“It is the indissoluble bond between material and immaterial characteristics of architecture that attracts us and refuses to let go; it is that to which we submit ourselves like to a beloved body that takes us away for a moment into a magical world.”

Jacques Herzog, Herzog & de Meuron

Jacques Herzog was born 64 years ago in Basel on the 19th of April. By coincidence, 1950 was the same year that another man named Pierre de Meuron was born, only a month apart. Both men acquired an interest in the arts and design, which led them to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. An official partnership was formed in 1978, and they embarked on a series of groundbreaking modernist architectural designs that would keep heads turning.

Early Training:

– Commercial Design (1 year – unfinished)
– Biology and Chemistry at the University of Basel (1 year – unfinished)
– Architecture at the Lausanne Federal Technical University (ETH) (1 year – transfer)
– Architecture at the Federal Technical University (ETH) in Zurich (4 years – finished in 1975)
– Assistant to Professor Dolf Schnebli (1976-1978)

 

Selected Works by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron:

 

 

Selected Awards to Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron:
Revelation Cork Award 2012
Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR), Porto, Portugal
for the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012, Kensington Gardens, London, UK

Prix Acier, Schweizer Stahlbaupreis 2011
Stahlbau Zentrum Schweiz, Zurich, Switzerland
for Actelion Business Center, Allschwil/Basel, SwitzerlandPraemium Imperiale 2007
Japan Art Association, Tokyo, Japan
for a Global Arts prize in the category of Architecture

RIBA Royal Gold Medal 2007
Royal Institute of British Architects, London, UK
in recognition of a lifetime’s work and its influence on Architecture internationally

The Prize of the Architectural Institute of Japan for Design 2005
Architectural Institute of Japan, Tokyo, Japan
for Prada Aoyama Epicenter, Tokyo, Japan

Medalla de Honor 2004
Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo, Santander, Spain
for influential architectural work in the recent decades

RIBA Stirling Prize 2003
Royal Institute of British Architects, London, UK
for Laban Creekside, Deptford, London, UK

The Pritzker Architecture Prize 2001
The Hyatt Foundation, Los Angeles, USA
for a significant contribution and advancing the art of Architecture

Prix de l’Equerre d’Argent 2001
Prix d’Architecture du Monteur 2001, Paris, France
for Apartment Buildings Rue des Suisses, Paris, France

Prix Max Petitpierre 2000
Bern, Switzerland
for an important contribution to Swiss Architecture and its presence in the world

The 1999 Rolf Schock Prize for the Visual Arts
Stockholm, Sweden
for architectural programmes and sites with high artistic integrity

Max-Beckmann-Preis 1996
Frankfurt a. M., Germany
for an outstanding contribution in the field of Architecture

Brunel Award 1994
Washington D.C., USA
for Signal Box “Auf dem Wolf”, Basel, Switzerland

 

By Mia Pujol, ESARQ_UIC Publications Team