A trip to the Vitra Haus and Vitra Design Museum

WEIL AM RHEIN, GERMANY—On my last trip to Baselworld—the world’s largest watch fair held in Basel, Switzerland—I found that I had a sizable chunk of free time between meetings. Naturally, I took advantage of it and headed to somewhere, anywhere that wasn’t work.

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Fortunately, being the museum capital of Switzerland, with about 40 museums in its fold, finding non-work sights should be easy in Basel. Unfortunately, not many museums were open the time I was free. Fortunately, my host graciously offered to drive across the border to the town of Weil am Rhein, Germany to visit the Vitra Campus. Unfortunately, I only had two hours to spare. Fortunately, that was enough time to visit the Vitra Design Museum and the Vitra Haus.

Vitra, of course, is the Swiss company most popular for its designer chairs and other home and office furniture and accessories. Do the names Charles and Ray Eames ring a bell? They designed the chairs that are now icons of modern design and Vitra is one of two licensed producers of the husband-and-wife team’s creations.

Vitra Campus is a multifunctional site that’s factory, showroom, architectural park, workshop and events venue, and museum covering a sprawling expanse of land that abuts France, Germany, and Switzerland. Its buildings are rock stars—or at least the architects behind them are. The factory buildings were designed by Frank Gehry, Nicholas Grimshaw, Alvaro Siza, and SANAA. The late and great Zaha Hadid designed the fire station; Japanese legend Tadao Ando’s first project out of his country was the Conference Pavilion; and Carsten Höller designed the thrilling Vitra Tower Slide.

The Vitra Haus, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is Vitra’s flagship store. It’s a stack of 12 houses with phenomenal lighting, thanks to the floor to ceiling windows at the end of each house. I won’t pretend to know any technical terms here, but Vitra Haus is light and airy and all things that I’d like my living spaces to be (and exactly the goal of the entire building). Starting at the top floor, with staircases spiraling down to the shop and café at the ground floor, you move through setups showcasing how Vitra products can fit in oh-so-beautifully into your homes and workspaces.

Across the Vitra Haus is the Frank Gehry-designed Vitra Design Museum, which hosts two major exhibits every year. I was able to catch the estate exhibit of Alexander Girard. A renowned textile artist and interior designer, Girard has an amazingly diverse portfolio, and highlights of his textile designs, recreations of the interiors he designed, among other things, were on display. My favorite was the mini exhibit of the Republic of Fife, an imaginary world he created. The details—the Republic has its own alphabet, language, flags, postage stamps, and games even—make me want to have even just a tenth of his creativity. Aside from his work, Girard also had an extensive collection of folk art from around the world, including different interpretations of nativity scenes.

Despite the mad rush through the two buildings, and the 4°C weather outside, that was one of the best two hours I’ve spent. I do hope to go back for the full architectural tour someday, and perhaps even be able to afford something more than a postcard of an Eames chair.

Vitra Campus Architectural Tours are offered daily in German and English. The Design Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and costs €11. For more information, check out http://www.design-museum.de/.