Peter Zumthor – Buildings and Projects 1986–2013 (5 Vol Set)

Peter Zumthor, Pritzker laureate 2009, unarguably ranks among the most important contemporary architects. He is revered worldwide for the stringency of his architectural concepts, the clarity of his designs, his sensitiveness for location and context, and for his conscious and careful use of materials. He is celebrated for the pure and atmospheric spaces he has created, such as Kunsthaus Bregenz (Bregenz, Austria), Therme Vals (Vals, Switzerland), Kolumba Art Museum (Cologne, Germany), or in 2011 the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, Hortus Conclusus. Yet his lesser known residential buildings in Switzerland or the Field Chapel for Brother Klaus (near Mechernich, Germany) have also won great acclaim from architectural critics. Zumthor is much admired by students and teachers of architecture alike also for his philosophical approach to the task of building and for his writings on architectural thought. The new five-volume set is the first comprehensive monograph on Zumthor’s work in more than fifteen years. Around 40 of his buildings and unrealised projects are presented in detail with brief descriptive texts by Zumthor himself, with photographs, sketches, drawings and plans. A complete list of works 1975-2013 rounds out the book. Photographs are contributed by Helene Binet, Hans Danuser and others.

About the Author

Thomas Durisch, born 1963 in Minneapolis, graduated as an architect from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) in 1990. He has been working at Peter Zumthor’s studio from 1990-94 and runs his own practice in Zurich since 1995. He was curator of the exhibition Peter Zumthor: Bauten und Projekte 1986 2007 at Kunsthaus Bregenz in 2007. Peter Zumthor, born 1943 in Basel (Switzerland), trained as a cabinet maker and was educated as designer and architect at the College of Applied Arts in Basel and the Pratt Institute in New York. He runs his own architectural studio in Haldenstein (Switzerland) since 1979. He is also been lecturing at the Academy of Architecture of the Universita della Svizzera italiana in Mendrisio (Switzerland) and various universities and colleges in Europe and the US. Zumthor has also been awarded many prizes for his work, including the highest honours in international architecture: the Praemium Imperiale (Japan, 2008), the Pritzker Prize (USA, 2009), and the Royal Institute of British Architects Royal Gold Medal (UK, 2012).