Editorial Note · 04 / 12

White volumes torqued
around a single courtyard —
sculptural, deconstructed, lit.

Frank Gehry's first European commission, completed for the Vitra campus in 1989, broke from the orthogonal vocabulary the chair manufacturer had previously commissioned from Nicholas Grimshaw. White stucco volumes torque around a tight central courtyard; ramps, towers and cubic galleries collide in a manner that openly anticipates Bilbao. The collection inside — over 7,000 chairs and design objects — is rotated through curated thematic installations.

Christian Richters photographed the building over a decade for the campus's editorial archive. The selection here favours the moments where the geometry breaks down into pure light: the upper galleries at noon, the courtyard wall in winter, the ramps from below.