Peter Zumthor

Peter Zumthor
Zumthor at the 16th Venice Biennale of Architecture in May 2018
Born (1943-04-26) 26 April 1943
Basel, Switzerland
OccupationArchitect
Awards
Buildings

Peter Zumthor (German pronunciation: [ˈpeːtɐ ˈtsuːmtoːɐ̯]; born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist.[1] Though managing a relatively small firm and not being a prolific architect, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize and 2013 RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

Early life

Zumthor was born in Basel, Switzerland. His father was a cabinet-maker, which exposed him to design from an early age and led him to become an apprentice for a carpenter later in 1958. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (arts and crafts school) in his native city starting in 1963.

In 1966, Zumthor studied industrial design and architecture as an exchange student at Pratt Institute in New York. In 1968, he became conservationist architect for the Department for the Preservation of Monuments of the canton of Graubünden.[2] This work on historic restoration projects gave him a further understanding of construction and the qualities of different rustic building materials.

As his practice developed, Zumthor was able to incorporate his knowledge of materials into Modernist construction and detailing. His buildings explore the tactile and sensory qualities of spaces and materials while retaining a minimalist feel. It has been said that "Zumthor’s key building material is light."[3]

Career

Zumthor founded his own firm in 1979. His practice grew quickly and he accepted more international projects.

Zumthor has taught at University of Southern California Institute of Architecture and SCI-ARC in Los Angeles (1988), the Technical University of Munich (1989), Tulane University (1992), and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1999). Since 1996, he has been a professor at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio.[4]

His best known projects are the Kunsthaus Bregenz (1997), a shimmering glass and concrete cube that overlooks Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Austria; the cave-like thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland (1999); the Swiss Pavilion for Expo 2000 in Hannover, an all-timber structure intended to be recycled after the event; the Kolumba Diocesan Museum (2007), in Cologne; and the Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, on a farm near Wachendorf.

In 1993, Zumthor won the competition for a museum and documentation center on the horrors of Nazism to be built on the site of Gestapo headquarters in Berlin. Zumthor's submission called for an extended three-story building with a framework consisting of concrete rods. The project, called the Topography of Terror, was partly built and then abandoned when the government decided not to go ahead for financial reasons. The unfinished building was demolished in 2004.[2]

In 1999, Zumthor was selected as the only foreign architect to participate in Norway's National Tourist Routes Project, with two projects, the Memorial in Memory of the Victims of the Witch Trials in Varanger, a collaboration with Louise Bourgeois (completed in 2010), and a rest area/museum on the site of an abandoned zinc mine.[5]

For the Dia Art Foundation in Beacon, New York, Zumthor designed a gallery that was to house the 360° I Ching sculpture by Walter de Maria; though the project was never completed. Zumthor is the only foreign architect to participate, with two projects, the Memorial in Memory of the Victims of the Witch Trials in Varanger, a collaboration with Louise Bourgeois (2011),[6] and a rest area/museum on the site of the abandoned Allmannajuvet zinc mines, in operation from 1882 to 1898, in Norway (2016).[7] In November 2009, it was revealed that Zumthor is working on a major redesign for the campus of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.[8] Recently, he turned down an opportunity to consider a new library for Magdalen College, Oxford. He was selected to design the Serpentine Gallery's annual summer pavilion with designer Piet Oudolf in 2011.[9] In 2023, the Werkraum Haus – designed 10 years earlier by Zumthor – showed 40 of his architectural models, including some that have never been shown to the public before.[10]

Currently, Zumthor works out of his small studio with around 30 employees, in Haldenstein, near the city of Chur, in Switzerland.[11]

Recognition

In 1994, he was elected to the Academy of Arts, Berlin. In 1996, he was made an honorary member of the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). In 1998, Zumthor received the Carlsberg Architectural Prize for his designs of the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Bregenz, Austria and the Thermal Baths at Vals, Switzerland (see below). He won the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1999. Recently, he was awarded Praemium Imperiale in (2008) and the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2009). In 2012, he was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal.[12] On the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2023, the F.A.Z. called Zumthor "the great magician of minimalism."[13]

Literature

Zumthor's work is largely unpublished in part because of his philosophical belief that architecture must be experienced first hand.[14] His published written work is mostly narrative and phenomenological.

Personal

Zumthor and his wife, Annalisa Zumthor-Cuorad, have three children.[2]

Principal works

  • Kunsthaus Bregenz
  • Therme Vals
  • St. Benedict Chapel
  • Bruder Klaus Chapel
  • Kolumba—Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum

Awards

Former co-workers and assistants

  • 1981–1987: Jürg Conzett
  • 1984–1988: Valentin Bearth
  • Andrea Deplazes
  • 1985: Conradin Clavuot
  • 1990–199?: Donatella Fioretti
  • 1993–1996: Durisch Nolli|Pia Durisch (Assistant)
  • 1993–1998: Daniel Bosshard
  • 1996–1998: Gordian Blumenthal
  • 1997–1998: Bosshard Vaquer|Meritxell Vaquer i Fernàndez
  • 2000: Uta Graff
  • 2001–2002: Francesca Torzo
  • 2003–2006: Clemens Nuyken
  • Peter Hutter

See the German Wikipedia for details.

References

  1. ^ Newel, Conrad (13 September 2013). "Dear Architecture Journalists: Stop Worshipping Peter Zumthor!". Architizer.com. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Pogrebin, Robin, (12 April 2009), "Pritzker Prize Goes to Peter Zumthor", The New York Times.
  3. ^ Beutler, Christian (17 December 2023), "Peter Zumthor's key building material is light", swissinfo.ch
  4. ^ The VELUX Foundations (2010), "Peter Zumthor: The Daylight Award by VELUX Stiftung 2010" Archived 26 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine, The Daylight Award.
  5. ^ Cathy Lang Ho (5 February 2010), Peter Zumthor Speaks ARTINFO.
  6. ^ a b Bell, Jonathan, "Dark arts: Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois' brooding Steilneset memorial", 4 July 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  7. ^ a b Frearson, Amy, "Peter Zumthor creates buildings on stilts for tourist trail at a Norwegian mine", dezeen.com, 10 June 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  8. ^ a b Lifson, Edward (24 November 2009), "A Bolt of Zumthor", The Architect's Newspaper
  9. ^ Jonathan Glancey (4 April 2011), Peter Zumthor unveils secret garden for Serpentine pavilion The Guardian.
  10. ^ Brandoli, Lucia (7 March 2023), "Peter Zumthor's major exhibition of maquettes in Austria", Domus
  11. ^ Michael Kimmelman (11 March 2011), The Ascension of Peter Zumthor New York Times.
  12. ^ Press Release (27 September 2012), Peter Zumthor awarded 2013 Royal Gold Medal for architecture Archived 6 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine The Royal Institute of British Architects.
  13. ^ Alexander, Matthias (26 April 2023). "Drum prüfe sich zunächst der Bauherr". Faz.net. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  14. ^ Nico Saieh (2 November 2010), Multiplicity and Memory: Talking About Architecture with Peter Zumthor ArchDaily.com.
  15. ^ ArcDog. Shelter for Roman Ruins | Peter Zumthor. ArcDog Film, Published on 21 October 2017
  16. ^ zumthor.org: Saint Benedict Chapel. Retrieved 3.1.2021.
  17. ^ "The Gugalun House, by Peter Zumthor" Stories of Houses blog.
  18. ^ zumthor.org: Therme Vals. Retrieved 3.1.2021.
  19. ^ zumthor.org: Kunsthaus Bregenz. Retrieved 3.1.2021.
  20. ^ "Bruder Klaus Field Chapel – Data, Photos & Plans".
  21. ^ zumthorferienhaeuser.ch: [1]. Retrieved 16.05.2021.
  22. ^ Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011 – Information about the 2011 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion
  23. ^ "Werkraumhaus in Andelsbuch". Bregenzerwald in Vorarlberg (in German). Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  24. ^ McCormick, Megan (22 August 2023). "Architects' summer retreats". Architecture Today. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  25. ^ Nagourney, Adam, "Is This Los Angeles’s $600 Million Man?", The New York Times, 18 January 2017. The headline refers to museum director Michael Govan and the museum's need to raise the balance of the rebuilding price tag in 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  26. ^ Waite, Richard (27 September 2012). "Breaking news: Zumthor wins Royal Gold Medal". RIBA, Architects Journal. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  27. ^ "Bund Deutscher Architekten: Architekt Peter Zumthor erhält den Großen BDA-Preis". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). 6 May 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
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