Prima Installation Swarovski Product, Zaha Hadid Design Vitra Campus News

Prima Installation for Swarovski Design by Zaha Hadid

Design by ZHA celebrates Fire Station at Vitra Campus

11 + 9 Jun 2013

Location: Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, south west Germany

Prima Installation for Swarovski

photography : Felix Kunze

Zaha Hadid Prima Installation for Swarovski

Swarovski has commissioned Zaha Hadid to create a celebratory installation marking the completion twenty years ago of her first major built project, the Fire Station at Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, Germany.

photograph : Felix Kunze

The installation, entitled Prima, is an angular piece made from five highly polished components that can be moved into different configurations. It will be installed in front of the Fire Station, reflecting and honouring the design process of the building. The project recalls the dynamism of Hadid’s original drawings created for the Vitra Fire Station, exploding in three dimensions from the lines and planes of the paintings and sketches. Its reflective surfaces contain seating for visitors and are illuminated with LED technology.

photograph : Hélène Binet

One of the world’s most celebrated architects, Zaha Hadid was the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award in architecture. For years, her radical designs remained on the drawing board, but the turning point came in 1993 with the opening of the Vitra Fire Station commissioned by Vitra’s founder Rolf Fehlbaum.

photograph : Hélène Binet

Using the advanced design and manufacturing technologies available today, the facets of Prima are a direct translation of the dynamic two-dimensional lines and planes on the canvas, reflecting Hadid’s detailed experimentation to perfect the Fire Station design.

photograph : Hélène Binet

The installation continues this research, documenting Hadid’s remarkable journey as an articulator of complexity: a 2D sketch evolves into a workable space, and then into a realised building.

photograph : Hélène Binet

Zaha Hadid will be in conversation with Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, London, hosted by the Vitra Design Museum at 17.00 on 11 June opposite the Fire Station.

photograph : Hélène Binet

Prima will be showcased outside the Fire Station from 12 June to 11 August 2013. The installation can be viewed as part of the public architectural tours.

photograph : Hélène Binet