Herzog & de Meuron is an international architecture practice founded in 1978 in Basel, Switzerland, by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, both born in Basel in 1950. The practice's work encompasses projects of different scales and programmes, from housing and cultural buildings to hospitals, stadiums, infrastructure, and urban developments. Its architecture is characterised by an ongoing investigation into materials, construction processes, and the relationship between buildings and their context.
Jacques Herzog (Basel, Switzerland, 1950) and Pierre de Meuron (Basel, Switzerland, 1950) studied architecture between 1970 and 1975 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zürich), where they were students of Aldo Rossi and Dolf Schnebli. Friends since childhood, they began a professional partnership that has maintained a close relationship between architectural practice, research, and teaching.
Jacques Herzog was a visiting professor at Cornell University in 1983. Both architects taught as visiting professors at Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1989 and between 1994 and 2014, and were professors at ETH Zürich from 1999 to 2018. They also co-founded ETH Studio Basel – Contemporary City Institute, a research programme focused on processes of urban and territorial transformation.
During its early years, the practice gained international recognition with projects such as the Blue House in Oberwil (1980), the Ricola Storage Building in Laufen (1987), the Stone House in Tavole (1988), and Dominus Winery in Yountville, California (1998). These projects helped establish an architectural approach based on material experimentation, the reinterpretation of construction systems, and the exploration of new relationships between structure, building envelope, and space.
The practice's international reputation grew significantly with the transformation of the former Bankside Power Station into Tate Modern in London (2000), one of the most influential cultural adaptive reuse projects of recent decades. This was followed by buildings such as Schaulager in Münchenstein (2003), Prada Aoyama in Tokyo (2003), the de Young Museum in San Francisco (2005), Allianz Arena in Munich (2005), CaixaForum Madrid (2008), the Beijing National Stadium (2008), VitraHaus in Weil am Rhein (2010), and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg (2017).
The practice has also expanded its work into museums, collective housing, educational and healthcare buildings, and urban transformation. Notable projects include Pérez Art Museum Miami (2013), the extension of Tate Modern in London (2016), the residential tower at 56 Leonard Street in New York (2017), the Tai Kwun cultural centre in Hong Kong (2018), the M+ museum in Hong Kong (2021), and the extension of Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg (2021).
In recent years, Herzog & de Meuron has completed projects including the University Children's Hospital Zurich (2024), the Roche pRED research centre in Basel (2024), the Hortus office building in Allschwil (2025), the new Lombard Odier headquarters in Bellevue, Geneva (2025), Calder Gardens in Philadelphia (2025), and the transformation of Marcel Breuer's building on Madison Avenue in New York for Sotheby's (2025). Further projects followed in 2026, including Titlis Tower in Engelberg and the Ford Student Center at Amherst College in Massachusetts.
A distinctive aspect of the practice's work has been its collaboration with artists from different generations, including Rémy Zaugg, Thomas Ruff, and Michael Craig-Martin, alongside projects exploring the relationships between architecture, contemporary art, and public space.
Herzog & de Meuron currently employs more than 500 professionals from approximately 50 countries. The practice maintains its headquarters in Basel, with offices in cities including Berlin, Barcelona, Hong Kong, London, Munich, New York, Paris, and San Francisco. Its leadership structure comprises the founding partners, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, together with a team of senior partners, partners, and associate partners. Senior partners include Christine Binswanger, Ascan Mergenthaler, Stefan Marbach, Jason Frantzen, Andreas Fries, and Wim Walschap, who became Chief Executive Officer of the practice in May 2026.
In 2001, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron were awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In 2007, they received the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, followed by the RIBA Jencks Award in 2015. That same year, they established the non-profit institution Jacques Herzog und Pierre de Meuron Kabinett, dedicated to preserving, researching, and sharing their collections of architecture, art, and photography.
