Herzog De Meuron

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Herzog & de Meuron held in summer, 1994 at Peter Blum and the Swiss Institute in New York.

"Edited and with texts by Luis Fernández-Galiano, this sweeping monograph explores the roots and legacy of Herzog & de Meuron, from its beginnings in the late 1970s through the turn of the century. With a selection of more than 40 exemplary buildings and projects, the book presents a visual history of the Basel-based firm's evolution from modest scales and houses to high-profile works like Prada Aoyama in Tokyo, National Stadium in Beijing, CaixaForum Madrid, and the De Young Museum in San Francisco. Significantly, the book covers the period in which Herzog & de Meuron reinvented themselves, in the year 1998, through a burst of material experiences for which it is known today." -- Amazon.

Standing on the south bank of the Thames opposite the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's vast brick edifice, with its tower of 325 feet, dominates the scenery and ranks among the most imposing structures of central London. Yet, after its closure in 1981, the Bankside Power Station was rendered invisible to the public eye by its redundancy and the frequent threat of demolition. The reopening of Bankside in May 2000 as London's first national gallery of modern and contemporary art restores the grandeur of Scott's design and regenerates a much neglected area of the city.The conversion to art gallery by the Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron is marked by its extreme simplicity, at once enhancing the physical presence of the original architecture and completely transforming its derelict and impenetrable interior into an accessible, light-filled exhibition center. The tremendous affinity of contemporary art with ex-industrial settings has inspired a design that retains the monumental scale of the Turbine Hall and skillfully offers a range of spaces for widely differing types of art on the multiple floors of the Old Boiler House.This publication follows the story of the Bankside project and presents a stunning photographic account of every stage of its transformation. Including an interview with Jacques Herzog and Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate, it provides a detailed analysis of Herzog and de Meuron's design and redefines the Tate's role within contemporary culture.

Contributions by Remy Zaugg, Herzog & De Meruon.

How to deal with historic buildings has long been a core issue of the international architectural discourse. Herzog & de Meuron began addressing the potential of existing structures very early on: the maintenance and alteration of buildings are among the key strategies of the architects. For the Park Avenue Armory in New York, Herzog & de Meuron have designed a new model for dealing with monuments. The historical building was opened in 1881 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan as a meeting place and training ground for the National Guard, and boasts a rich mixture of different styles. Herzog & de Meuron developed a multifaceted strategy for the transformation of the building, now used as a cultural center, that allows for a combination of restoration, transformation, and innovation. From the exposing of historic structures to the addition of new elements, the architecture gained new vibrancy from the considered entanglement of different aspects. In the current debate, this departure from the practice of historic preservation in the United States is, beyond its value as an actual example, a unique contribution that unfolds in close reference to material. It is exemplary and groundbreaking.

More than any of their contemporaries, Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are challenging the boundaries between architecture and art. Natural History explores that challenge, examining how the work of this formidable pair has drawn upon the art of both past and present, and brought architecture into dialogue with the art of our time. Echoing an encyclopedia, this publication reflects the natural history museum structure of the exhibition which it accompanies, organized by the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Models and projects by Herzog & de Meuron, as well as by other artists, are structured around six thematic portfolios that suggest an evolutionary history of the architects' work: Appropriation & Reconstruction, Transformation & Alienation, Stacking & Compression, Imprints & Moulds, Interlocking Spaces, and Beauty & Atmosphere. Each section is introduced with a statement from Herzog, and more than 20 artists, scholars, and architects have contributed essays, including Carrie Asman, Georges Didi-Huberman, Kurt W. Forster, Boris Groys, Ulrike Meyer Stump, Peggy Phelan, Thomas Ruff, Rebecca Schneider, Adolf Max Vogt, and Jeff Wall.