PROFILE

Herzog & de Meuron is a partnership led by five Senior Partners – Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Christine Binswanger, Ascan Mergenthaler and Stefan Marbach.

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron established their office in Basel in 1978. The partnership has grown over the years – Christine Binswanger joined the practice as Partner in 1994, successively followed by Robert Hösl and Ascan Mergenthaler in 2004, Stefan Marbach in 2006, David Koch and Markus Widmer in 2008, Esther Zumsteg in 2009, and Andreas Fries in 2011. An international team of 24 Associates and about 300 collaborators are working on projects across Europe, North and South America, and Asia. The firm’s head office is in Basel with branch offices in Hamburg, London, Madrid and New York.

Herzog & de Meuron have designed a wide range of projects from the small scale of a private home to the large scale of urban design. While many of their projects are highly recognized public facilities, such as their stadiums and museums, they have also completed several distinguished private projects including apartment buildings, offices and factories. The practice has been awarded numerous prizes including “The Pritzker Architecture Prize“ (USA) in 2001; the “RIBA Royal Gold Medal“ (UK) and the “Praemium Imperiale“ (Japan), both in 2007.

Current Projects
Herzog & de Meuron are currently working on Roche Building 1, a vertically structured tower for Roche's new main building on the Roche Basel Site, Switzerland (planned completion 2015); Stade Bordeaux Atlantique, the new 43'000 seat stadium for Bordeaux, France (planned completion 2015); Triangle, the new development for the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles in Paris, France (planned completion 2016); Porta Volta Fondazione Feltrinelli, a master plan redefining the Porta Volta in Milan, Italy, consisting of two new office buildings and a generous green area (planned completion 2015); Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, currently under construction, a cultural complex for a wide range of activities, comprising a new philharmonic hall, a hotel, apartments and a public plaza, overlooking the Speicherstadt in Hamburg, Germany (projected completion 2014); Park Avenue Armory, the ongoing restoration and reinvention of a historical landmark building into a dynamic alternative arts space in New York, USA (projected completion 2015, pilot rooms completed in 2011); the transformation of the Hong Kong Central Police Station, a high profile conservation project which will revitalise a unique cluster of historic structures in the centre of Hong Kong (planned completion 2014); Beirut Terraces, a multilayered high-rise residential project situated in the heart of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Lebanon (planned completion 2014); and the new São Paulo Cultural Complex Luz – Dance Theater in São Paulo, Brazil (planned completion 2016), notably their first commission in South America.

Herzog & de Meuron also work on urban designs: Burgos Bulevar, an eleven kilometre long urban landscape development through the city of Burgos, Spain, merging public and private transport with green, park-like public spaces (under construction, planned completion in March 2012) and the master plan for Lyon Confluence in France, the urban redevelopment of the southern tip of Lyon's peninsula bracketed by the two rivers Saône and Rhône.

Museum Projects
The Goetz Collection, a Gallery for a Private Collection of Modern Art in Munich, Germany (1992), stands at the beginning of a series of internationally acclaimed museum buildings, including Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, Germany (1999); Schaulager Basel, Laurenz Foundation, a new type of space, a warehouse for open storage of contemporary art, in Münchenstein/Basel, Switzerland (2003); followed by the Walker Art Center Expansion in Minneapolis, USA (2005); de Young Museum in San Francisco, USA (2005); CaixaForum Madrid for Fundación “la Caixa” in Madrid, Spain (2008); and TEA, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain (2008). Perhaps the firm's highest profile museum project is the conversion of the Bankside power plant to Tate Modern in London, UK (2000). In 2005 Herzog & de Meuron were commissioned by Tate again to develop a scheme for the completion of the gallery and its surrounding areas – The Tate Modern Project (projected completion 2016, first phase to open in summer 2012). The series continues with the extension of Musée Unterlinden in Colmar, France (projected completion 2013); Espacio Goya y Museo de Zaragoza in Zaragoza, Spain (2005-); the new Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, USA (under construction, projected completion 2012); the new Miami Art Museum, Miami, USA (under construction, projected completion 2013); and the Barranca Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Guadalajara, Mexico. In addition Herzog & de Meuron have been commissioned to design the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art, notably their first project in India.

Artist Collaborations
In many projects Herzog & de Meuron have worked together with artists, an eminent example of that practice being the collaboration with Rémy Zaugg (Roche Pharma-Research Building 92 in Basel, 2000; Fünf Höfe, Five Courtyards for the Munich City Centre, 2003, and many more); with Rosemarie Trockel (Ricola Marketing Building in Laufen, 1999); with Thomas Ruff (Eberswalde Technical School Library in Germany, 1999, among others); and with Michael Craig-Martin (Laban Dance Centre in London, 2003). More recent collaborations include Chinese artist Ai Weiwei with whom Herzog & de Meuron have worked on the design for the National Stadium Beijing in China (2008), on their contribution to the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008, and currently on the design of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 to coincide with the Olympic Games in London, UK (planned completion June 2012).

Selected Works
Herzog & de Meuron received international attention very early in their careers with the Blue House in Oberwil, Switzerland (1980); the Stone House in Tavole, Italy (1988); and the Apartment Building along a Party Wall in Basel, Switzerland (1988). The firm’s breakthrough project was the Ricola Storage Building in Laufen, Switzerland (1987). Renown in the United States came with Dominus Winery in Yountville, California, USA (1998). Their most recognized buildings include Prada Aoyama Epicenter in Tokyo, Japan (2003); Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany (2005); the new Cottbus Library for the BTU Cottbus, Germany (2005); the National Stadium Beijing, the Main Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Herzog & de Meuron's recently completed buildings include VitraHaus, a new building to present Vitra‘s “Home Collection“, Weil am Rhein, Germany (2010); 1111 Lincoln Road, a multi-storey mixed use structure for parking, retail, a restaurant and a private residence in Miami Beach, USA (2010); Actelion Business Center in Allschwil/Basel, Switzerland (2010); and Museum der Kulturen in Basel, Switzerland (2010).

Research and Teaching
Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are both visiting professors at Harvard University, Graduate School of Design (GSD), USA, since 1994 (and in 1989). They are professors at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) – Department of Architecture, Network City and Landscape, since 1999, and co-founders of the ETH Studio Basel – Contemporary City Institute. The ETH Studio Basel started a research programme on processes of transformation in the urban domain. Their research activities are documented in various publications: “Switzerland. An Urban Portrait” (2006) investigating the urban condition of Switzerland; „Open – Closed: Canary Islands“ (2007) focusing on the urbanisation process on the Canary Islands; and “MetroBasel Comic. A Model of a European Metropolitan Region” (2009) on the development of the tri-national region of MetroBasel.