Herzog & de Meuron

Herzog & de Meuron is an international architecture practice founded in Basel in 1978 by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. The two founders studied at ETH Zurich and developed a long-running partnership that treats architecture as both a spatial discipline and a field of material, social and cultural investigation. Rather than adhering to a single visual style, the practice is associated with close attention to context, construction, surfaces, structure, light and the ways buildings are experienced by the public. The firm began with relatively small Swiss commissions and became known in architectural circles for precise, sometimes experimental treatment of ordinary materials. Early work included houses, industrial buildings and projects for Ricola, the Swiss confectionery company. The Ricola storage building in Laufen and later Ricola marketing and administration buildings demonstrated the practice’s interest in combining industrial functionality with carefully considered envelopes, landscape and artistic collaboration. These projects helped establish an approach in which material research and details are central to a building’s identity. During the 1990s, Herzog & de Meuron expanded internationally and took on cultural, commercial and institutional commissions. Its work ranged from galleries and private residences to wineries, offices and urban interventions. The practice received the 2001 Pritzker Architecture Prize, awarded to Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, which confirmed its international standing. Subsequent projects broadened its public profile, including the conversion of London’s Bankside Power Station into Tate Modern, the Dominus Winery in California, the Allianz Arena in Munich, the de Young Museum in San Francisco and the Pérez Art Museum Miami. The practice has also designed major sports and entertainment facilities. Its Beijing National Stadium, developed with the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and collaborators, became the principal stadium of the 2008 Olympic Games and is widely known as the Bird’s Nest. Other large commissions include the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the St. Jakob-Park complex in Basel and One Park Drive in London. These projects illustrate the firm’s ability to work at very different scales while maintaining an emphasis on public experience, structural expression and distinctive material treatment. Adaptive reuse remains an important part of its work. The Tate Modern transformed a former power station into a major museum and was later expanded with the Blavatnik Building. Other projects have reworked industrial, infrastructural and historic buildings into museums, performance spaces, offices and mixed-use developments. The practice also works on hospitals, laboratories, apartment buildings, hospitality, retail interiors, furniture and exhibition-related design. Herzog & de Meuron operates through a partner-led model. Basel remains the main office, supported by international studios and project locations. The firm’s organization emphasizes collective design leadership, with active partners participating in ownership and governance and a stated intergenerational succession process. Its work is carried out by a large international team on projects across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East. The practice’s present identity combines architectural design, urban planning, interior and furniture-related work, research and collaboration with artists, clients and specialist consultants.

Herzog & de Meuron was established in Basel in 1978 by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. The founders had known each other from an early age and studied architecture at ETH Zurich before forming their practice. Their early commissions were modest in scale but established themes that continued throughout the firm’s career: rigorous attention to materials, interest in industrial and vernacular references, and a willingness to treat façades as active architectural instruments rather than neutral coverings. The practice’s early recognition came from Swiss projects including houses and industrial buildings. Its work for Ricola was particularly significant. The Ricola storage building in Laufen and later production and marketing facilities used simple industrial programs as opportunities for experimentation with enclosure, landscape, image and construction. The Ricola Marketing Building in Laufen, completed in the late 1990s, combined open office space with a glass envelope, planted roof elements and artist-developed curtains. The project reflected the firm’s tendency to collaborate with artists and to connect architectural performance with visual and sensory experience. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Herzog & de Meuron’s reputation expanded through galleries, residences and cultural buildings. The Goetz Collection in Munich and the Dominus Winery in California showed different applications of the firm’s approach: one closely integrated art and architecture, while the other used a gabion-like stone skin to mediate between an industrial wine-making program and the surrounding landscape. These projects helped define the practice as materially inventive without reducing its work to a fixed signature style. The 2001 Pritzker Architecture Prize marked a major turning point in international recognition. Around the same period, the conversion of London’s Bankside Power Station into Tate Modern demonstrated the practice’s ability to work with monumental existing structures. The museum opened in 2000, and later expansion with the Blavatnik Building extended the institution while preserving the character of the former power station. The project became a widely cited example of cultural adaptive reuse and helped make Herzog & de Meuron’s work familiar to a broad public. The firm subsequently undertook projects across Europe, North America and Asia. Its portfolio grew to include museums such as the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Pérez Art Museum Miami and M+ in Hong Kong; stadiums including Beijing National Stadium and Allianz Arena; major office and residential buildings; laboratories and hospitals; and urban-scale developments. The Beijing stadium, designed for the 2008 Olympic Games in collaboration with Ai Weiwei and others, used an intricate structural lattice to create a highly recognizable public image. The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg placed a new concert hall above a brick warehouse and became one of the practice’s most prominent European cultural projects. Herzog & de Meuron has also maintained a substantial body of commercial and workplace architecture. VitraHaus at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein stacked house-like volumes to create a showroom with a strong sculptural identity. Projects for Roche in Basel, Ricola and other corporate clients show how the practice applies its design research to offices, laboratories, production and administration. In London, One Park Drive combined a high-rise residential program with a distinctive rounded and modular form. The practice’s international growth has been accompanied by a partner-led governance model. Basel remains its headquarters, with additional studios and project activity in cities including Berlin, Hong Kong, London, Munich, New York and San Francisco, as well as other site and regional offices. The organization is owned by active partners, and the firm describes succession as an intergenerational process intended to preserve continuity while distributing responsibility among newer leaders. Adrian Keller served as CEO from 2017 until 2026; Senior Partner Wim Walschap then assumed the CEO role while continuing project work. Today, Herzog & de Meuron works across scales and building types rather than presenting itself as a conventional product brand. Its business is professional architectural and planning service: winning commissions, developing designs, coordinating specialists and delivering buildings in collaboration with clients, artists, engineers, contractors and local stakeholders. Its public identity rests on a combination of international awards, landmark cultural projects, adaptive reuse, material experimentation and a collaborative practice structure.

• 2026

  Wim Walschap becomes CEO

  [2]New CEO at Herzog & de Meuronherzogdemeuron.com

  Senior Partner Wim Walschap succeeds Adrian Keller as CEO at the start of May 2026.

• 2017

  Adrian Keller becomes CEO

  [7]Adrian Keller interviewbatterman.ch

  Adrian Keller begins his tenure as chief executive officer during the practice’s planned leadership transition.

• 2016

  Tate Modern extension opens

  [5]Herzog & de Meuron architecture and design coveragedesignboom.com

  The Blavatnik Building expands Tate Modern, continuing Herzog & de Meuron’s long-term work at the museum.

• 2009

  VitraHaus completed

  [8]VitraHaus completedherzogdemeuron.com

  VitraHaus opens at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein as a showroom designed by Herzog & de Meuron.

• 2008

  Beijing National Stadium completed for the Olympic Games

  [4]Herzog & de Meuron — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

  The Beijing National Stadium, popularly called the Bird’s Nest, serves as a principal venue for the 2008 Olympic Games.

• 2001

  Pritzker Architecture Prize

  [4]Herzog & de Meuron — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

  Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

• 2000

  Tate Modern opens

  [4]Herzog & de Meuron — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

  The former Bankside Power Station in London opens as Tate Modern after conversion by Herzog & de Meuron.

• 1986

  Ricola warehouse in Laufen

  [3]Ricola Marketing Buildingherzogdemeuron.com

  The practice completes an early industrial commission for Ricola, beginning a long relationship with the Swiss confectionery company.

• 1978

  Practice founded in Basel

  [1]Herzog & de Meuron organizationherzogdemeuron.com

  Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron establish Herzog & de Meuron in Basel, Switzerland.

A premium, research-oriented global architecture practice positioned around design excellence, material experimentation, contextual interpretation and complex cultural, institutional and urban commissions.

• Professional services · 1978

  Architectural design and planning

  The firm’s core offering is architectural design for buildings and urban environments. Its work spans cultural institutions, sports venues, offices, laboratories, hospitals, housing, factories, hospitality and private residences. Services commonly involve concept development, competition design, planning, technical coordination and delivery in collaboration with clients and specialist consultants.

• Museum and adaptive reuse · 2000

  Tate Modern

  Herzog & de Meuron converted London’s Bankside Power Station into Tate Modern and later designed the museum’s major extension. The project retains the industrial presence of the former power station while creating galleries, circulation spaces and public areas for a major modern and contemporary art institution.

• Sports architecture · 2008

  Beijing National Stadium

  Designed for the 2008 Olympic Games with collaborators including Ai Weiwei, the Beijing National Stadium is organized around a visually prominent lattice of structural and enclosure elements. Its nickname, the Bird’s Nest, reflects the interwoven appearance of the stadium’s exterior.

• Concert hall · 2017

  Elbphilharmonie

  The Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg places a concert hall and public spaces above a renovated brick warehouse at the HafenCity waterfront. The project combines adaptive reuse with a new expressive upper volume and has become one of Hamburg’s best-known cultural buildings.

• Sports architecture · 2005

  Allianz Arena

  The Munich football stadium is distinguished by an illuminated external skin made from inflated panels. Its changing appearance and carefully organized spectator infrastructure give the venue a strong public identity while supporting professional football operations.

• Showroom and retail architecture · 2009

  VitraHaus

  VitraHaus is a showroom at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. A stack of elongated, house-like volumes creates a recognizable silhouette and a sequence of interior rooms for presenting Vitra furniture and design products.

• Museum · 2021

  M+

  M+ in Hong Kong is a major museum for visual culture. Herzog & de Meuron designed a building with extensive gallery areas and a prominent tower-like component, supporting exhibitions across design, architecture, moving image and contemporary visual culture.

• Commercial and workplace architecture · 1999

  Ricola Marketing Building

  The Ricola Marketing Building in Laufen uses a glass envelope, planted roof elements and artist-designed curtains to shape an open workplace. It is part of Herzog & de Meuron’s continuing series of projects for Ricola and demonstrates the firm’s interest in combining landscape, transparency and workplace communication.

• Residential architecture · 2022

  One Park Drive

  One Park Drive is a residential tower in London’s Canary Wharf. Its rounded form and stacked, projecting floor plates create a distinctive profile while accommodating apartments and shared residential amenities within a high-density urban development.

• 2023Digital practice and website relaunch

  Global

  The practice introduced a new website designed to provide multiple ways of navigating and experiencing its portfolio and ongoing work.

  Outcome. The relaunch strengthened the firm’s direct digital presentation of projects and design research.

  Source
• 2008Beijing Olympic stadium

  China and international sports sector

  Herzog & de Meuron collaborated on the National Stadium for the Beijing Olympic Games, developing a large stadium whose structural lattice became its dominant visual feature.

  Outcome. The Bird’s Nest became an internationally recognizable landmark and a defining public work of the practice.

  Source
• 2000Tate Modern adaptive-reuse program

  United Kingdom and international cultural sector

  The conversion of Bankside Power Station into Tate Modern presented architectural reuse as a cultural and public strategy. The later extension continued the relationship between the museum and the practice.

  Outcome. Tate Modern became a major international museum and a widely recognized example of transforming industrial heritage for public use.

  Source
• 1986Ricola architectural collaboration

  Switzerland and international architecture sector

  A continuing sequence of commissions for Ricola used warehouses, production buildings, marketing offices and administration facilities to explore industrial architecture, material surfaces, landscape and artistic collaboration.

  Outcome. The projects became an important body of early and mature work and helped establish the practice’s reputation for material experimentation.

  Source
• 1978Partner-led architectural practice model

  Global

  Herzog & de Meuron’s identity is built around a collaborative partnership rather than a mass-market consumer brand. Active partners participate in design, governance and ownership, allowing the practice to expand internationally while retaining collective responsibility for its work.

  Outcome. The model supports continuity, international project delivery and an intergenerational succession process.

  Source

• 2026

  Transition chief executive leadership to Wim WalschapStrategy

  Background

  The partner-owned practice is carrying out a planned generational transition while retaining the founders’ involvement in design and project development.

  Action taken

  Senior Partner Wim Walschap succeeded Adrian Keller as CEO while continuing to work on architectural projects.

  Aftermath

  The change preserves the partner-led governance model and places operational leadership with a senior partner experienced in international projects.

  Source

• 2008

  Deliver Beijing National Stadium for the Olympic GamesProduct launch

  Background

  Beijing required a major stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games and commissioned a design with a strong civic and international identity.

  Action taken

  The practice developed a stadium organized around an expressive interwoven structural and enclosure system, in collaboration with project partners.

  Aftermath

  The completed stadium became known worldwide as the Bird’s Nest and remains a prominent Beijing landmark.

  Source

• 2000

  Reuse Bankside Power Station as Tate ModernStrategy

  Background

  The project required a major cultural institution to be inserted into an existing industrial power station rather than built as an entirely new museum.

  Action taken

  Herzog & de Meuron retained the power station’s principal industrial character and adapted its spaces for galleries, public circulation and museum operations.

  Aftermath

  The project became a landmark example of adaptive reuse and led to a later extension designed by the same practice.

  Source

1. 1Herzog & de Meuron organizationherzogdemeuron.com
2. 2New CEO at Herzog & de Meuronherzogdemeuron.com
3. 3Ricola Marketing Buildingherzogdemeuron.com
4. 4Herzog & de Meuron — Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
5. 5Herzog & de Meuron architecture and design coveragedesignboom.com
6. 6Herzog & de Meuron coveragedezeen.com
7. 7Adrian Keller interviewbatterman.ch
8. 8VitraHaus completedherzogdemeuron.com