Landscape Formation One (LF One) exemplifies Zaha Hadid Architects’ exploration of landscape as a generative force in architecture. Designed as an event and exhibition space for the 1999 state garden show (Landesgartenschau) in Weil am Rhein, the project was commissioned to create a dialogue between the architectural park of the nearby Vitra Campus and the surrounding garden. LF One expresses Hadid’s reimagining of the ground as an elastic surface that folds, peels and lifts to create new spatial conditions.
Unlike her other more well-known building in Weil am Rhein, the Vitra Fire Station, which froze movement through fragmented, angular forms, LF One introduces a more seamless integration of architecture with the site’s terrain. The painting for the project conveys the interweaving dynamism of the site’s ‘bundle of paths’, while the model, strategically superimposed atop it, emphasises how the built form appears to emerge organically from the ground through nuanced colour gradations
The project’s design blurs conventional boundaries between interior and exterior, circulation and occupation, with a network of paths that weave through and around the built environment. These interlocking routes create a continuous architectural promenade, where visitors experience space as an explorative journey along paths that sweep upward to form roof surfaces. Other elements of the design remain partially submerged, highlighting a layered and adaptive approach to spatial organisation. Misaligned columns, shifting ceiling planes and cantilevered glass create a dynamic interplay of perspectives. LF One showcases a shift in Hadid’s work at the time: it introduces a new fluidity inspired by the study of natural landscapes—an approach further exemplified by her dune-inspired design for the Museum of Islamic Art (1997).
