zaha hadid at the vitra design museum

Zaha Hadid's first realized project was a fire station (1991-1993) at the Vitra Design Museum commissioned by Rolf Fehlbaum after a lightning strike burned down part of Vitra's factory complex. The design is neo-Brutalist in its use of concrete and glass but also Deconstructivist in its use of random planes colliding at a central focal point. The building is a exhuberant explosion of concrete and glass, perhaps commemorating the lightening strike that burned the factory. Unlike her later use of organic curves, this building is hard surfaces and angles, brilliantly balanced and thoughtful.