On the occasion of Art Basel week, visitors to the Vitra Campus can expect a programme with guided tours on the theme of Japan around the Umbrella House by Kazuo Shinohara, the Sanaa Factory Hall and the Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando and guided tours through the Oudolf Garden as well as the installation "DiSPAssembly Park" by Nike - sponsor of the exhibition "Plastic. Remaking our World" at the Vitra Design Museum - in the Buckminster Fuller Dome.

On the Campus south, the Place Jean Prouvé and the "Jean Prouvé " roadshow in Zaha Hadid Fire Station invite visitors to immerse themselves in the world of Jean Prouvé. The exhibitions in the Vitra Schaudepot and Vitra Design Museum as well as the newly opened Barragán Gallery are open from 10 am to 6 pm.

The garden created by Dutch designer Piet Oudolf in 2020 adds another facet to the Vitra Campus. An artful wilderness, it consists of nearly thirty thousand plants and covers four thousand square metres. Its array of colours changes with the seasons, providing a rich setting for the surrounding architecture. Join a guided tour and learn more about the garden’s layout and design!

Guided Tours in English
From 4 June to 1 November 2022
Every Saturday at 3 pm, Vitra Design Museum

Guided Tours in German
From 4 June to 1 November 2022
Every Sunday and on public holidays at 3 pm, Vitra Design Museum

After the conference pavilion by Tadao Ando and the production hall by SANAA, the Vitra Campus has complemented its unique architectural ensemble since 2022 with a new highlight of Japanese architecture: Kazuo Shinohara’s Umbrella House. For a short period you can learn more about the building exclusively in the context of a diverse Japanese building culture.

Guided Tours in English
11 June to 19 June 2022
1:30 pm, Vitra Design Museum
13:30 Uhr, Vitra Design Museum

Kazuo Shinohara (1925–2006) is considered one of the most important Japanese architects from the latter half of the twentieth century, along with Kenzo Tange. His work subsequently influenced architects such as Toyo Ito and Kazuyo Sejima, but is still little known internationally. A masterpiece from Shinohara’s so-called First Style is the Umbrella House built in Tokyo in 1961, which has now been reconstructed on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein.

The wooden house with its square layout offered sufficient space for a small family under its namesake roof – the ›umbrella‹. In designing the house, Shinohara drew on the traditional vernacular architecture of Japanese homes as well as temples, transferring various motifs to residential construction for the first time. For example, the pyramid-shaped roof form used in the Umbrella House had previously only been seen in temple complexes. When building the Umbrella House, Shinohara deliberately employed simple and inexpensive materials, such as the cement fibre boards on the façade. The Umbrella House made a novel and inspirational contribution to the architectural discourse of 1960s Japan.

As the Umbrella House was to be demolished to give way to a roadbuilding project at its previous location in Tokyo, Vitra decided to acquire the house and safeguard it for posterity. Built using a wooden post-and-beam construction method, the house was carefully dismantled in the summer of 2020 and separated into its individual parts. The wooden structure made of Japanese cypress, Japanese pine and Oregon pine was securely packed along with the other components and shipped to Weil am Rhein. Reconstruction on the Vitra Campus commenced in September 2021 in close coordination with the Tokyo Institute of Technology and was completed in summer 2022.

The international roadshow ‘Jean Prouvé’ by Vitra presents the oeuvre and story of French architect, designer and ‘constructeur’ Jean Prouvé (1901–1984). The installation not only showcases Prouvé’s designs, but also his approach to projects, structural solutions and materials and, importantly, his feel for colour.

Opening hours:
16.06-19.06 / 10 am – 6 pm

20.06-30.06 / 12 am – 6 pm

The Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein near Basel is home to buildings by leading architects and its streets are named after the designers of Vitra’s furniture classics: Charles-Eames-Strasse, Ray-Eames-Strasse, George-Nelson-Strasse, Verner-Panton-Weg, Alexander-Girard-Passage. Now the plaza near the Fire Station and Vitra Schaudepot, which has evolved into the centre of the south campus over the last years, is getting a name of its own: ‘Place Jean Prouvé’.

Vitra has been producing designs by the great French designer Jean Prouvé since 2002. Over the ensuing years, the company’s understanding of his work has deepened as the relationship with the Prouvé family has developed into a friendship. To express the importance of Jean Prouvé and his oeuvre to Vitra, the central plaza on the south campus is now being inaugurated as ‘Place Jean Prouvé’.

Place Jean Prouvé is marked with a street sign and outfitted with furniture by Jean Prouvé (1901-1984). A wall mosaic ormed from components of Prouvé designs separates it from the residential buildings opposite and a portrait of Jean Prouvé is mounted on the wall of the adjacent White House – home to the Wunderkammer exhibition – while the Girard heart on the wall of the building at the south campus entrance has been replaced with a large reproduction of the ‘Ateliers Jean Prouvé’ colour chart. On the plaza itself, a Citroën Type H converted into a food truck offers on certain days refreshments to visitors, who can also choose to grab a bite at the Depot Deli opposite.

On the occasion of the 2022 edition of the Vitra Campus Summer Party, NIKE presents “DiSPAssembly Park,” a circular installation in multiple senses, inside the Dome on the Vitra Campus.

Nike is Global Sponsor of the exhibition “Plastic: Remaking Our World”, which is presented since March 2022 at the Vitra Design Museum. The exhibition examines the history and future of this controversial material: from its meteoric rise in the twentieth century to its environmental impact and to cutting-edge solutions for a more sustainable use of plastic.

The collaboration between the Vitra Design Museum and Nike is the occasion for the presentation “DiSPAssembly Park” in the Dome; it refers to the Nike ISPA Link Axis product, which is presented in the exhibition. The exhibit highlights the exploration of design and evolutionary journey behind the ISPA Link Axis.

Opening hours
11.6. – 19.6.2022 / 10 am – 6 pm

With the Audi grandsphere Concept, Audi presents an interpretation of the saloon of the future. The second in a series of visionary concept vehicles gives a preview of what first-class automotive comfort will look like tomorrow: electric, automated, intuitive - and with plenty of individual space for immersive experiences.

The sedan (5.35 metres) is characterised by the highest level of comfort with a comprehensive experience. Automated driving in Level 4 enables new dimensions of freedom: in this mode, the interior is transformed into a spacious experience without steering wheel, pedals or displays.

Opening hours
15.6. – 19.6.2022 / 10am – 6pm

Plastics have shaped our daily lives like no other material: from packaging to footwear, from household goods to furniture, from automobiles to architecture. A symbol of carefree consumerism and revolutionary innovation, plastics have spurred the imagination of designers and architects for decades. Today, the dramatic consequences of the plastic boom have become obvious and plastics have lost their utopian appeal.

The exhibition »Plastic: Remaking Our World« at the Vitra Design Museum examines the history and future of this controversial material: from its meteoric rise in the twentieth century to its environmental impact and to cutting-edge solutions for a more sustainable use of plastic. Exhibits include rarities from the dawn of the plastic age and objects of the pop era as well as numerous contemporary designs and projects ranging from efforts to clean up rivers and oceans to smart concepts for waste reduction and recycling through to bioplastics made from algae and mycelium.

An exhibition by the Vitra Design Museum, V&A Dundee and maat, Lisbon

The annual presentation at the Vitra Schaudepot reveals the collection of the Vitra Design Museum in a fresh light every year. The new focus topic, which will be on display from May 2022 to May 2023, is wholly devoted to colour. Following an invitation from the Vitra Design Museum, Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis has transformed the Schaudepot in one simple, sweeping gesture by sorting its roughly four hundred exhibits by colour. The installation shows the collection from new perspectives and produces fascinating cross-references between periods and styles, at the same time providing visitors with an overwhelming immersive experience. The presentation is complemented by historical and contemporary objects and documents from the museum archives that illustrate how designers from different eras approached the subject.

Luis Barragán (1902–1988) is widely regarded as the most important Mexican architect of the twentieth century. Since 1996, the architect’s professional estate has been in the care of the Barragan Foundation, located in Birsfelden, near Basel in Switzerland. Over the past two decades, a small team of researchers under the leadership of architectural historian Federica Zanco has systematically evaluated and catalogued the archival documents. As part of a newly established partnership between the Barragan Foundation and the Vitra Design Museum, this material has moved to new premises on the Vitra Campus.

The Barragán Archive is now located in close proximity to the Vitra Schaudepot. This includes a state-of-the-art repository for the documents, a study room for visiting researchers, and the Barragán Gallery, a thematic exhibition space. The gallery show presents drawings, photographs and other material from the Barragán Archive, together with biographical details and an illustrated chronology of modern architecture in Mexico. This ensemble of documents and supplementary information illuminates Barragán’s life and work in a larger context.