He made chairs float from the ceiling and created organic living landscapes that continue to fascinate us today: the Danish architect and designer Verner Panton (1926–1998) shaped post-war design like few others. To celebrate the centenary of his birth, the Vitra Design Museum will dedicate a major exhibition at the Vitra Schaudepot to Panton’s work. Showcasing the full breadth of his creative output – from iconic pieces like the »Panton Chair« to his lighting and textile designs – it will also feature several of his little-known architectural projects. A walk-in reconstruction of the legendary »Fantasy Landscape« (1/8) 1970, brings Panton’s revolutionary understanding of space and the spirit of the era vividly to life. The exhibition design transforms his sculptural, colour-rich worlds into an immersive experience. The show is based on the extensive Verner Panton Collection at the Vitra Design Museum, which is one of the most important of its kind and comprises a unique wealth of objects, drawings, models and archival materials. The exhibition, created in close collaboration with Verner Panton Design AG, invites visitors to rediscover a visionary designer – between Pop, utopia, and organic worlds of colour.

Image: Verner Panton, »Fantasy Landscape«, installation view of the »Visiona II« exhibition, International Furniture Fair Cologne, 1970 © Verner Panton Design AG

With a career spanning five decades and over 200 projects, Geoffrey Bawa (1919-2003) counts as one of the most influential 20th-century architects in Asia. His work blends the principles of Modernism with vernacular and traditional elements to form a distinctive architectural language that responds sensitively to context, to local materials cultural identities. Bawa’s remarkable oeuvre shaped the architecture of postcolonial Sri Lanka, and includes hotels, private residences, schools, universities, factories, office buildings, and the country’s parliament. Today, his approach is being rediscovered worldwide as a guiding inspiration for socially and ecologically sustainable building practice.

In 2026, the Vitra Design Museum and M+ Hong Kong in collaboration with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, will present the first major retrospective on Bawa in two decades. The exhibition foregrounds recurring themes in his work from interdisciplinary collaboration and ecological, social and cultural engagement to the formal qualities that define his architecture. Through an unprecedented wealth of drawings, models, furniture, photographs, and films, it brings to life the captivating, sensory quality of Bawa’s enduring legacy.

An exhibition by the Vitra Design Museum and M+ in collaboration with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust

Image: Geoffrey Bawa at his country house Lunuganga, c. 1996 © Dominic Sansoni