Arguably, the idea that your own home might provide a castle, warding off the outside world, was a sentimental illusion even before the invention of WLAN. Let's face it, since time immemorial the interior has in addition to ornamental individualism been the private reversal of zeitgeist, economic development and technical invention. And above all for planners, architects and designers the home represents an exciting field for work and experimentation.

This summer, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein offers three views of this terrain. To mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charles Eames, through October 28, works from the joint oeuvre of Charles and Ray Eames will be shown in the Fire Station. Furniture designs and prototypes, some of which were never previously seen in Europe direct the gaze to past domestic concepts. Coinciding with it until September 16, the exhibition "My Home - Seven Experiments for contemporary living" focuses on current design ideas.

It presents the visions by seven internationally renowned designers and architects not however with a view to pointing the way ahead for interiors in the coming century; rather this is a display of individual design and production strategies. The so-called interventions highlight the key areas and concepts by designers such as Jurgen Bey, Erwan und Ronan Bouroullec, Fernando und Humberto Campana, Hella Jongerius, Greg Lynn, Jürgen Mayer H. und Jerszy Seymour.

Despite their individual nature the exhibits share an experimental, researching approach. After all, from color studies via the home landscape for robots through to the furniture experiment using potato starch, this is not about the total art work or the home utopia but about researching all the options individual domestic elements offer and exploring habits and needs. The fact that architecture, design and art merge with one another in the process increases the attraction and complexity of the exhibits. As the third element in the exhibition series the vitra Edition 2007 was on view until June 17. The edition comprises furniture and interior designs by 17 designers who were free to able to develop their works free of all constraints. Depending on the designer the resulting items provide interesting perspectives of future home interiors both as regards technological but also socio-cultural aspects and artistic originality. A selection of products will be made for the vitra Edition as prototypes or in limited series, and can even be acquired some time soon.