15 million, the building is expect to be complete in autumn 2017, coinciding with the opening of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Paris.