Marcel Meili was born in Zurich in 1953. He studied architecture at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic (ETH Zurich) (1973-1980) and was a research associate at the Institute for History and Theory of Architecture, ETH Zurich. He worked in the office of Prof. Dolf Schnebli (1983-85) and was a teaching assistant for Prof. Mario Campi (1985-87). In 1987, he formed an office in Zurich together with Markus Peter.

The recent built work of Meili, Peter Architekten includes the RiffRaff cinema in Zurich, the Zurich Central Station extension, the Swiss Re Center for Global Dialogue in Rüschlikon, and the Hyatt Hotel in Zurich. Major current projects include the Zurich Football Stadium, the Helvetia Insurance Headquarters Italy in Milan, and the “Mitten in München” complex, a large passage in the old town of Munich. The office currently employs 45 staff members.

Marcel Meili has taught as a visiting professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and since 1999 has been teaching as a professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the Swiss Federal Polytechnic (ETH Zurich), where – together with Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Roger Diener, and Christian Schmid – he founded and runs ETH Studio Basel: Contemporary City Institute.