Closer to home, the architecture firm is also responsible for the transformation of the Bankside Powerstation into our favourite gallery, The Tate Modern, London, whilst even further afield, the incredible 110,000 tonnes of steel, meshed and fused together, created Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium and is an another example of their genius. Notably, the idea for this 'nest-scheme' evolved from Chinese ceramics, truly grounding the design in its surroundings.
From the Prada building in Tokyo, to 1111 Lincoln Road car park in Miami, Herzog & de Meuron have come up with some breathtaking architectural masterpieces.
Ada Louise Huxtable commented on the approach of the firm as refining "the traditions of modernism to elemental simplicity, while transforming materials and surfaces through the exploration of new treatments and techniques." Jacques Herzog himself bluntly points out the power of this approach, "A building is a building. It cannot be read like a book; it doesn't have any credits, subtitles or labels like picture in a gallery. In that sense, we are absolutely anti-representational. The strength of our buildings is the immediate, visceral impact they have on a visitor."
Based on my visit to the Allianz Arena, I'd say they were bang on the mark for 'immediate, visceral impact.'
