Vitra Schaudepot, Weil am Rheim
Architect: Herzog & de Meuron
Year: 2016
Location: Weil am Rhein, Germany
Category: Cultural / Museum
Status: Built
About
Hidden under a sawtooth factory building, the Vitra Design Museum collection, ranked among the most important holdings of furniture design worldwide, has never been on permanent display to the public. The Schaudepot has the appearance of an industrial building or warehouse with the complex requirements of a walk-in museum repository, and it will now exhibit more than 400 key pieces of modern furniture design. Located in the southwest corner of the Vitra Campus, the building is a second entry point that offers a new facade to the street and improves its connection with Weil am Rhein and Basel. At the opposite end is VitraHaus – built by Herzog & de Meuron in 2009 – and the main street is dotted with architectural landmarks built over the last decades by Zaha Hadid, SANAA, Tadao Ando, Álvaro Siza and Renzo Piano among other architects. However, the new building was not conceived as another architectural statement, but as a functional piece seamlessly blended with its industrial context and consistent with the depot context.