Peter Zumthor, Pritzker 2009 Laureate

The , nobel-equivalent for architecture, laureate for 2009 has just been announced, and it seems that our readers got it right this time as you can see on our poll.

This year the prize goes to Swiss architect (1943). A real “master”, Zumthor has always been a craftsman on architecture, focusing on the atmosphere and details of his  works, taking all the time he needs  (often several years) at the Swiss mountains to deliver  timeless buildings: Brother Klaus Field Chapel, Kolumba Art Museum, Swiss Pavillion Expo Hannover, Therm Vals, and more.

“I believe that architecture today needs to reflect on the tasks and possibilities which are inherently its own. Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol for things that do not belong to its essence. In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings, and speak its own language. I believe that the language of architecture is not a question of a specific style. Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society. My buildings try to answer the questions that emerge from these simple facts as precisely and critically as they can.”

Peter Zumthor – Thinking Architecture

The ceremony will take place on May 29th in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In a few moments we will feature some of his works in a separate article.

Cite: Basulto , David. "Peter Zumthor, Pritzker 2009 Laureate" 12 Apr 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 25 May 2013. <http://www.archdaily.com/19389>

42 comments

  26. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    profano,

    zumthor is not from cooper union, he studied architecture at pratt institure for a year only.. this is the end of commercial driven starchitects..

    Reply
  27. Thumb up Thumb down 0

    At last Zumthor gets his prize, so then all the heideggerian-archiTollah would stop complaining about the blob or pop-architecture !!!!

    Every 5 or 6 years the Pritzker prize is attributed to an overblowned, overrated Starchitect. One of them was Glenn Murcutt, architect for Left-wing Chardonnay, bohemian-bourgeois, quickly forgotten and an object of jokes amongst australian architects (”touching lightly the earth”).

    Now has come the time for Zumthor, time of crisis, time of puritan masochism, greenies, and neo-con architects, all fearing eco-terrorism, and preaching for a return to the so-called fundamentals of architecture, the lost paradise of pure architecture. Sounds like Adolf and his vegan regime.

    Nostalgia is a weapon.

    Bon allez, on va donner a Zumthor son Pritzker prize, le prix qui revient automatiquement a tous les architectes sur-mediatises (a quoi bon s’en priver, tout le monde y passera, faut juste etre patient).
    Comme ca les retardataires, les fans de Jose Bove, les fans du Corb et les autres, ceux qui ne savent pas aller au dela de 3000 sqm de surface constructible vont etre content, et surtout vont enfin fermer leure gueule.
    C’est ca qui est bien avec ce prix, tout aussi ridicule que le prix Nobel, on vous le donne et vous pouvez vous la fermer pour toujours. On entendra plus le Suisse monomanique nous reciter son marketing sentant bon la montagne, les forets vertes, et le pin, la proprete suisse facon “lounge”. Il y avait l’easy-listening, avec Zumthor, c’est
    “l’Easy-Architecture”, pour gauchiste alter ou droitiste fondamentaliste. Zunthor unifie les bords, il plait aux Bobos et aux Faschos, c’est un miracle !!!
    On va quand meme y avoir droit cette annee a sa diarhee, les fondamentaux de la matiere, l’essence de l’ARCHITECTURE (wow), tout le truc qui font bander les Heideggeriens de l’archi. Ca y est, ils l’ont enfin leur revanche, a bas le blob, vive la crise, les alpages, les cerceuils en pins et les chappelles pour bouddhistes suisses. Je sens les urbains nous faire un coup de nostlagie, ils cupabilisent, c’est la crise, alors on va mettre le vieux Zumthor sur un plateau, et la on va sauver notre conscience, ca y’est l’architecture a trouver sa voix pour les 10 prochaines annees, en arriere toute, retour au source, soyez annal, mais avec des etrons en calcaires, en strattes, en couche, Joceline !!! Et vous me ferrez des belles vues cadrees sur la vallee !

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