Herzog & de Meuron

Herzog & de Meuron Architekten
Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany
Practice information
Key architects	Jacques Herzog Pierre de Meuron Christine Binswanger Harry Gugger (former) Robert Hösl Ascan Mergenthaler Stefan Marbach
Location	Basel, Switzerland Hamburg, Germany New York, USA
Founded	1978
Work
Buildings	Allianz Arena M. H. de Young Museum Beijing National Stadium
Awards	Pritzker Prize (2001) Prix de l'Équerre d'Argent (2001) Royal Gold Medal (2007) Schock Prize (1999) Stirling Prize (2003)
Website	www.herzogdemeuron.com

Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd., or Herzog & de Meuron Architekten, BSA/SIA/ETH (HdM), is a Swiss architecture firm with its head office in Basel, Switzerland. The careers of founders and senior partners Jacques Herzog (born 19 April 1950) and Pierre de Meuron (born 8 May 1950) closely paralleled one another, with both attending the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. They are perhaps best known for their conversion of the giant Bankside Power Station in London to the new home of Tate Modern. Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have been visiting professors at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design since 1994 and professors at ETH Zürich since 1999.

The firm was founded in Basel in 1978. In 2001, Herzog & de Meuron were awarded the Pritzker Prize, the highest of honours in architecture. Jury chairman J. Carter Brown commented, "One is hard put to think of any architects in history that have addressed the integument of architecture with greater imagination and virtuosity." This was in reference to HdM's innovative use of exterior materials and treatments, such as silkscreened glass. Architecture critic and Pritzker juror Ada Louise Huxtable summarized HdM's approach concisely: "They refine the traditions of modernism to elemental simplicity, while transforming materials and surfaces through the exploration of new treatments and techniques." In 2006, the New York Times Magazine called them "one of the most admired architecture firms in the world."

HdM's early works were reductivist pieces of modernity that registered on the same level as the minimalist art of Donald Judd. However, their recent work at Prada Tokyo, the Barcelona Forum Building and the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games, suggest a changing attitude. The shapes and forms of some of the works suggest art glass and objects d'art that one would see on a coffee table, like an art deco ashtray or quirky container for chocolates - a building becomes a blown-up version of desk art because the computer can do it, mimic the plasticity of the medium, and make it possible as a feat of engineering.

HdM's commitment of articulation through materiality is a common thread through all their projects. Their formal gestures have generally progressed from the purist simplicity of rectangular forms to more complex and dynamic geometries. The architects often cite Joseph Beuys as an enduring artistic inspiration and collaborate with different artists on each architectural project. Their success can be attributed to their skills in revealing unfamiliar or unknown relationships by utilizing innovative materials.

Selected projects

Elbe Philharmonic Hall, HafenCity in Hamburg (2007–2016)

Prada Store in Tokyo

IKMZ, Cottbus, Brandenburg

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Completed

• 1992 Goetz Collection, Munich, Germany
• 1997 Imperial Federal Railways switchtower, Basel, Switzerland
• 1999 Dominus Winery, Napa Valley, California
• 2000 Tate Modern, Bankside, London, UK
• 2001 St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland
• 2003 Laban Dance Centre, Deptford Creek, London, UK
• 2003 Prada Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan
• 2004 Forum Building, Barcelona
• 2004 IKMZ (University Library), Cottbus, Germany
• 2005 M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California
• 2005 Walker Art Center expansion, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• 2005 Allianz Arena football stadium, Munich
• 2007 40 Bond Street, New York City, USA
• 2008 Beijing National Stadium, Beijing, China
• 2008 CaixaForum Madrid, Madrid, Spain
• 2008 Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
• 2009 VitraHaus, Weil am Rhein, Germany
• 2010 1111 Lincoln Road parking garage, Miami Beach, Florida, USA
• 2010 Museum der Kulturen, Basel, Switzerland
• 2012 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London, UK
• 2012 Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York
• 2013 Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, Florida
• 2014 Messe Basel, Basel, Switzerland
• 2015 Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, UK

Current

• BBVA Headquarters (Complex-Campus and Tower), Madrid, Spain
• El Punto Religious-Community Center, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
• Contemporary Art Museum Barranca de Huentitán, Guadalajara, Mexico
• Unterlinden Museum, Colmar, France
• Kolkata Museum of Modern Art, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
• Plaza de España, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife (2007)
• Elbe Philharmonic Hall, Hamburg, Germany (2016)
• Portsmouth Dockland Stadium for Portsmouth Football Club, Portsmouth, England (2011)
• Tate Modern 2, Bankside, London (2013)
• São Paulo Companhia de Dança HQ, São Paulo, Brazil
• Kinderspital Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
• 56 Leonard Street, New York City
• Beirut Terraces, Beirut, Lebanon
• M+, Hong Kong (2018) – with TFP Farrells
• National Library of Israel (2019)
• Roche tower, the 2º tallest Swiss skyscraper with 178m, Basel, Switzerland

Awards

• 1999 Schock Prize
• 2001 Prix de l'Équerre d'Argent, Rue Des Suisses, Paris
• 2001 Pritzker Prize
• 2003 Stirling Prize, for the Laban Dance Centre
• 2007 RIBA Royal Gold Medal and Praemium Imperiale
• 2009 Lubetkin Prize for the Beijing National Stadium

External links

• Herzog & de Meuron Official Website
• Pritzker Architecture Prize profile
• Herzog & de Meuron: archeology of the mind exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture
• Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012
• Rue des Suisses in Paris