Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthoris a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing a relatively small firm, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize and 2013 RIBA Royal Gold Medal...
NationalitySwiss
ProfessionArchitect
Date of Birth26 April 1943
CountrySwitzerland
basic bit cabin core earth human log provide shelter theater whether
If you look at the Earth without architecture, it's sometimes a little bit unpleasant. So there is this basic human need to do shelter in the broadest sense of the word, whether it's a movie theater or a simple log cabin in the mountains. This is the core of architecture: To provide a space for human beings.
anywhere carefully depending projects work
I work anywhere between three and 10 years on a project, depending on the size. My lifetime is finite. Therefore, I have to look carefully at how many projects I want to put into my lifetime.
asks bought build calls four home money pay three vacation work
I can't be bought with money. If someone calls me and asks me to work for them for three or four years, and they'll pay me well to build their vacation home, I ask myself why I should work three or four years on something like that.
rejected
My first buildings, when I was about 30, were rejected for aesthetic reasons.
cruel history men seems wars women
If I look at history, it seems that most wars and most cruel things have been done by men and not by women.
architecture believe bit building work
I work a little bit like a sculptor. When I start, my first idea for a building is with the material. I believe architecture is about that. It's not about paper, it's not about forms. It's about space and material.
architecture
Architecture has its place in the concrete world. This is where it exists. This is where it makes its statement.
buildings core
My buildings should have an emotional core - a space which, in itself, has an emotional nice feeling.
built near
I've built two wooden houses near Vals. I built them for my wife. Those were private projects.
buildings interested mainly vehicles
I'm not mainly interested in what buildings mean as symbols or vehicles for ideas.
running art father
The first 10 years of my professional life had only to do with running away from my father. He was a wonderful cabinet-maker, and me being the eldest son, I had to take over his shop, his profession and so on and so on. I tried to escape by going to art school and then going on to industrial design and then interior design.
museums bigs drag
Small museums are great. Big museums are a drag.
artist together architect
If, early on, you know how things are put together, then you can build. The architect is in charge of making - he is not an artist.
comforting done lines
The bottom line may be that my inventing buildings is, indeed, a very private kind of activity. But it's done to be shared. It is comforting and consoling. From the reactions I get I can see I'm not doing something strange.