Architecture and Civilization

Architecture is actually something of no importance.

It is only a psychogram of what people are,

What cities are,

What cultures are.

That is what makes architecture interesting,

Not architecture in itself.

Because all the things that you can discover and analyze in architecture can also be found in other areas of our civilization.

by Herzog and de Meuron

Emphasized Materiality

We are not that interested in telling stories.

That is why we do not produce a very narrative or didactic architecture.

Rather, we make architecture that, in the most elementary way possible,

Expresses the being of the materials used,

The being of the site,

The being of the physical reality of the world.

We are interested in such elementary questions as:

What is wall?

What is a surface?

What is transparency?

These questions have an immediate effect on the sensual, perceptual abilities of the observer and the user.

We insist on the world’s materiality,

On the multiplicity of the sense as a central condition of humanity.

In our opinion, the spiritual quality of architecture and art lies exactly in this emphasized materiality...

We like weight just as much as we like constructions.

We don’t have a preference.

There is a specific weight to everything that we are interested in,

Not an absolute weight.

by Herzog and de Meuron