Herzog & de

Meuron Basel Ltd.

By: Maria Paula Diaz

TOA 2

Jacques Herzog

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are two important Swiss architects known for

innovative construction using new materials and techniques. The two architects have nearly parallel careers. Jacques Herzog

and Pierre de Meuron were born the same year, attended the same school Swiss Federal

Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, and in 1978 they formed the architectural partnership.

“You cannot only

design a building to

make it beautiful. It

has to really work

well with the huge

crowd that is using

it.”

- Jacques Herzog

PIERRE DE MEURON

Herzog & de meuron basel ltd.

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."

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have designed projects in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, the United States, PR China and of course, in their native Switzerland. They have built residences, several apartment buildings, libraries, schools, a sports complex, a photographic studio, museums, hotels, railway utility buildings, and office and factory buildings. 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.

Professionally, the Herzog & de Meuron partnership has grown to become an office with over 120 people worldwide. In addition to their headquarters in Basel, they have offices in London, Munich and San Francisco. Herzog has explained, “We work in teams, but the teams are not permanent. We rearrange them as new projects begin. All of the work results from discussions between Pierre and me, as well as our other partners, Harry Gugger and Christine Binswanger. The work by various teams may involve many different talents to achieve the best results which is a final product called architecture by Herzog & de Meuron.”

FAMOUS WORKS

BEIJING NATIONAL STADIUM

Also known as the Bird's Nest, is a stadium in Beijing, China. The design was awarded to a submission from the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron in April 2003 after a bidding process that included 13 final submissions.

ALLIANZ ARENA

The Allianz Arena is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany with a 69,901 seating capacity. Widely known for its exterior of inflated ETFE plastic panels, it is the first stadium in the world with a full color-changing color exterior.

VITRAHAUS

VitraHaus The concept of connecting two themes that appear repeatedly in the work of Herzog & de Meuron, the archetypal theme of the house and stacked volumes.

PRADA AOYAMA “EPICENTER”

The Tokyo store is a strikingly unconventional 6-story glass crystal that is soft despite its sharp angles – as a result of its five-sided shape, the smooth curves throughout its interior, and its signature diamond-shaped glass panes, which vary between flat, concave and convex “bubbles”.

WALKER ART CENTER

The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States and is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

• 1999 Schock Prize

• 2001 Prix de l'Équerre d'Argent, for Rue Des Suisses, Paris

• 2001 Pritzker Prize

• 2003 Stirling Prize, for the Laban Dance Center

• 2007 RIBA Royal Gold Medal and Praemium Imperiale

• 2009 Lubetkin Prize, for the Beijing National Stadium

REFERENCES • http://www.britanni

ca.com/EBchecked/topic/1349591/Jacques-Herzog-and-Pierre-de-Meuron

• http://architecture.about.com/od/architectsaz/p/herzogdemeuron.htm

• http://www.herzogdemeuron.com/

• https://www.facebook.com/Herzog.deMeuron

• http://www.studio-basel.com/

• http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2001/bio

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herzog_%26_de_Meuron

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walker_Art_Center

• http://www.mimoa.eu/projects/Japan/Tokyo/Prada%20Aoyama%20epicenter

• http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/pradatokyo/

• http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/VitraHaus

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_National_Stadium#Design_and_construction

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allianz_Arena#Design

REFERENCES

• http://www.viracon.com/page/silkscreen

• http://architecture.about.com/od/construction/g/ETFE.htm

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETFE