Umm we were just waiting for the name to appear in the list of Pritzker laureates! Yes it is no other than Swiss architect Peter Zumthor wins the ‘Nobel of Architecture’ the Pritzker Prize.Undoubtedly Zomthor deserved it. He might get this honor even before!
Zumthor is admired for his exceptionally focused, uncompromised and determined designs. Zumthor is not like a so called ‘stararchitect’ of international architecture! Rather he is working in his office at a remote village of Haldenstein in the Swiss mountains for last 30 years in a steady and integrated progress. He is also known for his remarkable texts like ‘Thinking Architecture’. In his own words in that book he says:
“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.”
Kolumba Museum in Cologne
Protective Housing for Roman Excavations, Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland
(Photo credit: Helene Binet)
Thermal Bath Vals, Graubünden, Switzerland
(Photo credit: Helene Binet)
For more information
Download the Press Release | Download Projects Photo Booklet
Visit Pritzker Prize Homepage.
