Vitra Design Museum

A furniture company had gathered a growing collection of chairs and other pieces, and first imagined a simple shed to store and show them. During the planning of the architect’s first building in Europe, the brief grew: an independent foundation was set up to research and promote design and architecture, and this building became its museum.

Despite its modest size, the building became a manifesto of deconstructivism, a collage of towers, ramps and cubes in white render under a zinc-like metal roof. Its expressive forms are not arbitrary but follow the light and the movement of visitors through the galleries.