Swiss-based furniture manufacturer Vitra is synonymous with the biggest names in the Mid-century furniture business, making products for more than half a century in conjunction with the crème of design, such as George Nelson and Charles & Ray Eames. To showcase their innovation, and to celebrate their influence for the past 60 years, the company established the Vitra Project, an architecture and design campus in Germany.
The centerpiece of that campus is Vitrahaus. Half museum, half incubator, Vitrahaus was built for Vitra by architects Herzog and de Meuron and attracts around 100,000 visitors per year. Situated in Weil Am Rhein, Germany, it is on a sprawling and eclectic campus that includes a fire station designed by Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, Bus Stops by English designer Jasper Morrison and various buildings throughout the complex by such heavyweights as Jean Prouvé, Tadao Ando, Álvaro Siza, Frank Gehry and Richard Buckminster Fuller.
Whether inside Vitrahaus and admiring the exquisite furniture on display, or gazing from one of the windows at the other architectural marvels, referred to as ‘houses’, you have a feeling of gratefulness that the family-owned Vitra company would provide for such a grand-scale complex as this project is. A gift to the design world, as well as a source of inspiration for anyone interested in the finer aspects of furniture and architectural design, Vitrahaus and the Vitra Project are essential visiting – either as a destination for learning and wonderment or somewhere special to end a trip if you’re travelling through the region.
(Pictures courtesy of Iwan Baan)
Posted by Keren Fathi-Poor at 19 February, 2010
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