Exhibition ‘Herzog & de Meuron’ Opens at the Royal Academy

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — Herzog & de Meuron at the Royal Academy of Arts has opened to the public. Curated in close collaboration with the Royal Academy and Vicky Richardson, Head of RA Architecture and Drue Heinz curator, the exhibition offers insights into our projects, practice, and working process. The three rooms of the Winkler Galleries form a sequence that collectively explore the ideas and methods involved in the creation and experience of architecture.

The first room brings a selection from the Kabinett in Basel to London, displaying objects including models, drawings, samples, prints, and film clips from a diverse range of projects. By reassembling these pieces in the RA cabinets in a specific order, visitors discover a comparative overview of individual objects and their relationship to one another. Selected physical artefacts on the shelves are supplemented by augmented reality experiences accessed through an app developed for the exhibition.

The second room is dedicated to the filmic documentation of everyday life in H&dM buildings. A central screen presents a new film about the patients at REHAB Basel, by filmmakers Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine; it is accompanied by a three-channel video installation, Project Observer, that provides a glimpse into the day-to-day activities of forty completed projects.

The final room focuses on the Kinderspital Zürich, currently under construction, and provides insight into the work and process behind the design and realization of this space for healing. The room includes a full-scale AR installation of a patient room and an interactive video game that allows visitors to explore the interior of the hospital.

Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue featuring contributions from professor Ricky Burdett, filmmakers Bêka & Lemoine, art historian Beate Söntgen, filmmaker Marc Forster, healthcare expert Henrik Schødts, and curator Vicky Richardson.