Vitra Slide Tower

The Vitra Slide Tower is a walk-able sculpture on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, just across the Swiss border from Basel, designed by artist Carsten Höller. The slender steel tower is wrapped in a spiraling enclosed slide that carries visitors from the observation platform back down to ground level — a characteristic Höller device that blurs the line between art installation and playground equipment. The Vitra Campus itself functions as an open-air architecture museum, with buildings by Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & de Meuron, and Tadao Ando, and the tower slots into this ensemble as its most physically interactive element. From the top platform, visitors get a broad view across the campus grounds and surrounding Rhine plain. The slide can be used during campus opening hours as part of a self-guided architectural walk that typically takes two to three hours.