Vitra Design Center

« Form should develop strickly out of the analysis of function. » —Walter Gropius, founder of the Weimar Bauhaus in 1919.

I love the design of functional things, especially chairs. Ten minutes across the border from Basel was the Vitra Design Center.

I wasn't sure what to expect because the description was in German (I hadn't started learning German yet), but I was really stoked.

On the short bus ride across the border you'd never know that you were crossing anything. The city never really ends at a noticable point; only a small kiosk with a few border officers denotes the crossing. On the way into Germany the border officer walked through the bus and asked a few people for their pasports. (On the way back the same officer just glanced through the bus from outside and waved it though.)

When I arrived I was blown away with the first two things that I noticed: [Frank Gehry architecture] (notice the name of the street also) and a [Claus Oldenburg sculpture] .

I was the only visitor in the museum for 15 min. until a tour group came in. The guide was giving the tour in English so I tagged along to listen and they didn't seem to mind.

The museum had 255 [chairs] [2] [3] [4] on display... The designer of [Stella] placed it next to the telephone to discourage his daughter, whom it's named for, from using the phone so much...

The most expensive chair on display was a 1897 Charles Rennie Mackintosh [Argyle Street High Back Chair] .

I learned a lot from the guide. After I answered a few of her questions about the chairs & designers she invited me to join the rest of the tour that was continuing around the complex.

The [chair museum] [2] by Frank Gehry was only the first of many buildings designed by famous architects on the complex.

Gehry also designed the facade of the [architectural complex] [2] directly behind the museum.

Nicholas Grimshaw concieved and built the metal sided [Manufacturing Hall] in six months.

Alvaro Siza - the 1920's style brick-sided Production Hall and the ["bridge"] connecting it to the Manufacturing Hall. The ["bridge"] was built to protect products from the rain when moving between buildings. The ["bridge"] which maybe seems too high, automatically lowers at the first sign of rain. You can see her how the gutter connects to the [rainpipe fitting] . It was built this way to preserve the best view of the next building, the [firehouse] .

Zaha Hadid's [firehouse] [2] [3] [4] was the first first of her contrivertial designs to be built. It's walls and celings all avoid 90 degree angles. [inside] [outside] [lightswitch panel] [dining room] [2] [magazine photo] The [stairs] are a little scary to climb because of how they are connected to the wall [close up] Using the toilet in the [bathroom] also gives you a odd feeling because of the slanting walls.

Tadao Ando's [Conference Pavillion] [2] [3] [4] was specially designed to fit into the existing cherry orchard and only require removing three trees. The building is built in so perfect that he purposefully built in [imperfections] so that the gods will not be offended. [dining area] [2] The [meeting room] is very quiet and peaceful.

Vitra had also recently aquired an original [Buckminster Fuller Dome] [inside] [2]

Such a cool place, I want to go back to see their new exibits.
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note: a half dozen of these photos are from the vitra.de website

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