Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron
- Born: April 19, 1950, Basel, Switzerland
- Born: May 8, 1950, Basel, Switzerland
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Who are Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron?
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, born in Basel, Switzerland in 1950, are the founders of the architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron (1978). They are known for their inventive use of natural and artificial materials and the reappropriation of traditional architectural elements.
They designed the Tate Modern in London, converting a former power plant into what they called a "building of the 21st century." Other notable projects include the Dominus Winery, the Ricola marketing building, the Allianz Arena, and the National Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In 2001, they were jointly awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
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Where are Herzog and de Meuron from?
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, born on April 19, 1950, and May 8, 1950, respectively, are Swiss architects. Both were born in Basel, Switzerland. In 1978, they founded their firm, Herzog & de Meuron, and gained recognition for their inventive use of natural and artificial materials and reappropriation of traditional architectural elements. They were jointly awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2001.
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What kind of work do Herzog and de Meuron do?
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, who founded their firm in 1978, are Swiss architects known for reappropriating traditional architectural elements and using natural and artificial materials inventively.
Some of their most prominent projects include Tate Modern in London, the Dominus Winery in Napa Valley, the Ricola marketing building in Laufen, Switzerland, the Allianz Arena in Munich, and the National Stadium (the "Birdās Nest") for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. They are also known for large-scale projects like the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and M+, a Hong Kong museum.
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What are some famous buildings designed by Herzog and de Meuron?
Herzog & de Meuron, founded in 1978 by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, are celebrated for their inventive use of natural and artificial materials and reappropriation of traditional architectural elements.
Some of their famous buildings include:
* Tate Modern in London, a conversion of a former power plant into a modern art museum
* Beijing National Stadium, also known as the "Birdās Nest," which served as the main venue for the 2008 Summer Olympics
* Allianz Arena, a doughnut-shaped football stadium in Munich
* Dominus Winery in Napa Valley, California, featuring gabion walls
* Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, a mixed-use building with a concert hall, hotel, and condominiums3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What style or features are common in their architecture?
Herzog & de Meuron, founded in 1978 by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, are Swiss architects known for reappropriating traditional architectural elements and using natural and artificial materials inventively.
Their notable projects include the Tate Modern in London, a conversion of a former power plant incorporating traditional elements with Art Deco and modernism. Other works include the gabion-walled Dominus Winery, the nearly transparent Ricola Marketing Building, the copper-sheathed railroad utility building, the Allianz Arena, and the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium. The Ricola Marketing Building marks a departure from the "decorated box," emphasizing fluent internal spaces and a "de-materialized" facade.
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How have Herzog and de Meuron influenced modern architecture?
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, who founded their firm in 1978, are celebrated for their innovative use of natural and artificial materials and reappropriation of traditional architectural elements. Their notable works include the Tate Modern in London, a revitalization of a former power plant. They also designed the Ricola Marketing Building, known for its de-materialized facade. Herzog and de Meuron's designs often blur the lines between interior and exterior spaces. The Birdās Nest stadium, built for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, also stands as one of their iconic designs.
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Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are Swiss architects who, as founders (1978) of the firm Herzog & de Meuron, are known for their reappropriation of traditional architectural elements and their inventive use of both natural and artificial materials. The pair was jointly awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2001.
Friends and schoolmates during childhood, Herzog and de Meuron began at an early age to work together on drawings and models. Neither initially studied architecture in college. Herzog studied commercial design before attending the University of Basel to study biology and chemistry, and de Meuron pursued a degree in civil engineering. Unsatisfied after a year of school, both began to study architecture, first at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne and then at the instituteās ZĆ¼rich campus, from which they graduated in 1975. Among their instructors was the Italian architect Aldo Rossi (who received the Pritzker Prize in 1990). In 1978 Herzog and de Meuron established their own architecture firm in Basel. Herzog took the post of visiting professor at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, in 1983, and both men became visiting professors at Harvard University in 1989. Their firm, meanwhile, grew to include additional offices in London, Munich, and San Francisco.
Their most prominent project was Tate Modern (one of the Tate galleries) in London. To create the museum, Herzog and de Meuron converted a former power plant on the South Bank of the River Thames. Incorporating traditional elements with Art Deco and modernism, the architects created what they described as a ābuilding of the 21st century.ā Upon opening to the public in May 2000, Tate Modern received critical acclaim and served as a catalyst for the revitalization of its South Bank neighborhood. They later designed an extension, called the Switch House, which opened in 2016.
Other noteworthy projects by Herzog and de Meuron include the gabion-walled Dominus Winery in Napa Valley, California (completed 1997); the nearly transparent marketing building for Ricola, a cough drop manufacturer, in Laufen, Switzerland (completed 1999); a railroad utility building in Basel that was sheathed in copper strips (completed 1994); Allianz Arena, a massive doughnut-shaped football (soccer) stadium in Munich (completed 2005); and the National Stadium (completed 2008), a dramatic steel latticework structure known as the āBirdās Nestā that was the main arena for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In 2007 the pair won the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects as well as the Japan Art Associationās Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture.
Though the architects also designed small-scale works, they continued to be known for their large-scale projects, including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. After years of delays, lawsuits, and escalating costs, the mixed-use building finally opened in 2017. Built atop a former cocoa warehouse situated on a peninsula of the Elbe River, the peaked-roof building featured a hotel, condominiums, and a 2,100-seat concert hall. Construction of another long-delayed commission, M+, a Hong Kong museum dedicated to contemporary visual culture, was completed in 2021.