Zumthor Thinking Architecture 1998

Peter Zumthor Thinking Architecture

PETER ZUMTHOR THINKING ARCHITECTURE

BIRKHAuSER - PUBLISHERS FOR ARCHITECTURE BASEL · BOSTON · BERLIN

A way of looking at things

9

The hard core of beauty

27

From passion for things to the things themselves

35

The body of architecture

48

Teaching architecture, learning architecture

57

• A way of looking at things 1988

In search of the lost architecture Whf'1l Ithink ahout arl'liit c('IUrC, irnagc~ ro me into Ill y mind. Man y of these images arc conncc lPd with III )' training and work as an

arc hitect. Tilt,), contain Ihe profess ional knowledge about afchilectUff'

that I h ave gat h e red uver the ),f'ars. SO lli e of th e other im ages

h ave Lo do with myc hildh ood . Th cff' was

il

time when I ex perie n ced

a rchitecture \\ ithout thinking about it. Sometimes I ca n a lm ost fecI a parti c ular door h and le in m y ha nd, a pi ece o f metal s hape d lik e the ba c k of a s poon. I use d to ta ke hold of it when I went into m y aunt 's ga rd e n . That door h a ndl e still see ms to me like a s peci al sig n

or e ntry

into a

world of diffe re nt moods and sm e ll s. I re member t h e so und of the

gravel under m y feel , the soft g lea m of th e waxed oak sta ircase, I ca n h ea r the h eavy front door dos ing b(' hind me "IS I walk along the dark corridor and Cllt('r th e kit c h e n , the on ly rea ll y brightly lit room in the h o use. Lookin g back, it sec ms as if thi s wa s the o nl y room in the hou se in whi c h th e ef'i lin g did not di sa ppear into twili g ht j the small h exago na l tiles of th c Il oor, dark red and lilted so tightly together that th e c racks b el\\('ell them \\ ere almost imperccptilJle, we re h a rd and un yieldin g und e r m y feet , a nd a s me ll of oil IHlint issu ed from th e kitchen c UI}boa rd . Everyt hin g a hout thi s kitc h e n was typi ca l of a traditional kitch e n . There was nothing SI}ccia l about it. But pe rhal)s it was just the fact that it was so v('ry much ,

50

vcry mlt urall y, a kit ch e n th at

ha s imprintl'd its ml'lIlory indelibl y on Ill y mind. Th e atmosp here of thi s room is in so lubl y li nkf'd with my i