This year marks the twentieth anniversary of Zaha Hadid's iconic Fire Station at the Vitra Campus in Germany and Swarovski has joined the celebrations by commissioning a new installation by the architect for the company's HQ in Germany.
The Fire Station was a landmark project for the architect. 'I'm equally proud of all my projects as they each represent different times of my career and periods of research, but I have a particular affection for Vitra Fire Station as it was my first building,' says Hadid, whose full monograph, The Complete Zaha Hadid, also comes out this summer, published by Thames and Hudson.
'[Vitra Chairman] Rolf Fehlbaum shares my passion for architecture and was inspired by my early visualizations,' the architect adds. 'He dared to engage me without seeing a prior track record and without the certainty of public success. Returning to Vitra to work with Swarovski on this installation has been a very rewarding experience.'
The new work, entitled 'Prima', is created out of five individual parts that form a larger abstract piece, inspired by early sketches of the Fire Station. Prima is gun-smoke metal-coated, with a highly reflective sheen. The parts are made out of MaxPlatten, a composite material usually used for exterior cladding in buildings, combined with CNC milled hard foam for the sculpting of the piece's double curved surfaces. Spanning an impressive 11m in length and 8m in width, the art piece will be lit by led light strips.
The commission forms part of Hadid's long relationship with Swarovski; the luxury crystal company is well known for its creative collaborations with some of the big guns of the art, architecture and design world. In this case, a display of Hadid's original sketches and architectural models of the Fire Station will accompany Prima, giving an insight into her creative process.
The installation will be unveiled on 11 June, coinciding with the Art Basel fair, and will be on show for two months.
The new work is created out of five individual parts that form a larger abstract piece, inspired by early sketches of the Fire Station. Prima is gun-smoke metal-coated, with a highly reflective sheen. The parts are made out of MaxPlatten, a composite material usually used for exterior cladding in buildings, combined with CNC milled hard foam for the sculpting of the piece's double curved surfaces.
Spanning an impressive 11m in length and 8m in width, the art piece will be lit by led light strips.
This archive photograph by Hélène Binet captures the Fire Station at the time of its opening in 1993
2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the building at the Vitra Campus.
A display of Hadid's original sketches and architectural models of the Fire Station accompanies Prima, giving an insight into the architect's creative process
The installation's unveiling coincides with the Art Basel fair, and the piece will be on show for two months
ADDRESS
Fire Station
Vitra Campus
Charles-Eames-Str. 2
D-79576 Weil am Rhein
Germany
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to knowDesigning the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Premium patisserie Naya is Mayfair’s latest sweet spotHeritage meets opulence at Naya bakery in Mayfair, London. With interiors by India Hicks and Anna Goulandris, the patisserie looks good enough to eat
-
Discover midcentury treasures in Marylebone with Álvaro by AppointmentLondon is full of sequestered design havens, and Wallpaper* knows them all. Allow us to point you in the direction of Álvaro González’s shop window on Nottingham Place, home to a bonanza of beautiful 20th-century antiques
-
The upcoming Zaha Hadid Architects projects set to transform the horizonA peek at Zaha Hadid Architects’ future projects, which will comprise some of the most innovative and intriguing structures in the world
-
Zaha Hadid Architects reveals plans for a futuristic project in Shaoxing, ChinaThe cultural and arts centre looks breathtakingly modern, but takes cues from the ancient history of Shaoxing
-
Zaha Hadid Architects’ new project will be Miami’s priciest condoConstruction has commenced at The Delmore, an oceanfront condominium from the firm founded by the late Zaha Hadid, ZHA
-
Alvar Aalto: our ultimate guide to architecture's father of gentle modernismAlvar Aalto defined midcentury – and Finnish – architecture like no other, creating his own, distinctive brand of gentle modernism; honouring him, we compiled the ultimate guide
-
AI in architecture: Zaha Hadid Architects on its pioneering use and collaborating with NVIDIAWe talk to ZHA about AI in architecture, its computational design advances, and its collaboration with NVIDIA on design, data and the future of AI and creativity
-
Omniyat launches The Alba, new Zaha Hadid Architects-designed residences in DubaiDeveloper Omniyat announces The Alba, ultra-luxury residences managed by Dorchester Collection and designed by Zaha Hadid Architects to blend ‘nature and cutting-edge design’
-
Load into this reimagined Fortnite cityscape, courtesy of Zaha Hadid ArchitectsA collaboration between Epic Games and ZHA, Re:Imagine London brings the architects’ modular forms into one of the world’s most popular multiplayer games
-
The Henderson by ZHA in Hong Kong makes everyone sit up and pay attentionThe Henderson, ZHA's new high-rise in Hong Kong, stands out in its coveted address through its unusual, fluted façade of glass columns
