Peter ZumthorChristian Kerez

PETER ZUMTHOR• Swiss architect Peter

Zumthor wins Pritzker Prize. "All of his buildings have a strong, timeless presence. He has a rare talent of combining clear and rigorous thought with a truly poetic dimension, resulting in works that never cease to inspire.“

• http://pinterest.com/jbutler12009/peter-zumthor/

PETER ZUMTHOR

• Born on: 26 April 1943

• Swiss architect • Born in: Basel,

Switzerland• Winner of the

2009 Pritzker Prize and 2013 RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

HISTORY/BACKGROUND ( PETER ZUMTHOR )• The son of a cabinet-maker.• 1958: He apprenticed to a

carpenter • 1963: studied at

the Kunstgewerbeschule in his native city

• 1966: Zumthor studied industrial design and architecture as an exchange student at Pratt Institute in New York.

• 1968: Became conservationist architect for the Department for the Preservation of Monuments of the canton of Graubünden.

• 1979 : founded his own firm in.

• TEACHING: •  Southern California

Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles (1988),

• Technical University of Munich (1989), 

• Tulane University (1992), • Harvard Graduate School

of Design (1999). • Since 1996, he is professor

at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio

ARCHITECTURE:• His buildings

explore the tactile and sensory qualities of spaces and materials while retaining a minimalist feel.

• His 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.

SHELTER FOR RUINS

• 1986• SWITZERLAND

SOGN BENEDETG CHAPEL• 1988• SUMVITG,

SWITZERLAND

ELDERLY HOUSE PROJECT

• 1993• Cadonaustrass

e 71-75, SWITZERLAND

ELDERLY HOUSE PROJECT• The twenty-two flats of the residential development for the

elderly in Masans near Chur are occupied by senior citizens still able to run their own households, but happy to use the services offered by the nursing home behind their own building

• ."Many of the residents grew up in mountain villages around the area. They have always lived in the country and feel at home with the traditional building materials used here – tuff, larch, pine, maple, solid wood flooring and wooden panelling.

• "The residents are welcome to furnish as they please their section of the large entrance porch to the east, which they overlook from their kitchen windows, and they make ample use of this opportunity. The sheltered balcony niches and the living room bow (bay) windows on the other side face west, up the valley, towards the setting sun."

• ~Peter Zumthor, 2009 Pritzker Prize Laureate

THERME VALS• 1996• HOTEL THEME 7132

VALS, SWITZERLAND

In the sign of Architecture• People from all over the world travel to Vals. The Therme by Peter Zumthor

is received as a "lesson in courage and aesthetics" in the history of architecture. As early as 1998, two years after opening, it was declared a National Monument. Also the hotel is dedicated to the architecture.

• The three neighbouring houses and the main house are witnesses of an architectural era, enlivened by accents of timeless design.

• Top of the hotel building is nestled in the banana-shaped hill with an unobstructed view of the opposite- opposite, steep mats and the towering mountains behind hilltops. The same glance, offers the visitor in the spa, but the image appears more concise, sharpened by the scope of Vals gneiss and as light-catching contrast to the dark vaults of the baths. Archaic mountains and modern architecture merge.

• "The Therme Vals is the masterpiece of Peter Zumthor. The award-winning architecture is also a place of enlightenment - just because it pays homage to the shadows.

KUNSTHAUS BREGENZ• 1993 – 1997• Karl Tizian Platz 6900 Bregenz,

AUSTRIA• “The art museum stands in the

light of Lake Constance. It is made of glass and steel and a cast concrete stone mass which endows the interior of the building with texture and spatial composition. From the outside, the building looks like a lamp. It absorbs the changing light of the sky, the haze of the lake, it reflects light and colour and gives an intimation of its inner life according to the angle of vision, the daylight, and the weather.”

—Peter Zumthor

HISTORY OF CONSTRUCTION• In August 1993 the district administration office

Bregenz issued the building permit for the construction of a new art museum. The plans and negotiations had already begun in 1989. The design of Swiss architect Peter Zumthor of Haldenstein near Chur had been awarded first prize in the architectural competition.

• Work on the new building began in 1994; the roofing ceremony was celebrated in November 1996.

• By the end of June 1997, the administration building was completed, in July the museum building followed.

• The Kunsthaus was opened on July 25, 1997.

 Swiss Pavilion for Expo 2000 in Hannover

BRUDER KLAUS CHAPEL• BUILT IN: 2007• FOUND IN: Germany

A small concrete chapel on the edge of a field built by local farmers. It was cast in concrete around a cluster of 120 tree trunks, cut from a local forest, which were then slowly smoked away. The meticulous arrangement of the trees into a tear or leaf shape created the oculus that provides the only light for the small dark space. The chapel was built to honor Nicholas von Flue, the patron saint of Switzerland also known as Bruder Klaus, and contains his statue along with a single bench and some candles.

KOLUMBA MUSEUM

• Is an art museum in Cologne, Germany. It is located on the site of the former St. Columba church, and run by the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is one of the oldest museums in the city, alongside the Wallraf-Richartz Museum.

HISTORY• Founded by the Society for Christian Art in 1853, and taken over by the

Archdiocese of Cologne in 1989.• Until 2007 it was located near Cologne Cathedral. • Its new home, built from 2003–07, was designed by Peter Zumthor and

inaugurated by Joachim Meisner. • The site was originally occupied by the romanesque Church of St.

Columba, which was destroyed in World War II and replaced in 1950 by a Gottfried Böhm chapel nicknamed the "Madonna of the Ruins".

• The new structure shares its site with the ruins of the Gothic church and the 1950s chapel, wrapping a perforated grey brick facade like a cloak around both, and also around the museum. The sixteen exhibition rooms possess varying qualities with regard to incoming daylight, size, proportion, and pathways. The work on the project yielded the following reduction: light gray brick walls (Kolumba stones) and clay plaster, flooring made of Jura limestone, terrazzo, and mortar, ceilings made of a poured mortar shell, window frames, doors, casings and fittings of steel, wall paneling and furniture of wood, textiles and leather, curtains of leather and silk.

• http://www.archdaily.com/72192/kolumba-musuem-peter-zumthor/

MORE PICTURES AT:

But Let’s give you all a sneak peak inside…

Steilneset Witch Trial Memorial, Vardø, Norway, 2011

Steilneset Witch Trial Memorial, Vardø, Norway, 2011

• Architect Peter Zumthor designed this memorial on an island in Norway to commemorate suspected witches who were burned at the stake there in the seventeenth century (photographs by Andrew Meredith).

• The Steilneset Memorial in Vardø comprises two structures, one conceived entirely by Zumthor and a second housing an installation by the late Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010).

The first structure comprises a pine scaffolding framework, inside which is a suspended fabric cocoon containing a long oak-floored corridor.

Inside this corridor, light bulbs hang behind 91 windows to represent each of the men and women that were put to death during the witch trials.

A plaque accompanies each lamp to record the individual stories of every victim.

The installation by Bourgeois, entitled The Damned, The Possessed and The Beloved, occupies the smoked-glass-clad second structure.

A circle of mirrors within surround and reflect a flaming steel chair inside a hollow concrete cone.

Serpentine PavilionLondon, United Kingdom, 2011

CHRISTIAN KEREZ• Born on: 1962• Born in: Maracaibo

(Venezuela)• Swiss architect• Graduated at the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich Miroslav Sik and Fabio Reinhart.

• Got his Masters in Architecture in 1988

ACHIEVEMENTS• 2001-2003 he was a guest lecturer at the Swiss Federal Institute of

Technology. • 2003 he was assistant professor (tenure track) and 2008 Professor

of Architecture and Design at the ETH. • He is a member of the Swiss Association of Engineers and

Architects. • He previously worked as a photographer in the 1980s and early

'90s. This work, in turn, deeply influenced his architectural approach.

• He was a design architect in the office of Rudolf Fontana from 1991 to 1993.

• After extensive published work in the field of architectural photography, he opened his own architectural office in Zurich in 1993. Christian Kerez has been a visiting professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich since 2001 and was recently been appointed as Assistant Professor in  Design and Architecture. Further, he received the 1998 Swiss art scholarship..

ARCHITECTURE• His architecture has often been linked to the

rawness of Konkrete Kunst [concrete art] and to the bareness of infrastructural works for which he has an admitted fascination.

• His Projects include:• A Chapel in Oberrealta• The Liechtenstein Art Museum (in collaboration with Morger

and Degelo) (2000) • An Apartment Building in Forsterstrasse• Schools in Breiten and Leutschenbach• The Warsaw Museum of Modern Art • The Holcim Competence Center

Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein

• Year: 2000• Designed by: Christian Kerez,

with Meinrad Morger and Heinrich Degelo.

• The mysterious, highly tactile black box form is of tinted concrete and black basalt stone embedded with pebbles from the Rhine.

• Inside, the black box becomes a white cube. Arranged around two staircases, the galleries have a precise clarity, while the plan enables diagonal views through the building.

Forsterstrasse apartment project

• Kerez's 2003 Forsterstrasse apartment project is spread over five levels. The internal planning is reminiscent of Mies's brick wall houses: a series of orthogonal perpendicular walls defining individual spaces that flow from one to the other.

Single Wall House• 2007: Single Wall House in

Zurich is an apparently simple project, but is in fact sophisticated both structurally and spatially.

• It is two houses in a single structure where the volume has been split both vertically and horizontally.

• The party wall zig-zags, taking a different line on each of the three floors, add to the interest.

Single Wall House• On a small and narrow plot, overlooking the heart

of Zurich, the architect has built a structure containing two houses.

• The wall is formed in reinforced concrete as is each floor plate, which is cantilevered from it, so that there are no perimeter columns to obstruct the views.

• The above ground external walls are completely glazed; some sections can be slid open for ventilation. External roller blinds located along the edge of the floor slabs can be lowered to control solar gain and help with privacy.

Leutschenbach School in Zurich

• Leutschenbach School in Zurich (2009) breaks new ground in the school design, bringing together all functions under one roof:• classrooms, cafeteria,

music rooms, meeting rooms and gym.

• Unusually, the gym hall is on the top floor instead of being submerged underground.

• First Floor Plan

• Ground Floor Plan

FOR MORE ABOUT CHRISTIAN KEREZVISIT SIT BELOW:

• http://www.kerez.ch/

INTERVIEW ON KEREZ:• http

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srONiu7ExHo&list=PLY516twi7M6hwAfv2YgqAd7ZIBicktnBW&index=2

BIBLIOGRAPHY• http://mapolis.com/en/organisation/Christian_Kerez_Architekt#!

profile• http://mapolis.com/en/hub/architecturalfirms/top-100-architects• http://www.theberlage.nl/persons/christian_kerez• http://www.architecture.com/Awards/RIBAInternationalFellowshi

ps/InternationalFellowships2012.aspx#.UdJ3vfnU_jA

• http://www.helenebinet.com/photography.html http://www.danda.be/gallery/architect/peter-zumthor/

• http://www.therme-vals.ch/de/therme/architektur/stein_und_wasser/

• http://www.kerez.ch/• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolumba• http://www.dezeen.com/2012/01/03/steilneset-memorial-by-pete

r-zumthor-and-louise-bourgeois/