A Must-See Photo Animation of Herzog & de Meuron’s Biennale Exhibit!

Architizer News

A Must-See Photo Animation of Herzog & de Meuron’s Biennale Exhibit!

August 30, 2012

Animated photo © Experiments in Motion

In 2007, Herzog & de Meuron unveiled its much-ballyhooed design for the Elbphilharmonie performing arts center in Hamburg. The project, which entails transforming an old brick warehouse into an architectural showstopper, is rising in HafenCity, a former port zone that has become a vibrant work-live-play district in recent years. While many buildings there have reached completion, the 1.3 million-square-foot Elbphilharmonie has hit a number of snags. Construction was temporarily halted in November 2011, and the venue’s opening date has been pushed back to 2014.

For their contribution to the 2012 Venice Biennale, the Swiss architects sought to put the spotlight on this troubled undertaking. In the Arsenale, they hung a large wood-and-foam model of one of the building’s auditoriums; behind it, they installed a long wall plastered with news reports regarding the controversial project. Read more.

Herzog & de Meuron state: “The large-scale construction site increasingly mutated into a battlefield involving the three main players: the client (the City of Hamburg, and its representative ReGe), the general contractor, and the architect/general planner. Ideally, the construction site of every building project is a platform of interaction that engages these three main forces; in this case, it relentlessly exposed conflicting interests and requirements. The story of the Elbphilharmonie provides, as an example, an insight into the extremes that mark the reality of planning and building today.”