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Peter Zumthor Biography

Peter Zumthor (born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing a relatively small firm, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize and 2013 RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

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Peter Zumthor Quotes

Every time I imagine a garden in an architectural setting, it turns into a magical place. I think of gardens I have seen, that I believe I have seen, that I long to see, surrounded by simple walls, columns, arcades or the facades of buildings - sheltered places of great intimacy where I want to stay for a long time.

Believe, Facades, Garden, Gardens, Intimacy, Wall

Small museums are great. Big museums are a drag.

Big, Bigs, Drag, Museums, Small

Designing is a matter of concentration. You go deep into what you want to do. It's about intensive research, really. The concentration is warm and intimate and like the fire inside the earth - intense but not distorted. You can go to a place, really feel it in your heart. It's actually a beautiful feeling.

Actually, Beautiful, Earth, Fire, Heart, Intense

You feel a certain way in a glass or concrete or limestone building. It has an effect on your skin - the same with plywood or veneer, or solid timber. Wood doesn't steal energy from your body the way glass and concrete steal heat. When it's hot, a wood house feels cooler than a concrete one, and when it's cold, the other way around.

Body, Glasses, Hot, House, Plywood, Skins

My buildings should have an emotional core –a space which, in itself, has an emotional nice feeling.

Core, Emotional, Feeling, Nice, Should Have

Presence is like a gap in the flow of history, where all of [a] sudden it is not past and not future.

Flow, Future, Gaps, Past, Presence

There is still a real need for good quality architecture, not paper architecture, but the real stuff.

Good, Needs, Quality, Real

When I start, my first idea for a building is with the material. I believe architecture is about that. It's not about paper, it's not about forms. It's about space and material.

Architecture, Believe, Building, Idea, Ideas, Space

Architecture is exposed to life. If its body is sensitive enough, it can assume a quality that bears witness to past life.

Architecture, Bears, Body, Enough, Past, Quality

I’m a passionate architect. . . I do not work for money

Architect, Money, Passionate, Work

Architecture is not about form

Architecture, Form

If you look at the Earth without architecture, its sometimes a little bit unpleasant. So there is this basic human need to do shelter in the broadest sense of the word, whether its a movie theater or a simple log cabin in the mountains. This is the core of architecture: To provide a space for human beings.

Architecture, Mountain, Simple, Space

When I concentrate on a specific site or place for which I am going to design a building, I try to plumb its depths, its form, its history and its sensuous qualities.

Concentrate, Depths, Design, Quality, Sensuous, Trying

My relationship to plants becomes closer and closer. They make me quiet; I like to be in their company.

Closer, Company, Plant, Plants, Quiet

If you're lucky, and a building succeeds, the real product has many more dimensions than you can ever imagine. You have the sun, the light, the rain, the birds, the feel.

Dimensions, Imagine, Light, Rain, Real

Normally, architects render a service. They implement what other people want. This is not what I do. I like to develop the use of the building together with the client, in a process, so that as we go along we become more intelligent.

Become, Develop, Intelligent, Normally, People, Together

I design for the use of a building and the place and for the people who use it. . . the reputation for arrogance comes because when work is offered to me, I look whether I can find a genuine interest in quality.

Arrogance, Design, Interest, Look, People, Quality

I grew up in a craftsman's home, where things were done with our own hands. I did cabinetmaking for four years and I hated it.

Cabinetmaking, Hands, Hated, Home, Years

In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that goes far beyond form and construction.

Thinking, Order, Design, Life, Connection, Construction

I need a close contact to the client, whoever it is, and a commitment of the client to go out and do a process together. I want to do the best for him. I need his respect and his patience. I want to work with a sophisticated person who's interested in a good building and not in my name.

Commitment, Names, Together, Interested, Good, Patience

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Peter Zumthor Biography

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