(smow)wintertour 2010, Part 1: VitraHaus, Weil am Rhein

As announced yesterday we sadly cannot attend this years Stockholm Furniture Fair – because we have to go to Switzerland, and then quickly back over the border to Germany, or better put: The Official Preview of the Vitra Design Museum complex in Weil am Rhein’s newest attraction. The VitraHaus.

VitraHaus

Designed by Swiss star architects Herzog & de Meuron – perhaps best known for the Beijing National Stadium or the extension of the Tate gallery in London – the VitraHaus is principally conceived as an exhibition space for Vitra’s Home Collection, combined with general exhibition and conference space.

VitraHaus in evening light ... at night the effect is even more enhanced

Resembling several houses built on top of one another, the real majesty of the construction is initially only visible at night; as with, for example,  Herzog & de Meuron’s Alliance Arena in Munich where the illuminated outer panels transform an otherwise unspectacular building into a true art of work.

With VitraHaus the effect however is created by the combination of dark outer walls and 100% glass end facade: when the inside is illuminated the construction is transformed from one building into a collection of houses floating above and around one another in the night sky.

From what we’ve seen so far and form what colleagues who have been there have reported, we think we’ll like it.

The (smow)blog photo equipment being delivered in Weil am Rhein in preparation for the VitraHaus preview

On Friday evening, however, you can read here what we actually think after we’ve seen the VitraHaus for ourselves; or if you can’t wait that long follow our tweets live from the VitraHaus, Weil am Rhein on the (smow)twitter.

And then on Saturday the (smow)wintertour 2010 continues … but more on that later.