Military training area at St. Luzisteig near Fläsch, canton Graubünden
Keystone
Caplutta Sogn Benedetg (St Benedict Chapel), Sumvitg, canton Graubünden
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Caplutta Sogn Benedetg (St Benedict Chapel), Sumvitg, canton Graubünden
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Kolumba Museum, art museum of the Archdiocese of Cologne
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Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, Mechernich-Wachendorf, Germany
akg-images
Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, Mechernich-Wachendorf, Germany
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Bregenz Art Museum, Austria
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Serpentine Pavilion, London
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Serpentine Pavilion, London
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Rendering of an external view of the extension project of Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, near Basel
Atelier Zumthor
Rendering of a gallery view of the same project
Atelier Zumthor
Rendering of an external view of the projected new building of the Los Angeles County Art Museum (LACMA)
Atelier Zumthor
Interior gallery views of the projected new LACMA building
Atelier Zumthor
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor celebrated his 75th birthday on Thursday. Known for buildings that are responsive to their location and function, he also considers very carefully which materials are used and the atmospheric quality of the spaces the buildings encompass.
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Born in London, Thomas was a journalist at The Independent before moving to Bern in 2005. He speaks all three official Swiss languages and enjoys travelling the country and practising them, above all in pubs, restaurants and gelaterias.
Thomas Kern was born in Switzerland in 1965. Trained as a photographer in Zürich, he started working as a photojournalist in 1989. He was a founder of the Swiss photographers agency Lookat Photos in 1990. Thomas Kern has won twice a World Press Award and has been awarded several Swiss national scholarships. His work has been widely exhibited and it is represented in various collections.
Born on April 26, 1943, Zumthor grew up near Basel. Following an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker, he studied interior design and architecture at the School of Applied Arts in Basel and the Pratt Institute in New York.
In 1979, after working as a building and planning consultant for canton Graubünden in eastern Switzerland, Zumthor established his own practice in Haldenstein, where he still works.
He was a professor at the University of Italian-speaking Switzerland’s Academy of Architecture from 1996-2008 and has also held visiting professorships at several international universities, including the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
He has received numerous prizes, including the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture (1998), Japan’s Praemium Imperiale (2008), the Pritzker Architecture Prize, often called the “Nobel Prize of architecture”, (2009) and the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Royal Gold Medal (2012).
In 2017, he received the lifetime award from the Association of German Architects, the first non-German to receive the prize. “His consistent focus on the idea of light, material and space – plus his meticulous attention to detail and quality – give his work a timeless relevance,” the association said.
Despite the accolades, Zumthor has said he aims to create buildings that become part of everyday life so that even people who don’t consider their architectural merit can enjoy them.
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‘I had to learn that failing goes with the job’
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Peter Zumthor, the Swiss architect behind the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art, explains how hard it is to accept democratic processes.
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Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has a huge international reputation, but his body of work remains small. “As an architect, I am an author,” he writes in his long-awaited monograph. Precision and artistry are his watchwords.
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The honour is awarded annually in recognition of an individual’s or group’s substantial contribution to international architecture. Zumthor, the institute said, is “celebrated for his highly atmospheric and charged spaces” and “creates buildings that are an experience for all the senses”. The Guardian newspaper in London, reporting the RIBA news, said breathlessly that the 69-year-old…
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The remote alpine village of Vals in the eastern Swiss canton of Graubünden rose to fame when star architect Peter Zumthor built new thermal baths there in 1996. The spa is well known for its quarzite slab construction. Now the surrounding hotel complex is in need of renovation. An investor has offered to buy the…
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