IBA - Skyscraper

While the fire station (the first project she built at the age of 43!!!) by Zaha Hadid on the Vitra campus has never adequately served the firefighters, her second realization still fulfills its function today. In order for the ambitious plans from the mid-1980s to see the light of day, the architect had to significantly tone down her expressiveness. Her Berlin design consists of two parts: an eight-story "ship hull" with apartments at the corner and a three-story moderate commercial street section. The inclined and variously broken walls of the tower are clad on the north side with bronze-painted sheet metal scales and completely glazed to the west. Unfortunately, the strict rules of social housing did not allow the playful exterior to continue into the interior. The floor plans of individual apartments are noticeably less daring.