Peter Zumthor

Peter Zumthor is a Swiss architect and winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize.

Zumthor was born in Basel, the son of a cabinet-maker. He apprenticed to a carpenter in 1958 and studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule in his native city starting in 1963.

He studied at Pratt Institute in New York in the 1960s. In 1968, he became architect for the Department for the Preservation of Monuments of the canton of Graubünden. 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. In 1998, Zumthor received the Carlsberg Architecture Prize for his designs of the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Bregenz, Austria and the Thermal Baths at Vals, Switzerland.

Zumthor has taught at Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles, the Technical University of Munich, the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

In 1994, he was elected to the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. In 1996, he was made an honorary member of the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). He won the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1999. In 2009 he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize; his practice grew quickly and he accepted more international projects.

In November, 2009 it was revealed that Zumthor is working on a major new building for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Zumthor’s work is largely unpublished in part because of his philosophical belief that architecture must be experienced first hand.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

Currently, Zumthor works out of his small studio which he founded in 1979, in the town of Haldenstein, Switzerland. He enjoys playing tennis, good cigars, margaritas and jazz.

Other Information

• Nationality : Swiss
• Born : 26 April 1943, Basel, Switzerland

Notable Projects

• 1983 Elementary school Churwalden, Churwalden, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1983 House Räth, Haldenstein, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1986 Shelters for Roman archaeological site, Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1986 Atelier Zumthor, Haldenstein, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1989 Saint Benedict Chapel, Sumvitg, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1990 Art Museum Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1993 Residential home for the elderly, Masans, Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1994 Gugalun House, Versam, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1996 Spittelhof housing, Biel-Benken, Basel, Switzerland.
• 1996 Therme Vals, Vals, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1997 Art Museum Bregenz, Bregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria.
• 1997 Topography of Terror, International Exhibition and Documentation Centre, Berlin, Germany, partly built, abandoned, demolished in 2004.
• 1997-2000 Swiss Pavilion EXPO 2000, Hannover, Germany.
• 1997 Villa in Küsnacht am Zürichsee Küsnacht, Switzerland.
• 1997 Lichtforum Zumtobel Staff, Zürich, Switzerland.
• 1999 Cloud Rock Wilderness Lodge Moab.
• 2007 Bruder Klaus Kapelle
• 2007 Kolumba – Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum, Cologne (Köln), Germany.

Awards

• 1987 Auszeichnung guter Bauten im Kanton Graubüunden, Switzerland.
• 1989 Heinrich Tessenow medal, Technische Universität Hannover, Germany.
• 1991 Gulam, European wiid-glue prize.
• 1992 Internationaler Architekturpreis für Neues Bauen in den Alpen, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1993 Best Building 1993 award from Swiss tc’s ’10 vor ’10, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1994 Auszeichnung guter Bauten im Kanton Graubüunden, Switzerland.
• 1995 International Prize for Stone Architecture, Fiera di Verona, Italy.
• 1995 Internationaler Architekturpreis für Neues Bauen in den Alpen, Graubünden, Switzerland.
• 1996 Erich-Schelling-Preis für Architektur, Erich-Schelling-Stiftung, Germany.
• 1998 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture (aka Mies van der Rohe Award) for Bregenz Art Museum.
• 1998 Carlsberg Architectural Prize.
• 2006 Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award.
• 2006 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture, University of Virginia.
• 2008 Praemium Imperiale, Japan Arts Association
• 2009 Pritzker Prize

Links

• Architecture Meme

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