herzog and de meuron: vitrahaus interior

herzog and de meuron: vitrahaus interior
image © iwan baan

a combination of furniture showroom, museum and resource centre, a trip to the ‘vitrahaus’
is like traveling through design history…

view of the tüllinger hill from the loft of the ‘vitrahaus’
image © designboom

vitra commissioned swiss architects herzog & de meuron to design the ‘vitrahaus’ in 2006.
now complete, it is an interior space dedicated to presenting the vitra home collection
at the vitra campus in weil am rhein on the border of switzerland and germany.

the tour of the ‘vitrahaus’ begins on the top storey of the building. as one exits the lift,
they are greeted by an overwhelming view of the tüllinger hill to the north. on the opposite end,
a glass front is recessed to create an exterior terrace which opens onto a panorama of basel, switzerland.

wandering through the house, visitors will discover, that the directional orientation of the houses
is hardly arbitrary, but determined by the views of the surrounding landscape.

image © designboom

a place in which people can explore and heighten their sense of design, it offers individuals an opportunity
to engage in the work of leading contemporary designers. each of the ‘houses’ contain showrooms
which have been set-up to resemble that of residential settings. it is a place where individuals can begin
to research and define their design ‘style’.

image © designboom

‘vitrahaus’
architecture by herzog & de meuron
photo by iwan baan
image © vitra

one of the showrooms has been dedicated to the designs of charles & ray eames
image © designboom

image © designboom

another room displays the work of jean prouvé and verner panton combined with contemporary designs
by hella jongerius, jasper morrison, maarten van severen…
image © designboom

image © designboom

the interior space’s complexity not only comes from the angular intersections of each of the individual houses,
but from the inclusion of a second geometrical concept. all of the staircases are expansive, winding organic forms,
drilling their way through the various levels of the building, sometimes revealing an immense visual relationship between
the various houses, while at other times blocking the views.

image © designboom

view from the first floor out onto the entrance
image © designboom

image © designboom

the ‘house’ is opened by windows looking into the intersecting spaces
image © designboom

view from the second floor onto the first floor
image © designboom

image © designboom

a view down into the research centre designed by hella jongerius
image © designboom

three poles located at the entrance of the ‘vitrahaus’ act as structural supports, indicating where the most houses
are stacked on top of one another
image © designboom

each room of the ‘vitrahaus’ has a touchscreen. when visitors and clients arrive at the ‘vitrahaus’,
they receive a ‘key’ which they can use to activate the screens. here individuals can select different
objects within that showroom, find out more information about a particular design or its designer,
and can even purchase directly from the vitra catalog from these stations.

herzog and de meuron: vitrahaus interior

herzog and de meuron (179)

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