“All of us need beauty to evolve.”
“It’s all about the architecture we can do, and not about us being the architect.” Enjoy this cordial conversation between two long-time friends and titans of architecture – the Swiss Pritzker Prize-winning Jacques Herzog and the highly influential Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, who here discuss Bilbao’s projects and architectural approach. Read less …
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The two prizewinning architects talk about the defining moments in their friendship, and Bilbao shares how Herzog advised her to “operate as a network,” which she has taken to heart. She feels that collaborations challenge and question her ideas, as well as opens her mind to other approaches, in a way that wouldn’t be possible otherwise: “It enriches the project because when there is more complexity and definitions in one site… then it really provides a more broadened possibility for the people that are going to use the architecture.”
“All of us need beauty to evolve.” Bilbao and Herzog also discuss Bilbao’s position against eclectic digital architecture, which she doesn’t feel tackles the architectural issues they should: “Especially in the context which I live in, doing these crazy architectural jumps – somersaults – is unnecessary because we really are in a context where there are basic necessities which haven’t been fulfilled.” The Mexican architect, who does social housing as well as private homes, explains that even though housing is a constitutional right in Mexico, they don’t live up to that “because a house should be beautiful, should be a place to inspire your life.” She feels architects can provide precisely that – they just have to spend some time figuring out how to do it at a low cost. Finally, both architects agree that architecture should be inspired by the desires of the people rather than those of the architect.
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Tatiana Bilbao and Jacques Herzog met at Herzog & de Meuron’s studio in Basel, Switzerland in May 2019.
Camera: Klaus Elmer
Edited by: Klaus Elmer
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2019
Supported by Dreyers Fond
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