Hello!

The first books about planting and designing with plants I bought during university were written by Piet Oudolf and since then, his style had a big influence in my development as a landscape architect. I always wished to see his projects in real life and he has actually quite a lot of them in Germany as well. One of his newest projects in Germany is at the Vitra Campus and it was important for me to see it.

Vitra Campus is situated in South Germany at the border with Switzerland and France near city Weil am Rhein. It is easy to reach by car, they have a huge parking area but by bike as well. With the public transport will take a bit longer but there is good connection and from the station “Wheil am Rhein” would be around one kilometer to walk.

I was soo excited to see the park and it was definitely a delightful place. I always have in my mind his plans and the park looked like a plan but three dimensional. A perfect and clean line of design, at the same time wild and natural. I saw the park in October but the richness of colors and textures was amazing. It was clear the focus on having something interesting, blooming in every season of the year.

The used materials are natural like pebbles for the ways, granite blocks for sitting and metal edges. The color palette of the entire ensemble is formed by the neutral warm greys, white and wood in order to create this pure naturalistic atmosphere. The contour lines of the park are organic which is creating a strong contrast with the building VitraHaus itself.

The park is splendid seen from above from VitraHaus or from the observation tower situated on the opposite side but just by walking and experiencing the richness of colors and textures as well. Observing the area I felt like I was in a fairytale of my childhood full of butterflies, bees and birds. The park itself is not very big but I have to say, I couldn’t get enough. Every time you walk or look at it you find something new and want to take one more picture and one more picture and one more. During summer should be amazing as well, one day I will return and check it out. 

Integrated in the observation tower was a slide as well, a fascination for the children and not only. The Campus is actually big with a lot of impressive buildings like the Vitra Museum, A Dome for exhibitions and events, Hadid Fire Station, Gallery Factory Buildings, Workshops and many others. As the name says the Fire Station is designed by Zaha Hadid, the Museum was designed by Frank Gehry and VitraHaus was designed by HERZOG & DE MEURON. The Campus generally generates this ambition to discover and learn atmosphere plus the amazing Vitra furniture you can check and maybe buy.

Overall I can only say that for an architect, landscape architect designer or everyone interested in design, this place is an abundance of ideas and inspirational work so if you get the chance check it out!

Lovingly,

Loredana