To the death of Marcel Meili

On Monday, March 18, 2019, the Zurich architect Marcel Meili passed away at the age of 65, who had just a few days earlier received the Prix Meret Oppenheim, considered the highest Swiss art award granted by the Federal Office of Culture. Thus, this June's award ceremony will only be able to be attended by Meili's longtime partner Markus Peter, with whom he had run an architectural studio in Zurich since the late 1980s. In addition to his successful practice, Meili also engaged in publishing theoretical texts and teaching at his alma mater as part of Studio Basel (together with Jacques Herzog and Roger Diener).
Marcel Meili was born in Küsnacht, located on the shores of Lake Zurich. After studying at ETH under professors Alda Rossi and Dolf Schnebli, he remained at the Institute of History and Theory of Architecture ETH as a research associate, participated in numerous film projects, and contributed to the magazine Hochparterre and the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. As a visiting lecturer, he taught at Harvard and Cambridge, and from 1987 to 1999 led the international summer academy in Berlin. Since 1999, he served as a full professor at ETH Zurich, where he focused on research into new forms of architecture education.
In addition, he was a generous supporter of the publishing houses Scheidegger&Spiess and Park Books, and cultural institutions Houdini and Riff-Raff, together with his brothers Martin and Daniel.