Vitra Design Museum

On.the.Road

For someone who loves to see architectural structures while traveling, Basel is truly an attractive city. Among the most interesting places is the Vitra Campus, a famous furniture company's factory complex. Taking bus number 55 to Vitra from Basel, there is no need to constantly check Google Maps, as this white building welcomes travelers. This building, the Vitra Design Museum, is the first building by Canadian-born American architect Frank Gehry outside the United States, created in response to Vitra's request to transform the Vitra Campus from a mere industrial space into a comprehensive complex infused with cultural elements. The building, characterized by its zinc grey roof, white exterior walls, and geometric structured forms combining organically to seem as if in motion, is regarded as the starting point of Frank Gehry's deconstructivist architecture, leading to his work on the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Initially, this building was constructed for the exhibition of the Vitra founder's family furniture collection and the sale of various design products, but it is now used as a planned exhibition space by Vitra. The nature of the planned exhibition changes the decoration of the exterior walls, showing that the exhibition is not only inside but also connected to the outside. The building's character, which appears to change its shape depending on the viewing direction, and the spatial layout's continuity, including the factory building located behind, are also impressive.