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The redesign of Frank Gehry’s Vitra Design Museum was inspired by Leaonardo’s water cube. My intial approach in my reinvision of this architectural piece was to change its main architectural purpose as a museum into a five star restaurant. The original design of the museum seemed to vocus more on the area and form. I believed that the building lacked lighting in some areas and also lacked in character.

My intial idea in redesigning this architectural piece was to change its purpose and location. I wanted to introduce a different approach, from the lack of lighting the building gave and its character. I wanted incorporate a different light scheme and by that I decided to change the materials originally used in the design of this building. Inspired by leonardo’s water cube, I had incorporated glass walls around the building so that it would encompass more light within it, although I decided that that there are parts of the building I felt that it was unnecessary to add glass textures such as the chef’s kitchen as well as the bathrooms and our VIP access rooms. The glass panels will have different types of transparencies and colour to allow the restaurant to glow at night over the harbour side.

I felt that the only thing that held back its character was the materials used on the museum. The plain and dull white concrete walls did not do justice. I had originally replaced the plain concrete slab walls into a material that best blends in with its surroundings and the glass texture. I decided that having all the walls structured by glass panels will not blend well with having one part of the building with marble concrete slabs, so I thought about a different approach and added another layer with the glass materials. This effect allowed the restaurant to blend in with the surrounding environment and to contrast with the ripples in the water, this is where my main inspiration to Leonardo’s glass cube came from. The exterior will consists of glass panels with ripple-like shapes surrounding the building to hold together its structure.

People go to restaurants for all sorts of occasions; I wanted the audience to enjoy not only the food but to enjoy the architectural design of the restaurant and to make them feel like they’ve entered another world. The ability to change the audience’s emotion is an aspect an architect can have.

I decided to continue with Frank Gehry’s theme by adding abstract element to my model. It allowed me to change its purpose and function from its original context as a museum. The overall redesign of the museum was mainly inspired by Leonardo’s glass cube. It’s design will continue to keep Gehry’s abstract geometry. The restaurant will be recloacted in the heart of the city, on the harbour. The visitors will be able to see the ocean as well as the skyline city. Originally I wanted to the building to seemingly hover on water and reflect upon the water.