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VITRAHAUS HERZOG & DE MEURON 2009 Weil am Rhein, Germany BULDING ANALYSIS MATTHEW GREENWOOD VITRA Vitra is a well known furniture manufacturer with its headquarters in Switzerland. Its campus at Weil am Rhein in Germany is a site composed of various buildings designed by notable architects such as Tadao Ando and Frank Gehry. They have the manufacturing rights to many notable furniture designers a notable example is the Eames lounge and ottoman by Charles and Ray Eames. HERZOG & DE MEURON A Swiss architecture established in 1978 in Basel, Herzog and De Meuron have established international renown with their work on various high profile constructions such as the Beijing Olympic stadium, Prada Tokyo and the conversion of the Tate Modern in London. The practices earlier work was more subdued and simplistic and the firm is developing a bolder aesthetic over time. Above: Clockwise from top left. Eames Lounge by Charles and Ray Eames. Evening view of the Vitrahaus showroom in Germany. The Koechlin House showing stacking of two stories with voids and subtracted space. The Rudin house, a prime example of HdM’s idea of the archetypal house. Below: Sections of the Vitrahuas showing the stacking of volumes and the ‘House’ profiles. THEORY BEHIND DESIGN The Vitrahaus was built to contain the new addition of home furniture to the Vitra line, traditionally they had mainly showcase office and commercial items. It serves as a marker for the Vitra Campus in Germany standing tall on the corner of the site near the entrance. It accompanies other architectural works on the site by Tadao Ando and Frank Gehry. The design of Vitrahaus exhibits two reoccurring themes of Herzog & De Meuron’s residential works. That is the stacking of volumes with alternating orientations like we can see in their Koechlin House and the idea of the Archetypal house which is clearly summed up in their project Rudin House. By taking the idea of the Archetypal house Herzog and de Meuron have linked the building with the end content which it is to display. HOW CAN WE RELATE THIS TO DESIGN STUDIO? The Vitrahaus as a whole is a great project to look at, it is an exhibition space which both studio projects include to some degree. There are two main features that stand out as good techniques to implement in our design studio. Firstly the plan and circulation of the Vitrahaus is well thought out and engages the user, compelling them to explore the structure. This may be more useful with the size of something like the archives exhibition space. The second is the choice of interior colours/materials. The simple white finish allows items of furniture to stand out bringing the focus onto the object being exhibited. Another thing to note is the size of the staff areas in comparison to public areas on the ground floor. The deliveries and administration areas don’t take up as much room as one would expect.
