Prima Installation for the 20th Anniversary of the Vitra Fire Station

Zaha Hadid Architects
Project
Prima
Program
Installation for the
20th Anniversary
of the Vitra Fire
Station
Location
01
Vitra Campus,
Weil am Rhein
Date
12.06.- 13.08.13
Client
Swarovski
02
03
Prima
The Prima installation reinterprets the
dynamism of Hadid’s original drawings
created for the Vitra Fire Station; exploding
from the lines and planes of the paintings
and sketches to explore the juxtaposition
and superimposition of the work in three
dimensions.
With 5 different seating elements, it is
possible to reconfigure the pieces in
different ways. Lit by lighting in the piece,
there are also light strips on the surrounding
ground, which were based on the original
design, of the Fire Station in 1993.
Hadid’s interest in the concepts of
fragmentation and with ideas of abstraction
is evident throughout her repertoire and
continues to this day. Originally engaging
with the work of Kazimir Malevich to propel
creative work to hitherto unheard of levels of
invention, Hadid translated the warped and
anti-gravitational space of Russian avantgarde painting and sculpture into her own
unique architectural language. Space, or
even better the world itself, soon became
the site of pure, unprejudiced invention.
Painting formed a critical part of Hadid’s
early career as the design tool that allowed
us the intense experimentation in both form
and movement - leading to the development
of a new language for architecture.
Using the advanced design and
manufacturing technologies available
today, the jewelled facets of the Prima
installation are a direct translation of the
dynamic two-dimensional lines and planes
on the canvas, reflecting Hadid’s detailed
experimentation to perfect the project.
The installation continues this research,
documenting Hadid’s remarkable journey
to order and articulate complexity; from a
2D sketch evolving into a workable space,
and then into a realized building.
04
01-04
Photographs by Hélène Binet
Zaha Hadid Architects
Architects
Zaha Hadid Architects
Design
Zaha Hadid
Patrik Schumacher
Design Team
Woody Yao
Saman Saffarian
Manon Janssens
Gerhild Orthacker
Filipa Gomes
Maha Kutay
Prima Dimensions
15.5 m x 5.5 m
Double-curved surfaces:
milled from hard foam
and coated in the same
way as the planar
surfaces.
Light Pattern
Dimensions
Length in total 107 m
Width 10 cm
Height 0.5 cm
Light Pattern Materials
INOX clad Acrylic Glass
with built-in LED strips
Prima Materials
Planar surfaces:
FunderMax panels.
Sprayed with liquid
metal, sanded and
polished. Gunsmoke
colour.
05
Prima
06
07
Painting by Zaha Hadid, 1993
Renders by Zaha Hadid Architects
05
06-07