Even though there is certainly no lack of significant contemporary buildings in the Basle region: for some years now, the biggest draw and place with the most far-reaching international presence has been the premises of the Vitra company's factory in Weil am Rhein. This is not solely due to the illustrious architects like Frank O. Gehry, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, Nicholas Grimshaw and Alvaro Siza who have all realised significant designs here at the invitation of company head Rolf Fehlbaum. It is primarily because of the unique density and quality of the buildings assembled here in such a compact space. No wonder, then, that the company grounds have emerged as a Mecca for architecture lovers from all over the world in the past one and a half decades. To accommodate the extensive public interest in the buildings on the Vitra site, the Vitra Design Museum offers regular guided architectural tours in numerous languages.

The starting point for the tour is Gehry's sculptural-expressionistic museum building, completed in 1989 - the first of the California architect's buildings to be realised in Europe. The Conference Pavilion by Japan's Tadao Ando was also a European premiere. The introverted structure is visually impressive with its formal restraint and reduction to a few materials. Along with the museum and Conference Pavilion, the Fire Station by London-based Zaha Hadid is one of the highlights of the tour. Long an icon of deconstructivist architecture, this was the first work ever to be realised by the master architect who is today entrusted with prestigious major commissions throughout the world.

A provisional capstone in the architectural development of the grounds was set by the Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza with the puristic seeming brick-clad Production Hall he connected to the neighbouring hall with a bridge-like roof construction. In past years, the architecture park in Weil has been enriched with two treasures from the history of building: a dome-shaped tent construction from the American architectural visionary Buckminster Fuller and a small knock-down petrol station by the French constructeur Jean Prouvé, which are likewise covered in the architectural tour.