Courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron Press Release

Together with the local Natal organization Centro Sócio Pastoral Nossa Senhora da Conceiçao (Centro Sócio), Herzog & de Meuron released the design for a new gymnasium at the School of Dinarte Martiz. The gymnasium is the “pioneering architectural project” of a larger urban plan for the neighborhood of Mãe Luiza in Natal, Brazil.

Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
Partner: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Ascan Mergenthaler, Markus Widmer
Project Architects: Tomislav Dushanov (Associate), Mariana Vilela
Client: Centro Sócio Pastoral Nossa Senhora de Conceição
Location: Natal, Brazil
Construction: 2012 - 2013

Continue reading for more information.

read more »

© MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd.

The modernization of the Messe Basel is making progress. Developed by Basel architects Herzog & de Meuron on behalf of the MCH Group, the project aims renew the existing exhibition space and become a popular destination for pedestrians and foreign visitors. The new multifunctional exhibition building is scheduled for completion in 2013.

Architects: Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd., Basel
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Client: MCH Messe Switzerland AG, Basel, Switzerland
Project Area: 141,000 m2
Construction Period: 2010 – 2013
Photographs: Courtesy of MCH Swiss Exhibition (Basel) Ltd.

Continue reading for more images, renderings and information.

read more »

© Karen Cilento

When we spotted the news on ArchRecord of a major delay for the Elbe Philharmonic, our hearts sank a little. We’ve been covering the building extensively during its construction period and have anxiously been awaiting its completion (a date that was pushed from 2010 to 2012, and, now, is uncertain).  Yet, technical difficulties pertaining to the saddle roof structure are creating a tangle between the German contractor Hochtief and the Elbe Philharmonic, leading Hochtief to stop work on the glass facade, the steel roof support structure, the 82m-long escalator and the building services.

More about the halted construction after the break.   read more »

© Herzog & de Meuron

Currently under construction, it has been announced that the Herzog & de Meuron designed first phase of the new development of Tate Modern will open in the summer of 2012. The launch will be part of the London 2012 Festival which will be the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.

Phase 1 of the development includes the opening of the former power station’s spectacular Oil Tanks – enormous circular spaces over thirty metres across and seven metres high. These massive industrial chambers have lain unused since the power station was decommissioned. They are now being transformed into what promise to be some of the most exciting new spaces for art in the world. A further series of neighbouring galleries will provide a range of new spaces for works from the Tate Collection, including two raw concrete galleries and a unique steel-lined gallery. The Oil Tanks will also act as innovative social and learning spaces, as well as being equipped for a diverse programme of live performances and events, including a crush bar and full back of house facilities.

read more »

Courtesy of Museum der Kulturen Basel

In early September we reported that the Museum der Kulturen Basel reopened its doors after two years of reconstruction, refurbishment and expansion.  Now we are providing you with some more images of this exciting design.

Among the updates was a Herzog & de Meuron design described as a ‘stunning crown for the historical walls: the beautiful rooftop of irregular folds fits harmoniously into the rooftops surrounding the cathedral’.

read more »

© Museum der Kulturen Basel

Earlier this week one of Europe’s great ethnographic museums, the Museum der Kulturen Basel, reopened its doors. Two years of reconstruction, refurbishment and expansion including a Herzog & de Meuron design for the historical walls was among the updates that it received. Their design is described as a ‘stunning crown for the historical walls: the beautiful rooftop of irregular folds fits harmoniously into the rooftops surrounding the cathedral’.

Director Anna Schmid commented, “Our innovative approach to life’s cultural dimensions makes them more accessible. We want to be a place for new encounters and inspiration.”

read more »

Courtesy of Flickr CC License / Sarmu

This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Beijing. Beijing has a range of architectural styles, but the three most prevalent are the traditional imperial style (the Forbidden City), the “Sino-Sov” style (boxy structures built between the 1950s and 70s), and lastly the explosion of a modern corporate style that is punctuated with Starchitect buildings like OMA’s CCTV TV Station HQ. We put together a list of 12 modern/contemporary buildings that we feel provides a good starting point. It is far from complete. There are dozens of other great buildings that are not our list, and we are looking to add to the list in the near future. Please add your favorites in the comment section below so we can add them on the second go around. Again thank you to all our readers who sent in their suggestions and photographs. The city guides would not be possible without your help.

To check out other cities visit our world map or our Architecture City Guide page.
The Architecture City Guide: Beijing list and corresponding map after the break.

read more »

This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Madrid. As the third largest city in the European Union, Madrid is the economic and political capital of Spain. The streets and neighborhoods for the most part remains historic, but the city is punctuated with moments of engaging and interesting contemporary architecture. For those who have followed our city guides, you will have noticed that this is our second stop in Spain. That said, Madrid is distinctly different from Barcelona. The differences between the two are manifested in their architecture, both old and new. Our lists only cover relatively recent projects, but a quick glance at the two will give you a sense of the differing cultures and lifestyles (Barcelona’s City Guide). Both lists are far from complete and we are looking to add to them in the near future. In the meantime add more of your favorites to the comment section below.

To check out other cities visit our world map or our Architecture City Guide  page.

The Architecture City Guide: Madrid list and corresponding map after the break.

read more »

Photography by Iwan Baan, © Vitra

Over the years the Vitra Campus has become an architecture museum, featuring works by the most renowned architects:  Frank Ghery, Zaha Hadid, Alvaro Siza, Tadao Ando, Jean Pruvé, Nicholas Grimshaw, Buckminster Fuller and SANAA (under construction).

The latest addition to the complex is the VitraHaus building, a series of stacked pitched-roof boxed, designed by Herzog & de Meuron for Vitra’s Home Collection:

read more »

This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to Barcelona. We recently featured an engaging video where Wiel Arets half jokingly said Barcelona is fantastic but boring. He continued to say as soon as Sagrada Família is finished Barcelona is done; there is nothing left to do there (10:50). Arets can say what he wants about Barcelona supposedly being boring, but our city guide doesn’t reflect this. Barcelona is filled with fantastically expressive architecture that springs from its proud Catalan culture. It was impossible to feature all our readers suggestions in the first go around, and we did not even come close to including some of the most iconic building such as Casa Milà. Thus we are looking to add to our list of 24 in the near future. Further more there are so many fabulous buildings on the drawing board or under construction, i.e. the projects in the @22 district, we’ll most likely be updating this city guide for quite awhile, regardless of Sagrada Família’s completion.

Take a look at our list with the knowledge it is far complete and add to it in the comment section below.

The Architecture City Guide: Barcelona list and corresponding map after the break.

read more »

This week, with the help of our readers, our Architecture City Guide is headed to London. This is our second stop in Europe, and once again I had to capitulate and double the number of buildings that we normally feature. We could not feature all of the suggestions, and will be adding to the list in the near future. We really appreciate those readers who offered their suggestions and the use of their pictures to make up this list.

Samuel Johnson famously said, “When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” As home to a long tradition of kings and queens, the Royal Society, and the roots of the Industrial Revolution, it is not surprising that there is a rich tension and collaboration between the historic and contemporary architecture in London. This reflects a city and culture that has a strong history of celebrating the past while also moving forward. Conflicts often emerge, as the goals of one side clash with those of the other. This relationship, however, is why I find walking the streets of London so appealing - those beautiful moments when history and progress collide.

Once again, thanks to all our readers for your help. We encourage you to add more of your favorites in the comment section below.

The Architecture City Guide: London list and corresponding map after the break.

read more »

This week we are taking our Architecture City Guide to South Beach. Miami’s architectural styles range from austere corporate architecture, as it has the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, to colorful and playful architecture that reflects its beach and Latin American culture. Architecture lovers can’t miss Miami Beach’s Art Deco District or its old Spanish heritage. We have put together a list of 12 contemporary buildings that range from a small park pavilion to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. There is plenty more to see in Miami so please add your “must not miss” in the comment section below.

Architecture City Guide: Miami list and corresponding map after the break!

read more »

Photography by Iwan Baan, © Vitra

This coming Thursday, May 5th Harvard University Graduate School of Design will host Jacques Herzog, of Pritzker Prize winning Herzog de Meuron. The lecture, from 4pm-5pm, will be held at the Piper Auditorium and is free and open to the public. It will also be streaming live on the GSD webcast page. Further information about this upcoming lecture can be found here.

This week our Architecture City Guide is headed to the city stars fall on. With a few notable exceptions, one can hardly be called a starchitect if s/he hasn’t designed something in Minneapolis. Since 2005 the starchitects that have fallen on this “City of Lakes” include Jean Nouvel, Herzog & de Mueron, César Pelli, Michael Graves, Steven Holl, and Frank Gehry. This is a surprising number for a city just north of 380,000 people. Few cities of this size could boast as much. What’s more our list of 12 is far from complete. There are many wonderful historic and contemporary buildings mixed in with the explosion of starchitecture. Please leave comments of buildings one should not miss when visiting Minneapolis.

Architecture City Guide: Minneapolis list and corresponding map after the break!

read more »

© Herzog de Meuron

The 590ft (180m) proposed Herzog de Meuron design labeled ‘Triangle Tower’, has been in the spotlight over recent weeks after the cross-party council approved the tower’s protocol agreement. Opposing the recent approval, Green party members are eager to share their thoughts commenting that the “colossal” project is “yet another office block” according to party member Yves Contassot.

The controversy over the 40-story steel and glass building surely was anticipated; the French capital has had a 30+ year drought of buildings over 121ft. In 1977 a ban was put into place, shortly after the completion of the 689ft Tour Montparnasse, because Parisians feared that the city center would lose its existing urban fabric to skyscrapers similar to the Montparnasse.

To most Parisians the Montparnasse’s over exaggerated proportions and lack of character have left an uneasy feeling for future skyscraper development. Many citizens are not opposed to high-rise development, such as Olivier de Rohan Chabot member of Safeguard of French Art, however he has concerns, “Look at the Montparnasse Tower; it has crushed the hotel des Invalides (housing Napoleon’s tomb). The monument was built to be grandiose. But what has it become? A dwarf. The tower ridicules it. In this sense, it’s a veritable attack on the beauty of the capital” (as stated Le Figaro newspaper).

More following the break.

read more »

This week we are featuring San Francisco for our Architecture City Guide series.  Thank you to all of our readers for adding their can’t miss buildings last week.  We hope to see your comments below this week too.

Follow the break for our San Francisco list and a corresponding map!

read more »

© Iwan Baan

The M.H. de Young Memorial Museum by Herzog & de Meuron is a remarkable revival of a building that no longer exists. The original museum, which opened in 1895, was an outgrowth of a fair modeled on the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition the previous year known as the California Midwinter Internation Exposition of 1894. Located in the sunny San Francisco, California, the museum was formerly named for one of the city’s newspapermen M.H. de Young. The old museum was a bulky structure decorated with concrete ornaments, which began falling off the building and became hazardous, leading to their removal in 1949. The building was completely destroyed, however, in 1989 by the Loma Prieta earthquake.

More on the museum after the break. read more »

Oliver Heissner

Herzog and de Meuron’s Elbe Philharmonic Concert Hall in Germany is in the midst of construction, and we just received some photos from the firm.  The 17^th century factory, which the new hall rests upon, will maintain its traditional identity while housing new programmatic activities.  The Grand Hall seems to float above the distinctive factory, clothed in a tent-like glass facade.  The highly articulated facade is designed in different sections to provide appropriate sun protection depending upon function and orientation.  Once complete in 2012, the building will include a 250 room five-star hotel, and 47 apartments, in addition to a philharmonic hall of 2,150-seats and a chamber music hall of 550 seats.

See early renderings as well as recent construction photos after the break. read more »

© Nelson Garrido/1111Lincoln Road Shot Reprinted with permission from MBeach1, LLLP.

We saw this project during its design and construction phase and now, thanks to photographer Nelson Garrido, we present you 1111 Lincoln Road by Herzog & de Meuron completed.

This mixed use project is currently being built at the corner of Alton and Lincoln, one of the most active pedestrian areas in the city, and it will include residences, retail spaces and parking. Parking takes a central space in this building, with one of the best views I have ever seen on a parking space.

Jacques Herzog stated that this builing will reinterpret the essence of Tropical Modernism, and it somehow reminds me of the modern movement in Brazil, with raw structures providing shade, while containing smaller enclosing sub-elements. The slabs stand over a set of irregular columns, giving a sense of a precarious equilibrium. These columns also cast different shadows, giving more character to the facade.

But there are more references to Brazil’s modernism: interior courtyards by landscape architect Raymond Jungles, follower of  Roberto Burle Marx (renowned figure of the modern movement in Brazil).

read more »

Iwan Baan has always amazed us with his photos, capturing the essence of several projects around the world. But Iwan has also been exploring with virtual panoramas (I remember some OMA buildings at Domus, included on a CD).

Via @vitra I found that Iwan used this technique on the VitraHaus building by Herzog & de Meuron, which you can now explore from your computer to  get a better idea about the spatial relations between these stacked volumes.

Follow this link to take the virtual tour.