Bureau: Herzog & de Meuron
Geo: Basel, Swiss
The "Bird's Nest" in Beijing, the Tate Modern gallery in London housed in a former power station, and the copper-clad De Young Museum in San Francisco—these are three distinctly different examples of architecture resulting from the same firm.
In an industry where the handwriting of great architects is instantly recognizable, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have built their careers by reinventing themselves time and again. Each project begins not with a tried-and-true technique, but with a thorough study of the context. This architectural factory produces diverse yet systematic products with a unique touch.
At Tate Modern, they didn’t demolish the Bankside power station but instead integrated their design into its existing structure, turning the turbine hall into the main exhibition space for contemporary art (we've seen something similar here). In Madrid’s CaixaForum, they removed the base of the old brick building, making it appear as if it’s floating above a square that used to be a dead end. At the Elbphilharmonie, they placed a glass volume atop a massive warehouse, transforming Hamburg’s skyline.
"The architect must train all muscle groups," Herzog believes. "If you keep doing the same thing, you go blind."
Their method of working with materials also contradicts the canonical principle of moving from general to specific. For instance, the concrete of the Eberswalde library near Berlin is covered with photogravures, reading like a newspaper spread. The Allianz Arena in Munich is inflated with ETFE plastic cushions and glows from within at night in the colors of the playing team, turning the stadium into a fan. Messe Basel is clad in textured aluminum and resembles a giant corrugated block, where heavy metal behaves like weightless fabric. All these examples illustrate how not to do things if you are not Herzog and de Meuron: the likelihood of ending up with kitsch is very high.
"A building can be considered successful to the extent that it is filled with people," this success criterion is more important to the firm than awards.
Herzog de Meuron was founded in Basel in 1978. Both architects were born in 1950, and in 2001 they received the Pritzker Prize at the relatively young age of 50 for their profession, and notably, they received one prize as an equal duo. Over nearly half a century, the firm has completed more than 600 projects in 40 countries.
The firm has no fixed visual code. Their recognizability operates on another level—through their way of thinking. This is architecture that looks different each time but always precisely matches the context in which it arises. This has become their signature style.
P. S. Among the firm’s projects captured by my camera is the M+ Museum in Hong Kong.
@gorkjournal · GORK
3D · Photo · Render · Ai
Geo: Basel, Swiss
The "Bird's Nest" in Beijing, the Tate Modern gallery in London housed in a former power station, and the copper-clad De Young Museum in San Francisco—these are three distinctly different examples of architecture resulting from the same firm.
In an industry where the handwriting of great architects is instantly recognizable, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have built their careers by reinventing themselves time and again. Each project begins not with a tried-and-true technique, but with a thorough study of the context. This architectural factory produces diverse yet systematic products with a unique touch.
At Tate Modern, they didn’t demolish the Bankside power station but instead integrated their design into its existing structure, turning the turbine hall into the main exhibition space for contemporary art (we've seen something similar here). In Madrid’s CaixaForum, they removed the base of the old brick building, making it appear as if it’s floating above a square that used to be a dead end. At the Elbphilharmonie, they placed a glass volume atop a massive warehouse, transforming Hamburg’s skyline.
"The architect must train all muscle groups," Herzog believes. "If you keep doing the same thing, you go blind."
Their method of working with materials also contradicts the canonical principle of moving from general to specific. For instance, the concrete of the Eberswalde library near Berlin is covered with photogravures, reading like a newspaper spread. The Allianz Arena in Munich is inflated with ETFE plastic cushions and glows from within at night in the colors of the playing team, turning the stadium into a fan. Messe Basel is clad in textured aluminum and resembles a giant corrugated block, where heavy metal behaves like weightless fabric. All these examples illustrate how not to do things if you are not Herzog and de Meuron: the likelihood of ending up with kitsch is very high.
"A building can be considered successful to the extent that it is filled with people," this success criterion is more important to the firm than awards.
Herzog de Meuron was founded in Basel in 1978. Both architects were born in 1950, and in 2001 they received the Pritzker Prize at the relatively young age of 50 for their profession, and notably, they received one prize as an equal duo. Over nearly half a century, the firm has completed more than 600 projects in 40 countries.
The firm has no fixed visual code. Their recognizability operates on another level—through their way of thinking. This is architecture that looks different each time but always precisely matches the context in which it arises. This has become their signature style.
P. S. Among the firm’s projects captured by my camera is the M+ Museum in Hong Kong.
@gorkjournal · GORK
3D · Photo · Render · Ai