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
commitment names together
I need a close contact to the client, whoever it is, and a commitment of the client to go out and do a process together. I want to do the best for him. I need his respect and his patience. I want to work with a sophisticated person who's interested in a good building and not in my name.
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.
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.
home hands years
I grew up in a craftsman's home, where things were done with our own hands. I did cabinetmaking for four years and I hated it.
letting-go order care
Architecture to me is whole. I cannot say I only care about this 25% and the other 75% I let go... it's just I want to work the way I want to work. In my shop, you can order certain things and other things you cannot. They are not available.
quiet plant company
My relationship to plants becomes closer and closer. They make me quiet; I like to be in their company.
simple space mountain
If you look at the Earth without architecture, its sometimes a little bit unpleasant. So there is this basic human need to do shelter in the broadest sense of the word, whether its a movie theater or a simple log cabin in the mountains. This is the core of architecture: To provide a space for human beings.
intelligent people together
Normally, architects render a service. They implement what other people want. This is not what I do. I like to develop the use of the building together with the client, in a process, so that as we go along we become more intelligent.
passionate architect
I’m a passionate architect... I do not work for money