Herzog y de Meuron

The architects Herzog & de Meuron have received from the Royal Institute of British Architects its most important distinction, thus joining the list of prestigious professionals – from Le Corbusier to Rem Koolhaas, and also Jean Nouvel or Rafael Moneo – who have already received this prize. Awarded in recognition of their whole career, the medal is preceded by the 2003 Stirling Prize – presented by the same institution – to their Laban Dance Center, a piece of translucent and colorful polycarbonate on the banks of the River Thames. It was, however, the renovation of the Tate Gallery in the year 2000 – a jewel of 1930sindustrial architecture transformed into the new icon of London’s museums – that brought the architects greater visibility in the United Kingdom. Precisely the great success of this intervention has prompted, according to the authorities, an important extension of the museum surface, which the Swiss architects have given form to in the design of a large pyramidal volume, faceted on its south facade. Other important future projects are the Philharmonic Hall of Hamburg or the Miami Art Museum.