In terms of its function, the new building is a showroom for home furniture. To most naturally present it to buyers, the architects used their favorite technique: they used the archetypal image of a house with a gable roof, stacking 12 such volumes with glazed ends in a stack. The internal space of each of them is closer in size and shape to a "normal" dwelling, so the armchairs and sofas displayed there are perceived better than in the spacious "trading floor" typical for such premises.
The result is a five-story structure over 20 meters high, with dark gray walls and neutral white interiors and wooden floors. The central “courtyard” is also laid out with larch boards, around which five lower volumes are united (wood was also partially used for their facades); they include a conference room, a gallery of the Vitra Design Museum chair collection, a museum shop, a lobby and a café with a summer terrace. From there, visitors take an elevator to the top floor and then descend to view individual rooms. All levels are connected by spiral staircases of organic outlines - also a motive characteristic of the Herzog & de Meuron projects.
