Chapter III
Zumthor’s creations integrate accessible designs with an admiration for the materials and for rich details, all of which work intuitively together to serve the aesthetic desires and practical needs of the user. Zumthor focuses on the experiential feeling through a space; what are the effects of a specific door handle to a space? How does the sound of footsteps on a specific material make the user feel? Simple gestures like the door handle having a euphoric click that will echo through the structure or the white noise of footsteps on exposed concrete in an Art gallery. Some architects may overlook these sensory feelings but these are the types of concerns Zumthor would fixate on when choosing the materials for his designs. From this focus upon the physical and emotional experience of architecture arises his admiration for the materials with which he constructs his buildings. Wood features prominently in a number of Zumthor’s works, like St. Benedict’s Chapel. Many believe wood to be an outdated and expensive form of construction. Zumthor however is passionate in the use of the material, the warmth and life it holds creates a comfortable atmosphere for the user. “I reintroduced it as a construction method… because it feels good to be with, to be in” (Kimmelman 4). The Saint Benedict’s Chapel is the pinnacle of the use of wood. The constructions shape unified with the warmth of the material creates an overwhelming feeling of warmth and spirituality. The effect that specific materials lend to the atmosphere, like the warmth of solid wood, explains only part of Zumthor’s passion for the materials, however. By offering them with little ornament, he draws attention to the inherent qualities of the bare material, albeit wood, concrete or stone; in a way that exalts the material, celebrating its very being. The jury of the 6th Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture, upon judging Zumthor’s elegant glass and concrete museum, the Kunsthaus Bregenz, interprets the architect’s “[l]eaving all materials un-cladded and unpainted…as a commitment to architectural Wahrheit; and, of course, to the materials’ intrinsic beauty” (6th Mies van der Rohe Award 11). This Idea of Pure materials is comforting in a space specifically meant for the displaying of Art. The Kunsthaus Bregenz is the tabula rasa, a blank slate for which an artist may shape for their exhibit. The form has nothing to hide and in turn celebrates the materials natural aspects. 13
Zumthor would often experiment with methods in which different materials interact with each other. The Bruder Klause Field chapel is a monolithic structure meant to conflict with the landscape and native materials while creating a sense of respect and worship to the natural beauty of the surroundings. The building is formed from wood however the structure stands as concrete. Beginning with a wigwam made of 112 tree trunks, layers of concrete were poured and rammed atop the trees, each around 50cm thick. When the concrete of all 24 layers had set, the wooden frame was set on fire, leaving behind a hollowed blackened cavity, a negative space that gestures to that of what was once there. From this commitment to architectural truth, and from a desire to address the sensory human experience of architecture arose Peter Zumthor’s design for the thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland. A famous composition of balanced spaces amongst the interplay of light, shadow, water, and mist, the Vals baths use thin layers of a stone called gneiss from a local quarry. The stone, extracted from the surroundings, lends to the architecture creating a conflict of manmade structure versus natural belonging. The stone adds a rough beauty to the aesthetic but all the while adding a certain richness and comfort to the experience of the bathers. Pure and Natural Materials that celebrate the Architectural truth of the structure is Zumthors philosophy. A Material must play with the senses and employ an emotional response, if the material does not engage with the user than it does not serve as Architecture.