
Alison and Peter Smithson, who also designed Robin Hood Gardens, created the House of the Future for the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition in London in 1956. Radical for its time, the introverted design imagined a home for a childless couple, a certain type of domestic bliss. © Daily Mail / SOLO Syndication
Though its building is comparably small in size, Vitra Design Museum’s exhibitions are never lacking in ambition. Placed inside a twisted Frank Gehry–design building from 1989 on the Swiss-German border—his first building in Europe—the museum is grounded in the legacy company’s vast collection of about 7,000 pieces of furniture, which also encompasses the estates of the Eameses, Verner Panton, Alexander Girard, and George Nelson. Thematically the museum focuses on interior design and architecture and never misses an opportunity to include Vitra designs and products in its exhibitions. In this regard, Home Stories: 100 Years, 20 Visionary Interiors, the museum’s newest exhibition, is no exception.
But Home Stories is nonetheless led by a bold and fascinating conceit: selecting 20 “visionary interiors” from 1920–2020 to represent the “history of the home,” where, as curator Jochen Eisenbrand puts it, “important societal, political, urban, and technical shifts” are reflected. This is as major an undertaking as it sounds and one thing is certain: After a visit to the exhibition, your head will spin.
The survey unfolds backwards in time, stretching from some small-sized, pastel colored contemporary refurbishments (an apartment in Madrid by Elii, and a community housing in London by Assemble) to eye-blindingly colorful explosions of Postmodernism (Memphis Group) through Verner Panton’s “Phantasy Landscape,” and into Claude Parent’s “oblique” apartment in France and Andy Warhol’s “Silver Factory.” You’ll know you’ve reached the end of the exhibition when you encounter the classics of early Modernism. There, Mies van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat and Josef Frank’s Villa Beer demonstrate that the 1920s held multiple Modernisms—and Elsie de Wolfe’s Villa Trianon, where ornament is laid on thick, augments the argument for a more complex telling of interior design throughout the century.

Brandlhuber+ Emde, Burlon, Antivilla, Krampnitz, Germany, 2010–15. Located in a decommissioned lingerie factory, Antivilla in Potsdam, Germany, expressed the architects’ bold views on themes like adaptive reuse, energy efficiency, and live/work spaces. Courtesy Brandlhuber+ Emde, Burlon / Photo: Erica Overmeer / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
To include all this in its limited space, the curators had to reduce all 20 interiors to their core—each is represented by one large image on a wall, foregrounded by a podium holding a handful of related pieces of furniture and sometimes a model.
Does the curatorial strategy work? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, reproducing a genuine sense of atmosphere for any of these interiors is near impossible. (Isn’t “home” all about the sense of the space—its acoustics, smell, and feel?) On the other hand, the exhibition creates some important, original, and fun connections between ideas and places. The Smithsons’ House of the Future, for example, is directly adjacent to the fictitious Villa Arpel from Jacques Tati’s satirical and highly anti-modern film Mon Oncle. Elsewhere in the exhibition, a single viewpoint combines Finn Juhl’s house in Denmark (1942) and Lina Bo Bardi’s “Casa de Vidro” in Brazil (1950) with Bernard Rudofsky’s Nivola House-Garden in Long Island (1950)—early examples of dissolving the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, through a global perspective. The exhibition’s 300-plus-page catalog is also recommended; it richly documents all 20 interiors, amounting to a history of 20th-century interior design, with contributions by Alice Rawsthorne, Jasper Morrison, and Joseph Grima, and with interviews with the likes of contemporary figures such as Apartamento founder Nacho Alegre and designer Sevil Peach.
The interiors highlighted in Home Stories. 100 Years, 20 Visionary Interiors can be glimpsed in the slideshow below.
Though the exhibition is on show until August 23rd, 2020, Vitra Design Museum is temporarily closed due to the evolving COVID-19 situation. However, assets including curator’s talks, are viewable online.
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Home Stories at Vitra Design Museum. Illustration: Daniel Streat, Visual Fields, with Lina Bo Bardi, Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, 1952
© Vitra Design Museum and Instituto Bardi / Photo: Francisco Albuquerque
Home Stories at Vitra Design Museum. Illustration: Daniel Streat, Visual Fields, with Lina Bo Bardi, Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, 1952
© Vitra Design Museum and Instituto Bardi / Photo: Francisco Albuquerque
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elii [oficina de arquitectura], Yojigen Poketto Apartment (kitchenette and sleeping area) Madrid, Spain, 2017
© elii [oficina de arquitectura] / Photo: Imagen Subliminal – Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero
elii [oficina de arquitectura], Yojigen Poketto Apartment (kitchenette and sleeping area) Madrid, Spain, 2017
© elii [oficina de arquitectura] / Photo: Imagen Subliminal – Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero
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Brandlhuber+ Emde, Burlon, Antivilla, Krampnitz, Germany, 2010–15
Courtesy Brandlhuber+ Emde, Burlon / Photo: Erica Overmeer / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
Brandlhuber+ Emde, Burlon, Antivilla, Krampnitz, Germany, 2010–15
Courtesy Brandlhuber+ Emde, Burlon / Photo: Erica Overmeer / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
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Verner Panton, Phantasy Landscape at the exhibition Visiona 2, Cologne, Germany, 1970
© Verner Panton Design AG, Basel
Verner Panton, Phantasy Landscape at the exhibition Visiona 2, Cologne, Germany, 1970
© Verner Panton Design AG, Basel
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George Sowden, Drawing for interiors 2, 1983
© George Sowden
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Michael Graves, Reinhold Apartment, New York, USA, 1979-81
© Peter Aaron / OTTO
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Karl Lagerfeld’s Monte Carlo Apartment (with designs by Memphis), Monaco, ca. 1983
© Jacques Schumacher
Karl Lagerfeld’s Monte Carlo Apartment (with designs by Memphis), Monaco, ca. 1983
© Jacques Schumacher
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Karl Lagerfeld’s Monte Carlo Apartment (with designs by Memphis), Monaco, ca. 1983
© Jacques Schumacher
Karl Lagerfeld’s Monte Carlo Apartment (with designs by Memphis), Monaco, ca. 1983
© Jacques Schumacher
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Martine Bedin, Super, 1981
© Vitra Design Museum / Photo: Andreas Sütterlin
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Anja Blomstedt and George Candilis, Hexacube living modules, 1972
© Gallery Clément Cividino & Terra Remota
Anja Blomstedt and George Candilis, Hexacube living modules, 1972
© Gallery Clément Cividino & Terra Remota
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IKEA, Catalog cover, 1974
© Inter IKEA Systems B.V.
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Claude Parent, Maison Parent, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 1973-74
© bpk / CNAC-MNAM, Fonds Parent / Bibliothèque Kandinsky / Gilles Ehrmann / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
Claude Parent, Maison Parent, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, 1973-74
© bpk / CNAC-MNAM, Fonds Parent / Bibliothèque Kandinsky / Gilles Ehrmann / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020
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Factory Panorama with Andy Warhol seated on couch in center of legendary Silver Factory studio space, circa 1965.
© Nat Finkelstein
Factory Panorama with Andy Warhol seated on couch in center of legendary Silver Factory studio space, circa 1965.
© Nat Finkelstein
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Kishō Kurokawa, Nakagin Capsule Tower, Tokyo, Japan, 1970–72
© Tomio Ohashi
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Noritaka Minami, A504 I (Nakagin Capsule Tower, Tokyo, Japan), 2012
© Noritaka Minami
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Kishō Kurokawa, Nakagin Capsule Tower, Tokyo, Japan, 1970–72
© Tomio Ohashi
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Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, center left, talks with U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon during their famous "Kitchen Debate" at the United States exhibit at Moscow's Sokolniki Park, July 24, 1959. While touring the exhibit, both men kept a running debate on the merits of their respective countries. Standing to the right is Khrushchev's deputy, Leonid Brezhnev.
© picture alliance / AP Images
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, center left, talks with U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon during their famous "Kitchen Debate" at the United States exhibit at Moscow's Sokolniki Park, July 24, 1959. While touring the exhibit, both men kept a running debate on the merits of their respective countries. Standing to the right is Khrushchev's deputy, Leonid Brezhnev.
© picture alliance / AP Images
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Jacques Tati, Mon Oncle (filmstill), 1958
© Les Films de Mon Oncle - Specta Films CEPEC
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ARP (Atelier de Recherche Plastique), Coquetier Armchair, c. 1954/55
© Vitra Design Museum / Photo: Jürgen HANS
ARP (Atelier de Recherche Plastique), Coquetier Armchair, c. 1954/55
© Vitra Design Museum / Photo: Jürgen HANS
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Bernard Rudofsky, Atrium house with wild garden in the patio, (not dated)
© The Bernard Rudofsky Estate, Vienna / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020 / Photo: Viktor Zdrachal
Bernard Rudofsky, Atrium house with wild garden in the patio, (not dated)
© The Bernard Rudofsky Estate, Vienna / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020 / Photo: Viktor Zdrachal
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Lina Bo Bardi, Casa de Vidro, São Paulo, Brazil, 1952
© Nelson Kon
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Alison and Peter Smithson, House of the Future, 1956, London, United Kingdom. Scenes at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition 1956 at Olympia, London.
© Daily Mail / SOLO Syndication
Alison and Peter Smithson, House of the Future, 1956, London, United Kingdom. Scenes at the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition 1956 at Olympia, London.
© Daily Mail / SOLO Syndication
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Finn Juhl House, Ordrup, Denmark, 1941
Courtesy Henrik Sorensen Photography
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Finn Juhl, Chieftain Chair, 1949
© Vitra Design Museum / Photo: Jürgen HANS
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Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Villa Tugendhat, Brno, Czech Republic, 1928-30
© Archive Štenc Praha / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2020
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Villa Tugendhat, Brno, Czech Republic, 1928-30
© Archive Štenc Praha / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2020
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Josef Frank, Villa Beer, Vienna, Austria, 1929-31
© MAK Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna
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Elsie de Wolfe, Celebration of her 80th birthday at Villa Trianon, Versailles, France, 1905-50 (Photo: 1938)
© Jean-Frédéric Schall / Photo: Roger Schall
Elsie de Wolfe, Celebration of her 80th birthday at Villa Trianon, Versailles, France, 1905-50 (Photo: 1938)
© Jean-Frédéric Schall / Photo: Roger Schall
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Elsie de Wolfe, Long Gallery in the Morgan wing of Villa Trianon, Versailles, France, 1905-50 (Photo: 1984)
© Derry Moore
Elsie de Wolfe, Long Gallery in the Morgan wing of Villa Trianon, Versailles, France, 1905-50 (Photo: 1984)
© Derry Moore
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