Vitra Design Museum, Design museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany
The Vitra Design Museum is a design museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The white structure with slanted surfaces and curved shapes stands near the border with Switzerland and France.
The museum opened in 1989 as the first building by Frank Gehry in Europe. It evolved from a private collection into an internationally recognized venue for design history.
The institution takes its name from the furniture manufacturer Vitra and presents rotating exhibitions that guide visitors through different themes of design. The museum complex includes several buildings by well-known architects that together form an open campus.
Admission includes access to exhibition spaces and the outdoor grounds with additional architecture. Workshops and guided tours take place regularly and are aimed at adults and children alike.
The adjacent Vitra Schaudepot displays around 400 key objects of modern furniture design in a permanent presentation. The collection ranks among the largest of its kind and documents over a century of design development.
Location: Weil am Rhein
Inception: November 3, 1989
Founders: Vitra
Architects: Frank Gehry
Official opening: 1989
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible
Part of: Vitra Campus
Address: Charles-Eames-Strasse 1
Opening Hours: Monday-Sunday 10:00-18:00
Phone: +4976217023200
Email: info@design-museum.de
Website: http://design-museum.de
GPS coordinates: 47.60278,7.61806
Latest update: December 5, 2025 22:26
Frank Gehry designs buildings with curved metal facades, irregular forms and experimental construction methods. His work defines urban spaces from Bilbao to Los Angeles. The exterior surfaces use titanium, steel or glass formed into wave-like or folded volumes. The interior spaces accommodate art collections, concert halls and commercial offices. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao displays titanium panels that reflect the light of the Basque coast. The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles combines stainless steel surfaces with wooden acoustics for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein demonstrates his early approaches with white stucco surfaces and angled walls. The buildings emerge through computer-aided design that translates complex geometries into buildable structures.
Laguna Badeland
1.9 km
Landscape Formation One
1.9 km
Palmrain
1.9 km
Vitra Slide Tower
238 m
Schlaich Tower
1.6 km
Grenzbrücke Weil am Rhein–Basel
2.2 km
Ottilienkirche
1.8 km
Schaudepot
393 m
Castle Friedlingen
1.1 km
Rheinpark
2.2 km
Peter and Paul Church
886 m
Haltingen water tower
300 m
St. Georg (Weil am Rhein)
1.3 km
Friedensbrücke
1.3 km
Church Alt-Weil (Weil am Rhein)
1.4 km
Church of the Good Shepherd
1.8 km
Church St. Maria (Weil am Rhein)
947 m
Krebsbachtal
970 m
Johanneskirche
1 km
Friedenskirche (Weil am Rhein)
1.7 km
Kiesgrube Käppelin
2 km
Tüllinger Berg und Tongrube Rümmingen
1.6 km
Wasserturm Friedlingen
2.1 km
Fabrikationshallen von Vitra
268 m
Balancing Tools
184 m
Vitra-Produktionsgebäude
264 m
Vitra Design Museum
176 m
Tüllinger Berg
1.8 kmReviews
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