de Meuron, Herzog, Oberwill, Switzerland, 1979-1980
OfHouses presents “Pritzkers’ First Houses”: After a few minor interventions on existing buildings, such as the apartment building on Hardrain or the attic conversion in Riehen, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron (Pritzker 2001) designed their first house in the little village of Oberwill, on the outskirts of Basel. Named after the unusual color of the facade, the Blue House can be read as a built mind-map of its architects. All their heroes at the time (Aldo Rossi, Jacques Tati, Yves Klein, Gordon Matta-Clark…) were quoted in the design, some more apparent than others. (Photos: © Margherita Spiluttini. Source: Gerhard Mack, “Herzog & de Meuron 1978-1988: The Complete Works (Volume 1)” (Basel: Birkhauser, 1997), pp 26-31.)
