© Simon Kennedy - Courtesy of the International Art Consultants

Since 2006, the International Art Consultants (IAC) has celebrated architects’ passion for photography through the Architect’s Eye Awards. Simon Kennedy won the Architecture and Place category this year with his image of the ‘Heygate Estate’, while Revti Halai’s photo of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion received runner-up. The Architecture and People category was won by Neil Dusheiko’s photograph of ‘Unite d’Habitation’, and Chris Drummond’s ‘Ghosts of the Underground’ received runner-up.

View the four winning photographs after the break.

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© http://zumthor.tumblr.com/

We recently came across a photo expose chronicling numerous projects by Peter Zumthor. It features an extensive gallery covering models, drawings, and photos of his projects in various states from construction to completion. Be sure to check the site out here, and catch a glimpse into the inner workings of Zumthor.

Enjoy this lecture by Swiss architect and Pritzker laureate Peter Zumthor.

The lecture took place in May 19th the Centre Georges Pompidou, where Zumthor revisited 6 recent projects:

The video has also a simultaneous french translation, but it’s still watchable in english.

Update: You can mute the right channel to remove the french translation, as some readers pointed in the comments section below.

Thanks Vicentiu for the tip!

(Remember: you can always send us tips and info using our contact form)

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011, designed by Peter Zumthor. Photo by John Offenbach

The 2011 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Pritzker laureate Peter Zumthor was unveiled today. A design that ‘aims to help its audience take the time to relax, to observe and then, perhaps, start to talk again – maybe not’, the materials are significant in aiding the design which emphasizes the role the senses and emotions play in our experience of architecture.

Zumthor added that ‘the concept for this year’s Pavilion is the hortus conclusus, a contemplative room, a garden within a garden. The planted garden enclosed by this dark structure was conceived by the influential Dutch designer Piet Oudolf.

The building acts as a stage, a backdrop for the interior garden of flowers and light. Through blackness and shadow one enters the building from the lawn and begins the transition into the central garden, a place abstracted from the world of noise and traffic and the smells of London – an interior space within which to sit, to walk, to observe the flowers. This experience will be intense and memorable, as will the materials themselves – full of memory and time.’

More info after the break:

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Shown under construction last month, the project is a memorial for the 91 victims of the 17th-century witch trials in Vardo, Norway. Illuminated windows, 91 in total dedicated to each victim, are incorporated within Zumthor’s information centre design which measures over 400′ long with a connective thread of tautly stretched silk sheets.

Peter Zumthor in an interview with ArtInfo described his unique collaboration with artist Louise Bourgeois remarking, “I had my idea, I sent it to her, she liked it, and she came up with her idea, reacted to my idea, then I offered to abandon my idea and to do only hers, and she said, ‘No, please stay.’ So, the result is really about two things — there is a line, which is mine, and a dot, which is hers… Louise’s installation is more about the burning and the aggression, and my installation is more about the life and the emotions [of the victims].”

Video: Architectural Record and McGraw-Hill Construction

Courtesy of Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

Pritzker Prize winning architect Peter Zumthor’s design for the 11th Serpentine Gallery Pavilion was revealed today. A design that ‘aims to help its audience take the time to relax, to observe and then, perhaps, start to talk again – maybe not’, the materials are significant in aiding the design which emphasizes the role the senses and emotions play in our experience of architecture. The Pavilion will be Zumthor’s first completed building in the UK

Zumthor shared that ‘the concept for this year’s Pavilion is the hortus conclusus, a contemplative room, a garden within a garden. The building acts as a stage, a backdrop for the interior garden of flowers and light. Through blackness and shadow one enters the building from the lawn and begins the transition into the central garden, a place abstracted from the world of noise and traffic and the smells of London – an interior space within which to sit, to walk, to observe the flowers. This experience will be intense and memorable, as will the materials themselves – full of memory and time.’

Stay tuned to ArchDaily for more images and news on Zumthor’s design for the Pavilion.  Our previous coverage of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion can be found here, including  Jean Nouvel’s Serpentine Gallery of 2010, and SANAA’s 2009 Serpentine Gallery.

Courtesy of Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

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© BD Online

Commissioned by Unesco and the Palestinian Authority, Pritzker Prize winner Peter Zumthor’s House of the Mosaics is a design that provides shelter to the Middle East’s largest known mosaic.  Hisham’s Palace, home of this colorfully detailed tile mosaic, was built in 700AD and is situated just on the northern outskirts of Jericho, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world.  The mosaic along with numerous other ruins are currently susceptible to further damage by the elements in addition to possible new development.

More details about the House of the Mosaics following the break.

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© Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

A year after the completion of Therme Vals [1996], renowned minimalist architect, Peter Zumthor completed the design of Kunsthaus Bregenz [1997].  The Kunsthaus museum in Bregenz, Austria is always in a constant state of flux always changing its exhibition spaces to accommodate international contemporary art.  Zumthor’s minimalist design adapts its spaces to the art that is showcased in its exhibits creating a coexisting and redefining relationship between art and architecture.

The Kunsthaus Bregenz has two main principles to their permanent collection: archives of art architecture and a collection of Contemporary art, which complements the changing exhibition spaces.  The museum strives to be the intersection of art and architecture that opens itself to culture and international influence.

More on the Kunsthaus Bregenz after the break. read more »

©Samuel Ludwig

“In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that goes far beyond form and construction.” This quote from Peter Zumthor rings true in his design of Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, where a mystical and thought-proving interior is masked by a very rigid rectangular exterior.

More on Bruder Klaus Field Chapel and Peter Zumthor after the break.

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Peter Zumthor - Courtesy of Marco Masetti

This interview was completely conducted and translated by Marco Masetti, done as his bachelor’s degree thesis in Italy.

The idea of multiplicity is innate in Peter Zumthor’s projects since his very first works: works of art surrounding us put on various meanings, which do not always remain on parallel levels combining well with dialectical relationships. The vague is planned strictly, holding by the rules of the architectural language. Beauty is in the undetermined, the multiple, but it is obtainable only through precision. Multiplicity of objects is shown only when who is living with them can distinguish their single parts and, at the same time, can see the work in its wholeness. This throw back to the “unitary” character of architecture, in which every part is in relation with the others and together they give a sense to the project. Zumthor’s planning is pure: nothing is pointless. In this society, as the architect says, «architecture has to oppose resistance», and react to the naughtiness of shapes and meanings, and return to talk its own language. Original shape invention or particular composition doesn’t take to the truth. Between multiplicity and silence there’s a tense and vibrational relationship, and the concrete idea is in their equilibrium.

Things determine the spatial dimension of the world, and therefore its knowledge and usability to us. The project triggers a linking mechanism between things, so they can assume a meaning to the user, becoming an efficient tool to know of the world. Things, objects, the world of references, transform our sensations in remembrance. The pictures that come to mind enclose Zumthor’s research heart. Shape is the result, not the reason. Beauty doesn’t come out of the shape alone, but of the multiplicity of impressions, sensations and emotions that the shape has us to discover.

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A few days before Jean Nouvel’s Serpentine Pavilion is closed and dismantled, AJ has leaked the name of the architect selected to design the 2011 Pavilion: Priztker-laureate Peter Zumthor.

AJ reports that “It is understood Zumthor has been in the frame for the pavilion for some time and initial proposals resemble ‘a big concrete block with a garden in it’ – though the design is expected to evolve over the coming months.”

Currently Zumthor is still working on his first project in the UK, A Secular Retreat, part of the Living Architecture initiative.

We are very curious about what will Zumthor do for the Serpentine Gallery. As usual, we’ll keep you updated as more details are revealed.

© Shawn Swisher

Shawn Swisher, architecture student at the  USC School of Architecture, is currently on a traveling research fellowship focusing on the work of Peter Zumthor. The research centers around Zumthor’s ability to create visceral reactions through his architecture, work that is based on fundamentals of architecture that seem to be fleeting in some emerging architectural trends. Here you will find periodic updates from his journey.

There are many ways that architecture can stimulate us. We can be enthralled by theoretical concepts that intend to revolutionize how we interact with our buildings. We can be overcome by the metaphors underlying a project’s design. And, at times, we are able to separate ourselves from these more cerebral desires and draw intrigue based solely on our reactions to space and form.

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© Jose Fernando Vazquez

Special thanks to our reader Jose Fernando Vazquez from Urbana Arquitectura (view his work previously featured on AD) who has shared these images of Zumthor’s amazing Kolumba Museum with us.   Situated in Cologne, Germany, a city that was almost completely destroyed in World War II, the museum  houses the Roman Catholic Archdiocese’s collection of art which spans more than a thousand years.   Zumthor’s design delicately rises from the ruins of a late-Gothic church, respecting the site’s history and preserving its essence.  ”They [the Archdiocese] believe in the inner values of art, its ability to make us think and feel, its spiritual values. This project emerged from the inside out, and from the place,” explained Zumthor at the museum’s opening.

More about the project and more of Vazquez’s images after the break. read more »

Courtesy Peter Zumthor and Living Architecture

Although Peter Zumthor’s success is undisputed in the architecture world, it was interesting he would tackle a residence for Living Architecture as his past works have gracefully unfolded after years of development.   For Zumthor’s project, entitled A Secular Retreat, the architect employs his signature strategy of using nature as a source of relaxation.  The hill-top retreat is a quiet and passive design, truly taking the backseat to the surroundings.  The home is designed to exploit the beauty of its location, capitalizing on views and providing perfect places for reflection.  The home, Zumthor’s first project in the UK, is the perfect residence of the Living Architecture projects to visit for some peaceful downtime.

More images after the break. read more »

A few minutes ago, the Pritzker Award ceremony took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This year, the prize was awarded to swiss architect Peter Zumthor.

Our correspondent Martin Bravo was there and sent us this photos of the event:
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Gallery with photos and videos of 2009 Pritzker Laureate, Peter Zumthor.

All after the break:
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The Pritzker Prize, 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 Peter Zumthor (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.

Built over the only thermal springs in the Graubunden Canton in Switzerland, The Therme Vals is a hotel and spa in one which combines a complete sensory experience designed by Peter Zumthor.

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