Herzog & de Meuron's Vitra Schaudepot Opens in Weil am Rhein

The Vitra Schaudepot, a newly finished museum structure by Herzog & de Meuron, is located on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The architects refer to it as a "warehouse for a museum collection," featuring facades without windows, except for the entrance, covered in split clinker bricks and topped with a double-pitched roof. Elevated on a podium, it enhances access to the southern part of the campus. Inside, a meticulous shelving system with neon grids highlights the exhibits. The Schaudepot houses around 430 design masterpieces, spanning from early bentwood items to creations by Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Ettore Sottsass, Gerrit Rietveld, and modern 3D-printed designs. It also hosts a café, a restoration workshop, and a library, with temporary exhibitions planned regularly. This building supports the Vitra Design Museum's extensive collection of over 7,000 furniture pieces, part of a campus developed since the late 1980s, which features works by renowned architects like Frank O. Gehry and Zaha Hadid. The architects remarked, "Transparency is overrated these times."