Vitra Fire Station
Architect: Zaha Hadid
Location: Weil am Rhein, Germany
Completed: 1993

Photo: Christian Richters

In 1981, a fire ripped through the campus of buildings that made up the factory and operations centre of German furniture company Vitra.

The project to redesign and rebuild it involved a materplan by Nicholas Grimshaw, which sensibly included its own fire station.

Most fire stations are largely functional buildings, but this was to be a fire-station with a difference.

The building was Zaha Hadid's first realised project; it set the tone for her bold uncompromising architecture style, and launched her onto architecture's world stage.

Photo: Christian Richters

Made up of sharp angular walls, the fire station is an abstract form that attempts to capture the idea of movement - a structure that has been described as seeming 'alert' and ready to spring into action at any moment.

One of the pioneers of deconstructivism, Hadid has also been one of its most successful proponents, whose award-winning buildings include the Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, whose spectacular design must be one of the greatest legacies of the deconstructivist movement.