Renowned Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron are stepping down from their teaching careers in Zurich. 

As federal technology institute ETH Zurich announced on Friday, the two professors of architecture and design will retire on August 1 – having served as full professors since 1999.

Both born in 1950, the men behind Basel-based architecture firm Herzog & de Meuronexternal link are “among the world’s leading architects, attracting international attention for work such as the remodelling of the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London, the construction of the Allianz Arena in Munich and the Beijing National Stadium used for the 2008 Olympics”, remarked the institute in a statementexternal link. 

“In conjunction with other renowned exponents of the Swiss architecture scene, they founded the internationally prominent ETH Studio Baselexternal link, which fuses architecture-related research and teaching in a novel way,” pointed out the institute.

+ How Swiss architecture has been making its mark around the world

Joining the school’s architecture and design department are Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein, partners at Christ & Gantenbeinexternal link in Basel and guest lecturers at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

They are known for renovating the Swiss National Museum in Zurich and the Kunstmuseum Basel, as well as for their work in China, Britain, Mexico and Norway.