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Peter Zumthor Works: Buildings Projects
Peter Zumthor is possibly the most innovative European architect working today. His projects inspire enthusiasm with their exactitude, their poetry, and their radically independent aesthetics and vocabulary of form. This publication, exquisitely designed to the architect's exacting standards, is the first complete survey of Zumthor's oeuvre. As exceptional as the architect's work itself, the book investigates eight realized buildings in detail, including the Home for the Elderly in Chur, the Gugalun House in Safiental, the Art Museum in Bregenz, Austria, and his best-known work, the Thermal Baths in Vals, Switzerland. Each of these projects is extensively illustrated with duotone photographs by British architectural photographer Helene Binet and is accompanied by plans as well as commentary written by Zumthor himself. This title also includes a list of projects, a biography of the architect, and an introduction by Zumthor.
- GenresArchitecture
318 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Peter Zumthor
53 books282 followersFrom the Pritzker Prize website, http://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureate...
Peter Zumthor was born on April 26, 1943, the son of a cabinet maker, Oscar Zumthor, in Basel, Switzerland. He trained as a cabinet maker from 1958 to 1962. From 1963-67, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vorkurs and Fachklasse with further studies in design at Pratt Institute in New York.
In 1967, he was employed by the Canton of Graubünden (Switzerland) in the Department for the Preservation of Monuments working as a building and planning consultant and architectural analyst of historical villages, in addition to realizing some restorations. He established his own practice in 1979 in Haldenstein, Switzerland where he still works with a small staff of fifteen. Zumthor is married to Annalisa Zumthor-Cuorad. They have three children, all adults, Anna Katharina, Peter Conradin, and Jon Paulin, and two grandchildren.
Since 1996, he has been a professor at the Academy of Architecture, Universitá della Svizzera Italiana, Mendrisio. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Southern California Institute of Architecture and SCI-ARC in Los Angeles in 1988; at the Technische Universität, Munich in 1989; and at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University in 1999.
His many awards include the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association in 2008 as well as the Carlsberg Architecture Prize in Denmark in 1998, and the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1999. In 2006, he received the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia. The American Academy of Arts and Letters bestowed the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture in 2008.
In the recent book published by Barrons Educational Series, Inc. titled, Architectura, Elements of Architectural Style, with the distinguished architectural historian from Australia, Professor Miles Lewis, as general editor, the Zumthor’s Thermal Bath building at Vals is described as “a superb example of simple detailing that is used to create highly atmospheric spaces. The design contrasts cool, gray stone walls with the warmth of bronze railings, and light and water are employed to sculpt the spaces. The horizontal joints of the stonework mimic the horizontal lines of the water, and there is a subtle change in the texture of the stone at the waterline. Skylights inserted into narrow slots in the ceiling create a dramatic line of light that accentuates the fluidity of the water. Every detail of the building thus reinforces the importance of the bath on a variety of levels.”
In the book titled Thinking Architecture, first published by [Lars Müller Publishers] in 1998, Zumthor set down in his own words a philosophy of architecture. One sample of his thoughts is as follows: “I believe that architecture today needs to reflect on the tasks and possibilities which are inherently its own. Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol for things that do not belong to its essence. In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings, and speak its own language. I believe that the language of architecture is not a question of a specific style. Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society. My buildings try to answer the questions that emerge from these simple facts as precisely and critically as they can.”
Peter Zumthor was born on April 26, 1943, the son of a cabinet maker, Oscar Zumthor, in Basel, Switzerland. He trained as a cabinet maker from 1958 to 1962. From 1963-67, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vorkurs and Fachklasse with further studies in design at Pratt Institute in New York.
In 1967, he was employed by the Canton of Graubünden (Switzerland) in the Department for the Preservation of Monuments working as a building and planning consultant and architectural analyst of historical villages, in addition to realizing some restorations. He established his own practice in 1979 in Haldenstein, Switzerland where he still works with a small staff of fifteen. Zumthor is married to Annalisa Zumthor-Cuorad. They have three children, all adults, Anna Katharina, Peter Conradin, and Jon Paulin, and two grandchildren.
Since 1996, he has been a professor at the Academy of Architecture, Universitá della Svizzera Italiana, Mendrisio. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Southern California Institute of Architecture and SCI-ARC in Los Angeles in 1988; at the Technische Universität, Munich in 1989; and at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University in 1999.
His many awards include the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association in 2008 as well as the Carlsberg Architecture Prize in Denmark in 1998, and the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1999. In 2006, he received the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia. The American Academy of Arts and Letters bestowed the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture in 2008.
In the recent book published by Barrons Educational Series, Inc. titled, Architectura, Elements of Architectural Style, with the distinguished architectural historian from Australia, Professor Miles Lewis, as general editor, the Zumthor’s Thermal Bath building at Vals is described as “a superb example of simple detailing that is used to create highly atmospheric spaces. The design contrasts cool, gray stone walls with the warmth of bronze railings, and light and water are employed to sculpt the spaces. The horizontal joints of the stonework mimic the horizontal lines of the water, and there is a subtle change in the texture of the stone at the waterline. Skylights inserted into narrow slots in the ceiling create a dramatic line of light that accentuates the fluidity of the water. Every detail of the building thus reinforces the importance of the bath on a variety of levels.”
In the book titled Thinking Architecture, first published by [Lars Müller Publishers] in 1998, Zumthor set down in his own words a philosophy of architecture. One sample of his thoughts is as follows: “I believe that architecture today needs to reflect on the tasks and possibilities which are inherently its own. Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol for things that do not belong to its essence. In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings, and speak its own language. I believe that the language of architecture is not a question of a specific style. Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society. My buildings try to answer the questions that emerge from these simple facts as precisely and critically as they can.”
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 7, 2020
The most beautiful architectural monograph I've ever seen.
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January 12, 2022xin được đòi quà sinh nhật là cuốn sách này
!!
!!
February 17, 2015
Out with the old, in with the new?
Now that the 2014, five-volume collection featuring selections from Zumthor’s oeuvre has been published, is this book still worth referencing?
Absolutely!
Although the date range of the first two volumes roughly coincides with the date range of this book, they aren't a reprint. As I mentioned in my review of the new collection, the two publications are similar in spirit, but there are some differences. The length of the sections devoted to each entry is generally shorter in the new books, meaning that a large number of photos aren't included in the 2014 collection. This is doubly true because the layout of the new collection is slightly more open when buildings are covered and much more open when projects are covered. After carefully comparing the two publications, I've come to the conclusion that probably 50% of the material in this book isn't included in the new collection.
Projects that aren't in the 2014 books include the Community Center, Landquart, Graubünden, 1987; Holiday Hotel, Swiss Association of the Blind, Willerzell, Schwyz, 1989; Burghalde Apartment Building, Baden, Aargau, 1989; Lindua Casino, Lake Constance, Germany, 1995; and Villa in Küsnacht on Lake Zurich, 1997. The designs of the Kolumba and the Swiss Sound Box later changed; this book presents an earlier version of both designs.
Now that the 2014, five-volume collection featuring selections from Zumthor’s oeuvre has been published, is this book still worth referencing?
Absolutely!
Although the date range of the first two volumes roughly coincides with the date range of this book, they aren't a reprint. As I mentioned in my review of the new collection, the two publications are similar in spirit, but there are some differences. The length of the sections devoted to each entry is generally shorter in the new books, meaning that a large number of photos aren't included in the 2014 collection. This is doubly true because the layout of the new collection is slightly more open when buildings are covered and much more open when projects are covered. After carefully comparing the two publications, I've come to the conclusion that probably 50% of the material in this book isn't included in the new collection.
Projects that aren't in the 2014 books include the Community Center, Landquart, Graubünden, 1987; Holiday Hotel, Swiss Association of the Blind, Willerzell, Schwyz, 1989; Burghalde Apartment Building, Baden, Aargau, 1989; Lindua Casino, Lake Constance, Germany, 1995; and Villa in Küsnacht on Lake Zurich, 1997. The designs of the Kolumba and the Swiss Sound Box later changed; this book presents an earlier version of both designs.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews