Tate Modern
12 May – 26 November 2000
An exhibition of the work of Herzog & de Meuron, the architects of Tate Modern, will be among the gallery’s opening displays. Herzog & de Meuron’s architecture will be celebrated through an exciting new form of exhibition-making. Their relationship with the building of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the original architect of Bankside Power Station, will be explored in a series of eleven locations throughout the building.
Starting from a base camp at the entrance of Tate Modern, which will feature a large scale model of the building, visitors will embark on a journey of discovery and revelation as they are led to the different locations. Each station is conceived and designed by Herzog & de Meuron to reveal their ideas and creative processes, and shows unexpected vistas and perspectives, providing insights into the hidden anatomy of the building.
Selected from proposals by an international shortlist of architects, Herzog & de Meuron’s project at Bankside represents a unique collaboration across time with the architecture of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Working with Scott’s machine-age aesthetic of mass, volume and surface, the architects have transformed his massive brick monolith into an exhilarating industrial cathedral.
Rather than erasing what was there to create a blank canvas, Herzog & de Meuron’s have worked with and celebrated the industrial vernacular of the building. Using the existing structure of the building, they have added bridges and balconies, a new system of floors and walls, varying ceiling heights and floor surfaces and a wide range of light sources, from huge floor to ceiling windows to a vast glass roof spanning a spectacular six storey high entrance hall. The scheme provides a breath-taking spectrum of galleries, project spaces, concourses, auditoria, cafés, bars and shops, where the public can encounter, discuss and study the great works of art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Widely acknowledged as one of the leading architectural practices in Europe, the Herzog & de Meuron Architecture Studio was founded in Basel in 1978 and has since been awarded numerous architectural prizes. With two additional partners - Harry Gugger and Christine Binswanger - they have designed buildings for clients ranging from the renowned Goetz Collection of contemporary art in Munich, to the Swiss National Railways.
PRO HELVETIA and the Coordinating Commission for the Presence of Switzerland Abroad are also supporters of Creative Switzerland 2000: Dialogue between Cultures.
Opening Hours: Sun-Thurs 10.00-18.00 Fri-Sat 10.00-22.00