Herzog & de Meuron are Swiss architects known for their minimalist yet organically integrated designs, with a notable emphasis on materiality and dynamic geometries. Their most famous project, the Tate Modern in London, transformed a disused power station into a major cultural landmark, emphasizing sustainability and community engagement through innovative new spaces. The recent addition to the Tate enhances its capacity and maintains a connection to its industrial roots while promoting environmental efficiency and artistic diversity.

1. HERZOG & DE MEURON
Illustration from https://mediastorm.com/
AZAD RK S5
AVANI INSTITUTE OF DESIGN

2. Jacques Herzog (1950) and Pierre Meuron (1950) both went to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology “ETH” in Zurich.
Since the 1990’s until today, they are professors at ETH in Zurich as well as at Harvard University Graduate School of design.
They have both received an Architectural Nobel price.

3. Herzog & De Meuron’s work can be roughly describe in several adjectives-
-minimalism and ornament,
-cosmetic and structural,
-image and body
.
Their designs have a common and similar prospective on nature, which makes them carry out a simplicity of their
shapes that are usually described as a shape of a box.
A shape of a box consists of a flat roof and large windows, which at the same time characterized their prototype
buildings.
Both architects carry out an “organic” philosophy, which means that their buildings are design to fit its natural
surrounding

4. ● Their engagement of expressing themselves through materiality is something that can be seen and
admired through all their projects.
● They established themselves at the centre of architectural colloquy just by their artistic works and their
process of organising and collecting materials at the heart of their work.
● Their techniques have changed from the purist simplicity of rectangular forms to more complex and
dynamic geometries throughout the years.
● It is said that their success can be associated to their skills in releasing unfamiliar or unknown bonds by
utilizing innovative materials.
● Herzog and De Meuron collaborate with different artists on each and every of their architectural
projects.

5. After constructing Beijing National Stadium they used a phrase that strongly characterizes them: “There should
be many ways of perceiving a building” after calling their new project “The Bird’s Nest”. Herzog & De Meuron
often cite Joseph Beuys as “an enduring artistic inspiration” of their work. Their most known project is probably
the Tate Modern in London

6. TATE MODERN
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
● Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
● Area: 34000.0 m2
● Year: 2000

7. London’s Bankside Power Station stood
disused from 1981 until 2000, when it
opened to the public as The Tate Modern.
Since Tate Modern first opened in 2000, it has
become a London landmark, not just for the art it
houses, but also for the architecture of the building
itself.

8. south of the Thames River had been synonymous with industry,
entertainment >> once the theaters left and harbor activity moved
east of the city >> build an oil-fired power station directly opposite St
Paul's Cathedral by architect Giles Gilbert Scott to draw comparison
to London's famous cathedral ('cathedral of pure energy') >> active
for more than 30 years >> shutdown in 1981, vacant & slowly
decaying.
Bankside urban fabric needed a new catalyst.
Site feature
● -unparalleled large-scale central London location,
● - excellent transport facilities,
● -the possibility of a riverboat connection with the gallery at
Millbank,
● -immediate availability for development"

9. completely accepted the existing building
it's form, it's materials and it's industrial characteristics.
By re-using the existing power station, the architects argued that the Tate was free from the need to create the memorable,
signature form that is deemed essential in contemporary cultural design.

10. Site analysis of access, circulation, new development, and points of social engagement

11. Created by the Southwark Council, aimed at improving the accessibility of the area and its immediate environment as
well as pulling investment into the area.
Developments, such as the Bankside Pier (with ferry
service) and Bankside Riverwalk manifested the
area into an accessibility nexus, the center of a linear
sweep along the Thames connecting destinations East
(Tower Bridge, Tower of London) and West (South
Bank, Westminster) of the site.

12. Perhaps the most important connection would
come months later, as the highly publicized
Millennium Bridge (the first new central
London river crossing in over a hundred years)
opened, physically bringing together ideas of
old and new, north and south, art and
commerce, and the two visual landmarks of St.
Paul's Cathedral in the city and Bankside's
Tate Modern.

13. 11-story addition will create new gallery and social spaces to relieve the overcrowded existing building and respond to the changing
nature of art, with facilities for new media and raw spaces where special installations by artists and performances will take place
The proposal, putting all of the new development south of the original building, begins to structure a duality, defining the boundary of
Tate's public center.
To the north, the articulation of the landscape is much more expansive and public, with vast views of the city and river edge, occupied
by movement of thousands of people from the bridge, ferry and riverwalk.
To the south, a new development aimed at developing a dramatic change in scale and character, creating an 'external room' with a
natural canopy and smaller, humanistic spaces to be shared between the surrounding local community.

14. f
<<View from south
The building will rise 64.5 metres above ground
in 11 levels, its height responding to the iconic
chimney of Giles Gilbert Scott’s power station

15. The façade will use brick to match the surface of
the existing structure, while creating something
radically new – a perforated brick lattice through
which the interior lights will glow in the evening.
Windows and the terrace will appear as cuts in
the brick surface.

16. Sustainability
The building will be a model of environmental
sustainability, setting new benchmarks for
museums and galleries in the UK.
It will draw much of its energy needs from heat
emitted by EDF’s transformers in the adjoining
operational Blavatnik Building. With a high
thermal mass, frequent use of natural
ventilation, and utilisation of daylight, the new
building will use 54% less energy and generate
44% less carbon than current building regulations
demand.

18. 1. THE TURBINE HALL
The vast hall at the heart of Tate Modern is
probably the best-known space in the gallery. 35
metres high and 152 metres long, you could
comfortably teeter seven London buses on top of
each other in there.

19. Entry to Turbine Hall from the West, slipping below the building

20. When the building was converted into the
gallery space we now know, architects
Herzog & De Meuron retained many of the
original features, from the unfinished brick
walls and exposed steel construction
beams, to the narrow vertical windows
stretching up to the cathedral-high ceiling at
each end of the hall

21. 2. THE CHIMNEY
Ar.t Giles Gilbert Scott (the mind behind the red London
telephone box) was employed to ensure the new power
station did not compete with St Paul’s and he
simplified the building into the low horizontal profile
with its single brick chimney that we know today, very
different to his other iconic power station in Battersea.
The Bankside chimney is 99 metres tall, just lower than
the dome of St Paul’s, and is built entirely of brick.
Best seen from the river, either on the Millennium Bridge,
or on the boat between Tate Britain and Tate Modern.

22. 3. THE NEW SWITCH
HOUSE
The Switch House is the new extension to Tate
Modern, built on the site of the old switch house of
the power station.
It marries old and new technology to create 10 new
floors of gallery space.Nearly 170,000 bricks
have been used to clad the extension, while inside
concrete construction echoes the original boiler
house and tanks.

23. Look out for where the
patchwork of bricks is
perforated to let light in,
and new nooks in staircases
for resting, chatting and people
watching.
Right at the top of the
pyramid-shaped building is an
open viewing terrace. Though
no higher than the chimney, it
has an unobstructed view down
the river Thames and across
London, from Canary Wharf to
Wembley Stadium.

25. The chain mail brick façade is a completely new invention that allows the museum to bridge the gap between the contextual and the iconic

26. 4. THE TANKS
As the name suggests, the huge circular rooms to the
south side of the Turbine Hall were once underground
tanks to hold the oil that powered the turbine
generators.
Oil was chosen to fuel the station as it was seen as less polluting
and difficult to manage than coal. Though it came with its own
hazards (not least the fire risk),
Sinking the tanks into the ground was another way of
reducing the visual impact of the building on the
riverbank.
Their rough concrete walls still bear the marks of
their industrial past and remain the clearest reminder of
the industrial history of the gallery.
Now fully excavated, they may not seem like normal gallery
spaces, but like the Turbine Hall, they open up the sort of art that
can be seen in Tate Modern. Instead of holding the fuel for the
turbines, they now provide space for live art: performance, dance,
film and discussion.

28. It allows the curatorial staff almost complete freedom
in displaying art.
These spaces also include a whole floor dedicated to
educational facilities and outreach programs; as
well as staff and public cafes, an events space
and a viewing deck.
The location of the museum required moving the
original switch house, a huge piece of central
electricity infrastructure, which is a major civil
engineering project in its own right.

30. REFERENCE
https://cultureofdesign.wordpres
s.com/2010/05/04/herzog-de-m
euron-by-ana-marroquin/
https://www.tate.org.uk/
https://cultureofdesign.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/herzog-de-meuron-by-ana-marroquin/
http://www.chriskarlson.com/blog/2011/8/1/rotch-case-study-tate-modern.html