© Royal Academy of Arts
It is not only their professional success, but also the wisdom of a creative undertaking they have maintained over the course of four decades, that has given Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron an indisputable spot on the summit of great architects of our time. So the exhibition on their oeuvre that is on view at the Royal Academy of Arts in London until 15 October must be understood as a celebration – in fact a self-celebration, considering that it has to a large extent been curated by the Basel office itself – of the continuity of a creative endeavor. Four hundred items present Herzog & de Meuron’s peculiar universe through formats that range from photographs and archives placed on open shelves to the latest furniture pieces designed by the studio and the impressive live-size fragments of buildings. The show also draws attention to the Swiss partnership’s most recent ventures in hospital architecture, such as the REHAB project that Bêka & Lemoine portray through a documentary, and even uses virtual reality – a concession that speaks of H&dM’s steadfast modernity, but which, considering the power of the physical objects on display, is perhaps unnecessary, as Luis Fernández-Galiano opines in the review of the exhibition that appears further on in this issue of Arquitectura Viva.
Augmented Reality. Herzog & de Meuron at the Royal Academy
Herzog & de Meuron
