HHF Architects


HHF Architects is an architectural practice established in Basel, Switzerland by Tilo Herlach, Simon Hartmann, and Simon Frommenwiler, in 2003.

History

The practice has built projects in Switzerland, China, Germany, France, Mexico and the United States. Their projects encompass a broad spectrum, including new buildings like the "Labels 2" fashion center in Berlin, interior design, planning tasks like the master plans for the public spaces of the Praille-Acacias-Vernets site in Geneva and La Défense, near Paris, and the development plan for Unterfeld in Zug, Switzerland, as well as objects in the public realm like "Baby Dragon" in China or the "Espinazo del Diablo" viewing platform on the "Ruta del Peregrino" in the Mexican state of Jalisco. HHF Architects intentionally seek close and substantive collaboration with artists and other architects. It is within this context that group projects receiving worldwide attention have emerged, such as the Mexican pilgrimage route "Ruta del Peregrino" and the fruitful collaboration with the Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei, which has been ongoing since 2005.
Shortly after of the office was established, the first works were already being shown at national and international architecture exhibitions. In 2005 HHF were invited to design a contribution to the "Jinhua Architecture and Arts Park" for the Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture. An invitation followed in 2007 to officially represent Switzerland at the 7th International Architecture Biennale of São Paulo. In 2011 the works created in collaboration with Ai Weiwei were shown as part of the exhibition Ai Weiwei – Art / Architecture at Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria. The German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt am Main showed "Labels 2" in 2012 as part of the exhibition The 23 Best Buildings. HHF was invited to the 13th, 14th and 16th Venice Biennale of Architecture, and the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2017. Their work is part of the permanent collections of Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Architekturmuseum der TU München at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, and the Heinz Architectural Center at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh.
Alongside numerous other national and international distinctions, HHF was named to the "Design Vanguard 2010" by Architectural Record. In 2012, HHF were distinguished with an important Wallpaper Design Award, for which they had also been nominated in 2010. HHF where honored with an American Architecture Award in 2009 and 2013.
In addition to building, architectural education is of utmost importance to the firm's principals. They were visiting professors at the University of Innsbruck, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, MIT School of Architecture and Planning in Cambridge, and have been guest lecturers at the UIA in Mexico City as well as guest critics at numerous universities worldwide. Simon Frommenwiler has been teaching as a visiting professor at École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Strasbourg from 2011 until 2018. Simon Hartmann has been teaching as professor of design at the HTA Fribourg from 2009 until 2017 and is William Henry Bishop Visiting Professor at Yale School of Architecture, 2018. Since fall 2018, Tilo Herlach, Simon Frommenwiler and Simon Hartmann are teaching at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Profile

  • Established 2003
  • Legal form: GmbH
  • Partners: Tilo Herlach, Simon Hartmann, Simon Frommenwiler
  • Managing Director and Associate: Cella Hubel
  • Associates: David Gregori y Ribes, Mariana Santana
  • Employees: 25–30
  • The team consists of architects, urban designers, designers and drafters

Buildings and projects (selected)

  • 2017 – Poissy Galore, observatory and museum in Carrières-Sous-Poissy, Paris, France, in collaboration with AWP, Paris
  • 2016 – House H, private residence, Starnberg, Germany
  • 2016 – Byfangweg, apartment building, Basel, Switzerland
  • 2015 – Lichtstrasse, housing and restaurant, Basel, Switzerland
  • 2013 – House C, private residence, Ziefen, Switzerland
  • 2013 – Master plan for all public spaces of La Défense, Hauts-de-Seine, France, in collaboration with AWP, Paris
  • 2011 – Master plan for the public spaces and urban mobility, Praille-Acacias-Vernets, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 2011 – House D, Nuglar, Switzerland
  • 2011 – Guesthouse, Ancram, New York, USA, in collaboration with Ai Weiwei
  • 2011 – Apartment Quai de Valmy, Paris, France, in collaboration with AWP, Paris
  • 2010 – Lookout Point on the Ruta del Peregrino, Mexico
  • 2010 – Labels 2 Fashion Center, Berlin, Germany
  • 2009 – Sonvida residential development, Bottmingen, Switzerland, with ARchos Architektur
  • 2009 – Confiserie Bachmann, Basel, Switzerland
  • 2008 – Artfarm, gallery and art storage for Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA, in collaboration with Ai Weiwei
  • 2008 – Tsai Residence, New York, USA, in collaboration with Ai Weiwei
  • 2008 – Overall urban concept for Saarbrücken, Germany, in collaboration with Hans Wirz, Jacques Degermann, and Joel Bertrand
  • 2008 – Grand Traiano Art Complex, Grottaferrata, Province of Rome, Italy, in collaboration with Johnston Marklee Architects
  • 2008 – Ordos 100, HHF House, Inner Mongolia, China
  • 2008 – Kirschgarten Mensa, cafeteria in Kirschgarten secondary school, Basel, Switzerland
  • 2007 – Dune House, Inner Mongolia, China
  • 2005 – Treehouse, Guesthouse for the Waterville Golf Resort, Lijiang, Yunnan Province, China, in collaboration with Ai Weiwei
  • 2005 – Baby Dragon – Pavilion for children, Jinhua Architecture Park, China
  • 2003 – Master plan for Sonvida residential development, Bottmingen, Switzerland, in collaboration with ARchos Architektur

Distinctions (selected)

Exhibitions (selected)

Publications (selected)

  • Landscape of Faith: Interventions Along the Mexican Pilgrimage Route, Lars Müller, 2018,
  • Grundrissfibel, Museumsbauten, Edition Hochparterre, Zürich, 2017,
  • NZZ yearbook Real Estate, Edition 2017/18, NZZ Fachmedien, Luzern, 2017,
  • Architekturpädagogiken, Hochschule Luzern, Park Books, Zürich, 2017,
  • Make New History, Chicago Biennial, Lars Müller, Zurich, 2017,
  • Zukunftsweisend Umbauen, hindernisfrei Wohnen, CMV, Basel, 2017,
  • Architekturführer Deutschland, DOM Publishers, 2017,
  • Spektakuläre Häuser, DVA, München, 2017,
  • Global Design, Prestel, Munich – London – New York, 2015,
  • HHF—Unfinished, 176 pages, HHF, Basel, 2014,
  • Fundamentals, 14th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, 576 pages, Marsilio, Venezia, 2014,
  • Show & Tell, Collecting Architecture, 240 pages, Hatje Cantz, 2014,
  • Das beste Einfamilienhaus, 106 pages, Archithema Verlag, 2014,
  • Architecture Now! 9, 480 pages, Taschen, 2013,
  • Best Architects 14, 496 pages, Zinnobergruen, Düsseldorf, 2013,
  • Lookout, Architecture with a View, S AM Swiss Architecture Museum, 116 pages, CMV, 2013,
  • Where Architects Work, 256 pages, Birkhäuser, Bauwelt, 2013,
  • Häuser des Jahres, 273 pages, Callwey, 2013,
  • Building Images, S AM Swiss Architecture Museum, 197 pages, CMV, 2013,
  • White Cube Green Maze: New Art Landscapes, University of California Press, 2012,
  • HHF Architects, 335 pages, Archilife Publishers, Seoul, 2012,
  • Ruta del Peregrino: A Photographic Essay by Iwan Baan, 13th Venice Architecture Biennale, 2012,
  • Deutsches Architekturjahrbuch / German Architectural Annual 2011|12. Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2011,
  • Architecture Dialogues: Positions – Concepts – Visions, Niggli Verlag, 2011,
  • Ai Weiwei: Art | Architecture, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2011,
  • Old & New: Design Manual for Revitalizing Existing Buildings, Birkhäuser Verlag, 2010,
  • Shopping 1 Architecture Now!, Taschen Verlag, 2010,
  • Houses 2 Architecture Now!, Taschen Verlag, 2011,
  • AsBuilt, Princeton University Press, 2010
  • Architecture Now! 7, Taschen Verlag, 2010,
  • Ai Weiwei: Architecture, daab Verlag, 2010,
  • Gallerie d’Arte, Motta Architecture, 2009,
  • Best Architects 10, Zinnobergrün, 2009,
  • Architecture in China, Taschen Verlag, 2007,
  • Architecture Now! 5, Taschen Verlag, 09.07,
  • Atmosphere: The Shape of Things to Come, Birkhäuser Verlag, 2007,
  • Best Architects 09, Zinnobergrün, 2008,