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 Zürich. 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. HdM’s commitment of articulation through materiality is a common thread through all their projects.[clarification needed] 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_ Completed
1992 Goetz Collection, Munich, Germany
1997 SBB 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
2004 Forum Building, Barcelona
2004 IKMZ, 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, Watermill, New York