Harry Gugger

Principal, Harry Gugger Studio; and Professor Emeritus for Architectural & Urban Design, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

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    Harry Gugger is Professor Emeritus for Architectural & Urban Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and a member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation.

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    Harry Gugger, Principal of Harry Gugger Studio based in Basel, Switzerland at an informal meeting of the Board of the Foundation in November 2021 in Venice, Italy.

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    Harry Gugger, Professor for Architectural & Urban Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation at the LafargeHolcim Awards 2017 jury meeting for Europe in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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    Harry Gugger, Principal, Harry Gugger Studio, Switzerland at the 5th International LafargeHolcim Forum on “Infrastructure Space” held April 2016 in Detroit, USA.

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    Representatives of the Partner Universities of the LafargeHolcim Foundation met in Lausanne, Switzerland as part of the Global Holcim Awards 2012 handover ceremony and synergy meetings.

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    The Holcim Awards jury for region North America met in Cambridge, MA, USA in July 2011 to select projects using the “target issues” for sustainable construction (l-r): Sheila Kennedy, Nader Tehrani, Harry Gugger, Mohsen Mostafavi (Head of Jury), Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Bernard Terver, Mark West, Ray Cole, and Keller Easterling.

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    Harry Gugger was Head of the Global Holcim Innovation prize jury in 2012.

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    Board of the Holcim Foundation members (l-r): Enrique Norten, Bernard Fontana*, Alexander Biner*, Harry Gugger*, Yolanda Kakabadse, Klaus Töpfer, Marc Angélil, Roland Walker, Simon Upton, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher* and Rolf Soiron (* = also Steering Committee member).

Harry Gugger is Principal of Harry Gugger Studio; Professor Emeritus for Architectural & Urban Design, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL); and a member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation.

Last updated: July 07, 2021 Basel, Switzerland

Harry Gugger is Principal of Harry Gugger Studio based in Basel, Switzerland.

He is also Professor Emeritus for Architectural & Urban Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

He is a member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation (2010-) and was a member of the Academic Committee of the Holcim Foundation (2010-19).

He founded Harry Gugger Studio in 2010. The studio develops projects spanning a wide range of scales, with an emphasis on urban studies including research findings of his professorship at the EPFL where he was appointed tenured professor in 2005. At the EPFL he directed the Laboratory Basel (laba), dedicated to territorial, urban and architectural design until he retired in 2020. The laboratory was in charge of the national participation of Bahrain “Reclaim” at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010 winning the Golden Lion award.

He commenced a 19-year collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron (HdeM) in 1990 when he was an assistant at their summer school in Karlsruhe, Germany. He was a partner of the firm (1991-2009): his last projects at HdeM included CaixaForum, Madrid (2001-08) and the Tate Modern Extension, London (2004-15). His design for the Laban Dance Centre in London (1998-2003) was awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize 2003, and he received the Swiss Art Award Prix Meret Oppenheim 2004.

Harry Gugger started his professional career as a toolmaker’s apprentice (1973-77). He studied architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) with Flora Ruchat and at Columbia University, New York with Tadao Ando (1984-89). He was visiting professor at the Hochschule für Architektur und Bauwesen in Weimar, Germany in 1994, and an External Examiner at the AA School of Architecture in London (2000-06).

He was a member of the Cityscape Commission in Basel, Switzerland (1999-2007), a member of the board of trustees of the Swiss Architecture Museum (2004-07), and an experienced juror of many national and international design competitions.

He was a workshop moderator on Compact city - Sustainable or just sustaining economic law? at the 4th Forum in Mumbai (2013), on Planetary Scale – Exploring patterns of worldwide urbanization at the 5th Forum in Detroit (2016), and on Catch 22: Material needs versus material impact at the 6th International Holcim Forum in Cairo (2019).

Harry Gugger was Head of the Awards jury for region Europe (2008 & 2017), Head of the Global Innovation prize jury (2012), and a member of the Awards jury for region Latin America (2014 & 2020), North America (2017) and the Global Holcim Awards jury (2018).