OK, here we go.  I promised that I would give a review of Herzog & de Meuron’s video after I had a chance to watch it.  Let me just start by saying that I love the spaces that this firm puts together.  They are raw, honest, and deliberate with their architecture.  They are not, on the other hand vidographers or are they very good at picking one.  The video reminds me of something a high school student in film calss might do.  I take that back, it is not that good.  If you are as creative as these guys are, wouldn’t you think you could find someone as creative as you are, but in the film and video world?  Just take a look at some of the videos DWELL puts out on their site.  Why can’t you just grab some of these guys.  Her is an example:

In conclusion, the architectecture is a 10 out of 10; the video 3 out of 10

The Olympics drew to a close last Sunday leaving China with many gold metals and some pretty interesting architecture.  One architecture firm that made one of the biggest impacts on the games was the firm that designed the Bird’s Nest.

Herzog & de Meuron

Herzog & de Meuron Architekten, is a Swiss architecture firm, founded and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland in 1978. The careers of founders and senior partners Jacques Herzog (born 19 April 1950), and Pierre de Meuron (born 8 May 1950), closely paralleled one another, with both attending the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich. They were perhaps best known for their conversion of the giant Bankside Power Station in London to the new home of the Tate Museum of Modern Art. Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have been visiting professors at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design since 1994 and professors at ETH Zürich since 1999.

In 2001, Herzog & de Meuron were awarded the Pritzker Prize, the highest of honors in architecture. Jury chairman J. Carter Brown, commented, “One is hard put to think of any architects in history that have addressed the integument of architecture with greater imagination and virtuosity.” This in reference to HdeM’s innovative use of exterior materials and treatments, such as silkscreened glass. Architecture critic and Pritzker juror Ada Louise Huxtable summarized HdeM’s approach concisely: “They refine the traditions of modernism to elemental simplicity, while transforming materials and surfaces through the exploration of new treatments and techniques.”^[1] In 2006, the New York Times Magazine called them “one of the most admired architecture firms in the world.”HdeM’s early works were reductivist pieces of modernity that registered on the same level as the minimalist art of Donald Judd. However, their recent work at Prada Tokyo, the Barcelona Forum Building and the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Olympic Games, suggest a changing attitude.HdM’s commitment of articulation through materiality is a common thread through all their projects. Their formal gestures have generally progressed from the purist simplicity of rectangular forms to more complex and dynamic geometries. The architects often cite Joseph Beuys as an enduring artistic inspiration and collaborate with different artists on each architectural project. Their success can be attributed to their skills in revealing unfamiliar or unknown relationships by utilizing innovative materials.

I have been waiting patiently for my Netflix order for Architects Herzog & De Meuron: The Alchemy of Building and the Tate Modern (2008). While I was looking for a clip from the movie, I came across the above video preview for the Bird’s Nest documentary.