Vitra Fire Station
Architect: Zaha Hadid
My new series shows the Vitra Fire Station, located at the Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, Germany.
The fire station is the first complete building by Zaha Hadid ever. After the big fire in 1981, when many factory buildings were destroyed, the furniture manufacturer Vitra decided to install its own company fire brigade.
Zaha Hadid was entrusted with the corresponding construction. The fire station is a sculpture cast in concrete on site, which contrasts with the rectangular order of the neighbouring halls. Many of her colleagues did not consider her design feasible, but Zaha Hadid trusted her mathematical and static abilities and did not let herself be put off. The result was an impressive concrete monument. By dispensing with colours and right angles, visitors to the building experience unusual spatial impressions.The rooms are now used for events or exhibitions of the Vitra Design Museum.
