Vitra Schaudepot, Vitra Campus / Herzog & de Meuron

摘要

Days prior to the fanfare accompanying Herzog & de Meuron's new Tate Modern extension (see page 176), another museum building by the Basel-based architecture practice opened - Vitra Schaudepot. Sitting atop a raised plaza at the south end of the furniture manufacturer's Weil am Rhein campus, this doubles the size of the Vitra Design Museum and means that it can now put on nine temporary exhibitions a year. In the world of design museums the concept of Schaudepot - 'open storage' - was pioneered at the Museum fuer Gestaltung, Zurich only in 2014, which is probably why the term remains untranslated. Vitra's version is much more than neat storage with an occasional guided tour, as it fulfils a long-time need to display an incomparable collection of furniture; visitors often ask 'where are the chairs?' Briefly on show in Frank Gehry's signature building (opened in 1989) the collection was stored to make way for the temporary exhibitions. It continues to grow, however, and is central to the museum's curatorial programme, as well as providing unique research opportunities for collaborating designers.