Foreword
A few months before the third volume of the Complete Works was published, Tate Modern in London opened its doors. With the conversion of this former power station on the banks of the Thames, Herzog & de Meuron, already highly respected by their peers, were catapulted to the very top of the international architectural league. The achievements of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron were subsequently recognized with the most prestigious of all public accolades, the 2001 Pritzker Prize and the 2007 Praemium Imperiale. For the Basel-based team, this new situation opened up many opportunities that have had an impact on the continuation of the Complete Works. The fourth volume therefore presents a number of changes. The most important of these changes applies to the main section of the book, where the architects comment on projects from their own experience. This is followed in each case by a selection of sketches, models, plans and photographs from the archives, which are put into a broader context by an analytical editorial text. Selected plans have been redrawn and organized in sequence especially for this publication. The visual opulence of the buildings is illustrated in a separate section without commentary. This departure from the previous layout offers readers a whole new approach to each of the projects, ranging from analytical study to casual observation. To ensure readability, given the complexity involved, we have chosen on this occasion to publish two separate volumes in English and German. The proven basic structure of introduction, main section, selected theoretical texts by the architects and a comprehensive work chronology has been retained. For technical reasons, the project details have been updated to no later than 31 December 2007. This publication covers the work of Herzog & de Meuron from 1997 – 2001. No attempt has been made to categorize the projects into specific periods, as these invariably involve a mix of pragmatic and fundamental considerations that do not encompass overlaps and long-term developments. At the same time, the selection of works covered also makes sense in retrospect: Vol. 1 presents the architects’ early work up to 1988, based on the underlying approach of a recherche architecturale—including the impact of architecture as a medium of perception, the significance of nature and the natural sciences, and a phenomenological approach to architecture and urban planning. This aspect of the architects’ oeuvre was eloquently summed up in the Architektur Denkform exhibition at the Architekturmuseum Basel. Vol. 2 covers the period 1989 – 1991, in which the exploration of materials continues with the architects’ launching of and experimenting with the “box” concept as a strategic vehicle for a reductive approach that offers a sense of direction in a time of arbitrary, postmodern plurality. A case in point is the design for the private museum housing the Goetz Collection in Munich. In the years 1992 to 1996, covered in Vol. 3, the architects demonstrate the feasibility of a reductive vocabulary as a means of achieving a new slant not only on revised modernism but also on such marginalized aspects as ornament, expression and monumentality. The period covered by this, the fourth volume in the series, shows how the strategies already adopted have developed their full potential, culminating in the topographical architecture discussed by the editor in his introductory essay. Focusing so clearly on the subject matter has called for a tough approach to selecting paradigmatic projects and buildings. Based on the architects’ customary system of numbering their projects chronologically upon accepting a commission, the years 1997– 2001 show the highest concentration of completed buildings in the history of Herzog & de Meuron so far. Since we have chosen neither to curtail the period covered in this volume nor to split it into two shorter volumes, some of the projects are mentioned only in the Work Chronology. These include the Kunsthaus Aargau and the marketing building for the Ricola company in Laufen. No exhibitions appear in the main section, even though the Natural History show at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal and its accompanying catalogue constitute a major survey of Herzog & de Meuron’s work. Instead, they are discussed in greater detail in the Work Chronology. Because of the global nature of Herzog & de Meuron’s architectural activities, it is no longer possible for one individual to have a full grasp of all the material involved. And so, more than ever before, this volume involves the collaborative effort of many people. First and foremost, I owe a debt of gratitude to Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron for their unstinting willingness to discuss the material and provide constructive criticism of the texts. I am equally grateful to their partners Harry Gugger, Christine Binswanger, Robert Hoesl, Ascan Mergenthaler and Stefan Marbach, as well as a number of other coworkers, for their input and ideas. I would like especially to thank Esther Zumsteg and her team, who gave so much support in so many ways, and without whom this book would never have been published. Sincere thanks also go in equal measure to Iela Herrling for her project organization and to Ludovic Balland, who was chosen by Herzog & de Meuron to develop the new graphic design. I also wish to thank Ishbel Flett and Catherine Schelbert for translating the texts into English and, last but not least, the publishing house of Birkhäuser Verlag, which afforded us such freedom in the planning and design of the book. July 2008 Gerhard Mack
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