Oddity at the Vitra Campus

I find the idea of a corporate campus a strange project type, meant to be seen and impress the public it functions almost as a billboard, and yet simultaneously be necessary functional space need in some way for a building. They become a space that needs to be both public, in order to be seen and to create a memorable impression on the public but also private in order to efficiently run a business, this creates a very strange blurred distinction between the public and private.

The Vitra Campus in Germany is the best example of this strange architectural situation, being the location production for many of the Vitra products, it is a space that needs to function very well and yet it is still aiming to gain visitors and attention though architectural ideas used. This goes so far as to allow a Zaha Hadid fire station to be built that was more of an example, or a pavilion designed to show an architectural idea, rather than an actual functional fire station. And while the idea of creating a largely un-functional building in order to showcase a kind of architectural style is not completely invalid, it seems that a factory location is among the worst places to try and crate this type of project.  A building like this would seem very useless in such a functional environment, where its problems with inefficiency would cause problems and where it would be away from public viewing, serving as an unseen billboard for the company. Another oddity that is  created from the campus architecture is the mismatched and seemingly random style and forms of the different buildings, unlike the Italian Piazza, in which all the building follow a similar form and rhythm, and connect to one another in order to create one cohesive space. The Vitra Campus is many different building that all seem to be fighting to make a strong and memorable impression on their own and not through the combined organization of a unified complex with a cohesive idea of how the space is organized. These are the biggest differences that exist between the corporate campus and the traditional Italian Piazza.

After visiting the Vitra campus it left a strange feeling of disorganization and disunity, it felt somewhat liked an architecture exhibit, and in many ways, that is what it was. Because while every building had a specific function and aim many of them still seem to exist just in order to show a unique architectural style and idea, and to bring certain notoriety to the campus. The issue also came up that there where gates separation the area open to the public, which were made up of a gallery and display spaces, and the area that was gated of which was what would have been the more interesting projects to see, the working functional buildings in place at the campus. I think the lack of fluidity is really too much of a challenge to create a kind of corporate campus that can ever be seen as valuable as the more traditional and public model of the city square or Piazza.