Colin Rogger Dissertation

Colin Rogger 170795171 The Myth of Authenticity in Architecture Research question: How do architectural myths of authenticity (including architects' claims for their work) constitute illusory solutions to the contradictions of modernity in a globalised economy?

Dr Nathaniel Coleman Overall Dissertation Word Count: 10,943 – Referencing in Footnotes Word Count: 2427 Body of Dissertation Word Count: 8516 COVID-19 Research Adaption Account – Page 4 All translations are my own, unless otherwise stated

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The Myth of Authenticity in Architecture How do architectural myths of authenticity (including architects' claims for their work) constitute illusory solutions to the contradictions of modernity in a globalised economy?

Cover image - An axonometric drawing of the Thermal Baths at Vals Author’s Own [2020]

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I want to extend my gratitude to Dr Nathaniel Coleman for his support throughout this process.

Thank you as well to my fellow DE10s for amazing seminars.

With all my heart thank you to Taya Bartkiv for being by my side throughout this whole process.

And thank you to my family for being there for me at any moment.

4 Foreword - COVID-19 Research Adaption Account The Coronavirus pandemic meant that I did not have access to the building, which features a major case study in my dissertation. I would have wanted to back my claims with personal experiences.

I got around this issue by visiting another building by the same architect. It did not give a good idea of what the actual building was like, but it meant that I got a good impression for a building to compare my case study to.

I also recalled my experiences of visiting a building in a similar location to my case study in 2018, to provide an understanding of how the case study might have felt.

I did not have access to the library in Newcastle meaning I had to search for books in German in my hometown. I visited my local library which had a limited selection of books. The translation also took a significant amount of time. Although picking out some German ones to use did prove very insightful.

Worrying to find enough primary sources I created a survey to send out but realized in time that it was not useful for my dissertation, thus I decided against doing the survey.

5 Abstract In architecture, authenticity is used subjectively in an attempt to justify an apparent solution to the condition of alienation. However, authenticity as a focal point only helps architects create ready-for-consumption architecture shroud in a jargon of claims about what architecture ought to be.

To explore the illusory use of authenticity in architecture, this paper investigates the Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor. The investigation highlights a dissonance between his claims about his work and the contrasting reality of what actually exists in Vals. What sets Zumthor up for a steep fall from intent to reality is threefold. Zumthor’s inability to relinquish any control about the project. His presumption of being able to bridge any form of alienation from essences, nature and experience. Thirdly, his jargon when speaking about the project shrouds his intent in an aura of mystification.

Comparing the Therme to some of his other buildings allows for an exploration of Zumthor’s “condition” in regard to his work. His consistency in approach highlights the existence of his international brand. Comparing the Therme Vals to the work of Gion A. Caminada helps to understand the alpine project in a cultural and architectural context.

Finally, this paper explores how different perspectives consume architecture that is clouded by a brand claiming authenticity. Using Susan Sontag’s essays on the interpretation of art creates an understanding of how Zumthor’s brand is able to deceive the world.

6 Table of Contents.

Foreword - COVID-19 Research Adaption Account

Page 4

Abstract

Page 5

Introduction

Page 7

Chapter One - Defining Authenticity

Page 8 - 15

1.1 Etymological Definition of Authenticity

Page 8 - 10

1.2 Definitions by Architects

Page 10 - 12

1.3 Authenticity as a Utopia

Page 12 - 15

Chapter Two - Claiming Authenticity – Peter Zumthor, a critical review

Page 16 - 38

2.1 Zumthor’s General Design Ethos, Focus and Method

Page 16 - 17

2.2 Materiality

Page 17 - 20

2.3 Claims and Reality

Page 21 - 23

2.4 Zumthor’s Brand

Page 24 - 25

2.5 Framing the Therme Vals against the Archaeological enclosure near Chur

Page 25 - 30

and the Kunsthaus in Bregenz 2.6 Framing the Therme Vals against the Stiva da Morts by Gion A. Caminada

Page 30 - 38

Chapter Three - Perspectives

Page 39 - 45

3.1 The Historian’s Perspective on Authenticity

Page 39

3.2 The Preservationist’s Perspective on Authenticity

Page 40 - 42

3.3 The Architect’s Perspective on Authenticity

Page 42

3.4 The Everyday User’s Perspective on Authenticity

Page 42 - 45

Chapter Four - Interpretation

Page 46 - 50

4.1 A Background on Interpretation

Page 46 - 48

4.2 Therme Vals, a ‘Happening’?

Page 48 - 49

4.3 What Makes Zumthor’s Claims so Convincing?

Page 49

4.4 A Hope Beyond Interpretation Driven by a Zumthor Narrative?

Page 50

Conclusion

Page 51

List of Sources

Page 52 - 58

List of Figures

Page 59 - 60

Appendix

Page 61 - 66

7 Introduction The use of terminology in architecture moulds our perception of what architecture should be, could be, or wants to be. One of these terms is ‘authenticity’. Most people have a clear understanding of what it means but upon investigating the term, a kaleidoscopic range of definitions and approaches is unveiled. Therefore, the present research paper aims to explore the role that authenticity carries in architecture and how it influences this discipline.

This paper follows up and elaborates on explorations of authenticity in Nathaniel Coleman’s Materials and Meaning. Additionally, a set of papers by Irina Davidovici on The Dilemma of Authenticity in Recent German Swiss Architecture provide a framework for this paper and the case study discussed. Furthermore, this paper attempts to bring some of the topics from Susan Sontag’s Against Interpretation into a contemporary context and relate them to authenticity.

Chapter One outlines the myriad of interpretations that exist about the term “authenticity”. It investigates the role of institutionalisation in practice and education in pushing a need for authenticity within the discipline.

Chapter Two explores one main case study – the Thermal Baths in Vals by Peter Zumthor. There is a focus on analysing Zumthor’s claims and the way they fail to manifest themselves in a built form. This is due to his jargon of mystification, his failed attempt to bridge a gap of alienation that plagues modernity, and the consumption of his branded work.

Chapter Three and Four engage an exploration into the role of interpretation in how Zumthor’s claims are perceived through a range of perspectives.

8 Chapter One - Defining Authenticity Since the end of WWII, architectural theory has developed around three central approaches: the phenomenological, the post-structuralist and the anarchistic. Following the phenomenological approach, architectural practice and language became defined by absolutes stemming from presumed agreements. One of these absolutes, which is perpetuated as a truth is the term ‘authenticity’. However, while there is “a growing preponderance of places, buildings and things that are commonly called fake or inauthentic” the search for authenticity “seems to be missing in … [such] examples.”1 The philosopher Theodor W. Adorno investigated authenticity as a central concept of German Existentialism. He identified a lack of foundational agreement underpinning the term. Adorno questioned the continuity, certainty, and authority projected by a hierarchical and systemised approach to authenticity. His criticisms were directed at Martin Heidegger’s and Walter Benjamin’s post-WWII claims of returning to authenticity.2 Adorno identified an ‘aura of mystification’3 shrouding Heidegger’s attempts of asserting an illusory de-alienated condition. Applying this to architecture Heidegger’s attempts present a definition of authentic akin to a ‘decorated shed’.4 Lots of talk with nothing underneath.

1.1 Etymological Definition of Authenticity Paramount to the investigation of authenticity, and its role in architecture, is an understanding of authenticity as a concept, as well as its position in architectural history.

Authenticity as a notion has maintained ambiguity throughout time, even leading to several

1

Kimberly Dovey, ‘The Quest for Authenticity and the Replication of Environmental Meaning’, in Dwelling, Place and Environment - Towards a Phenomenology of Person and World, ed. by David Seamon and Robert Mugerauer, Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1985), p. 33.

2 Theodor W Adorno, The Jargon of Authenticity (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973).

3 Theodor W Adorno.

4 Robert Venturi, Denise Scott-Brown, and Steven Izenour, Learning from Las Vegas (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1972).

9 philosophical dictionaries excluding this term. However, two main semantic groups are used to understand authenticity. The first being authenticity is genuine, and not imitative, whilst the other regards it as “being as it should be”.5

Fig. 16 - Etymological timeline.

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Lenartowicz, Krzysztof. “On Authenticity in Architecture in Terms of Posing Questions.” Cracow University of Technology, 2013.

6 Adapted from: Douglas Harper, ‘Authentic (Adj.)’, Online Etymology Dictionary <https://www.etymonline.com/word/authentic> [accessed 10 October 2020].

10 This etymological history of authenticity sheds some light onto its ambiguity and flexibility.

Its definition tends to come down to the current cultural forces of time, as well as the individual, and what they decide is authentic.

1.2 Definitions by Architects Many architects have investigated the term authenticity. Its fluidity in definition means that authenticity in architecture is ripe with subjectivity. Loos, for example, engages a discussion on authenticity through an absolute lens: “A copy of an old picture is also a work of art ... But what is unworthy of the name of true art is the conscious effort to clothe new ideas in the style of an old master ... Nothing should be altered in an object being copied.”7 His strict opinions of copies challenged classical as well as contemporary notions8 alluding to the impossibility of authenticity in a consumerist environment.

In contrast, Peter Blundell Jones defines authenticity as being concerned with “the cultural role of architecture in supporting human institutions.”9 He believes that the source of authenticity lies in the interaction between buildings and societies.10 Considering Jacques Carelman’s investigations in Catalogue of Extraordinary Objects, the human experience of an object relies on its use and function,11 like the warmth of a fireplace, to provide it with

7 Loos, 'The New Style and the Bronze Industry (1898), in Ornament and Crime: Selected Essays, Michael Mitchell (trans.), Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, 1998, pp. 47-8.

8 See for an example: Niall Patrick Walsh, ‘Abandoned Russian Orthodox Monuments Appropriated with Abstract Modernist Shapes by Danila Tkachenko’, 2019 <https://www.archdaily.com/909662/abandonedrussian-orthodox-monuments-appropriated-with-abstract-modernist-shapes-by-danila-tkachenko> [accessed 21 November 2020].

9 Jones, Peter Blundell. Lecture, Southbank Polytechnic University, London, 1990. August 26, 2016. Accessed October 10, 2020. https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/practice/culture/in-search-of-authenticity-part-threesocial-authenticity.

10 Crucial for Jones’ theory is also an understanding of Erving Goffman’s analysis of social life and interaction.

He claims that a theatrical metaphor can be applied to social life, with formal (frontstage) and informal (backstage). This would suggest that authenticity does not apply to spaces, but rather the performances in them.

Taking a law court, as an example, the higher seat of the judge as well as other unique spatial arrangements define the use of the space, and give it is recognizable layout. See: Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and Later Writings (London: Allen Lane, 1969).

11 Jacques Carelman and Rosaleen Walsh, Catalogue of Extraordinary Objects, First (TBS The Book Service Limited, 1971).

11 meaning. This illuminates a path for authenticity in a consumerist society. However, Jones still doubts the ability of a modern electric heating system to recreate the authentic feeling of warmth.12 An electric heater would undoubtedly be more energy- and resource-efficient but is it true?

A contemporary perspective In an interview on with Andreas Hild on authenticity in architecture, the architect argues that authenticity can neither be assigned to a building, nor inherent in its matter.13 In response to Wolfgang Seidenspinner’s claim (like Jones’) that authenticity is a “cultural process”14 stemming from something inherent in an object, Hild highlights the impossibility of explaining how authenticity would have gotten into that object in the first place. It therefore cannot be inherent in an object.15 Hild also questions Stefan Lindl’s16 claim that authenticity can be assigned. Lindl defines the authenticities which can be assigned into four categories, “Idealistic”, “Essentialist”, “Aesthetic”, and “Performative”.17 Hild questions how we can determine who makes the decision on what is authentic given that authenticity is ambiguous in the eye of the beholder.18 Furthermore, some of these categories, say the “Essentialist” and the “Performative” are irreconcilable. How can they fit under one definition of authenticity?

Therefore, he claims that the only explanation lies in accepting that something is only authentic when we believe it to be.

12

Peter Blundell Jones, ‘In Search of Authenticity Part Three: Social Authenticity’, Architects’ Journal.

Andreas Hild and Andreas Denk, ‘Original Und Fälschung: Zur Neubegründung Des Authentischen in Der Architektur’, BDA Der Architekt, 4 (2007), 16–23.

14 Wolfgang Seidenspinner, ‘Woran ist Authentizität gebunden? Von der Authentizität zu den Authentizitäten des Denkmals’, 2007 <https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/18452/7720/seidenspinner.pdf> [accessed 10 October 2020].

15 Hild and Denk, ‘Original Und Fälschung: Zur Neubegründung Des Authentischen in Der Architektur’.

16 PD Dr. Stefan Lindl is an architecture historian 17 See Appendix A for an explaination of these categories - Stefan Lindl, ‘Kategorien Der Authentizität: Authentisches Jenseits Des Originals’, BDA Der Architekt, 4 (2007), 25–28.

18 Hild and Denk, ‘Original Und Fälschung: Zur Neubegründung Des Authentischen in Der Architektur’.

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12 This, however, creates a paradox. If we consider applying “authenticity to people, [we observe] that the one who delivers the most authentic performance is the most authentic”.19 This clashes with the widely accepted definition of authenticity, which according to the Charter of Venice lies somewhere between “long lasting and enteral” and “real” in the sense of the original intention.20 Using Hild’s definition, the best faker is the most authentic.

Where does that leave the definition of authenticity in architecture?

The winding route from an ancient meaning to a paradox in contemporary society that the definition of authenticity has taken, raises a question of authenticity’s place in architecture and its integrity. No one can agree on a definition, there is no unity in its meaning over hundreds of years, and yet the term lingers in the field. As Adorno observed in regard to German Existentialism, this investigation highlights the emptiness of architecture’s appeal to authenticity.

1.3 Authenticity as a Utopia In a lecture on authenticity, Jones, quoting Peter Ahrends, begins to tie authenticity to Utopia, stating that “the true [authentic] measure of a modern work lies in its intention to propose, perhaps only in small measure, a vision of what life might become.”21 A glance into a distant Utopia. However, Karl Mannheim defines Utopia as a “state of mind … [which] is incongruous with the state of reality within which it occurs.”22 Mannheim’s argument that Utopian orientations are only such when they “shatter, either partially or wholly, the order of things prevailing at the time”,23 questions the ability authenticity, an assertion of truth

19

Hild and Denk, ‘Original Und Fälschung: Zur Neubegründung Des Authentischen in Der Architektur’.

ICOMOS, International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (The Venice Charter 1964) (Venice, 1964).

21 Peter Blundell Jones, ‘In Serach of Authenticity’ (unpublished Seminar talk, South Bank Polytechnic Univerity London, 1991).

22 Karl Mannheim, Ideology and Utopia, Mannheim, Karl, 1893-1947. Works. English. 1997 ; v. 1 (London : New York: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd. : Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1936).

23 Mannheim.

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13 determined by current cultural influences, to be Utopian. ‘Authenticity’, as an architectural term, attacks a Utopia which used to be inherent in the vocation of architecture a long time ago. 24 A Utopia that has disappeared from architecture as a result of Karl Popper’s explorations in The Poverty of Historicism and The Open Society and Its Enemies.

A barrier to authenticity and Utopia According to Hilde Heynen, architecture’s: “utopian aspirations are usually seen as completely bound up with paternalistic, not to say totalitarian attitudes, and are for that reason discredited and put aside. The idea formulated

by Paul Scheerbart, that culture is a product of architecture and that the enhancement of architecture would therefore result in an enhancement of culture, is denounced as utterly unrealistic.”25 This would suggest that a barrier to authenticity and Utopia lies within the environment in which architecture manifests itself (the cultural and economic conditions in which architecture is trapped26). As described in Loos’ picture27 of an architect arriving at a landscape and ruining it, institutionalisation forces the vocation of architecture, traditionally a blend of techniques, to form a coherent discipline. A drive for truth, through the assertion of the fictitious ‘authenticity’ in architecture has pushed out any Utopian desire in architecture.

In practice, the confines of professionalism limit an architect’s attempts to strive for Utopia.

Tadao Ando speaks about a change in his process, upon entering a professional environment: “Once I travelled a lot, to see the nature, the countryside and the cities, with a sketchbook… a practice I continue today. but plans actually I draw in my office.”28

24

David Halpin, ‘Utopian Spaces of “Robust Hope”: The Architecture and Nature of Progressive Learning Environments.’, Asia-Pacific Journal for Teacher Education, 35.3 (2007), 243.

25 Hilde Heynen, ‘Engaging Modernism’, in Back from Utopia: The Challenge of the Modern Movement, ed. by Hubert-Jan Henket and Hilde Heynen (Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2002), p. 382.

26 Nathaniel Coleman, ‘Utopic Pedagogies: Alternatives to Degenerate Architecture’, in Utopian Studies, No. 2 (The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2012), XXIII, 314–54 <https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.5325/utopianstudies.23.2.0314.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A8b4c6ec7c66c1 a21e4aeb9966878173e> [accessed 22 November 2020], p. 318.

27 See, Adolf Loos, Architecture (Divisare Books, 1910), XII. 28 Tadao Ando, tadao ando interview, 2001 <https://www.designboom.com/interviews/tadao-ando/> [accessed 10 October 2020].

14 This is not to say that the rules should be abolished. A real-world scenario with processes, like the collaboration of a design team, engineers and clients, and with rules is quintessential to the construction of the world around us. Without it, nothing would be built.

Therefore, to avoid accepting a profession unable to engage with Utopia, architects consider a functional approach to architecture. This entails “building in an efficient and economical manner, while avoiding questions related to why one builds and whether such activity is justified in the existential context”.29 The commercial production of architecture would never question claims to authenticity, or a lack of Utopia.

Institutionalisation at a university level To further understand the role of professionalism it is vital to investigate architecture at a university level. Magali Sarfatti Larson claims that the institutionalisation in schools of architecture encourages this commercial approach to architecture. It leads to the training of skills that can be considered exchange values attributed a commodity – a complete graduate.30 She claims that: “homogenized years of schooling and standardized credentials provide a 'universal equivalent' into which exchange values can be translated and by which they can be measured.”31 Due to this focus around standardised skills, architectural education tends towards the transitional model (also called the empty vessel model) of pedagogy.32 This implies that the teacher transfers the knowledge to the student, whilst the student is a mere passive receiver of information.33 This clashes with the narrative of “learning” rather than “teaching”.34 The

29

Alberto Pérez-Gómez, ‘Introduction: Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science’, in Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science (MIT Press), p.4.

30 Magali Sarfatti Larson, The Rise of Professionalism : A Sociological Analysis (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977).

31 Larson.

32 C Greig Crysler, ‘Critical Pedagogy and Architectural Education’, Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), 48.4 (1995), 208–17 <https://doi.org/10.2307/1425383>.

33 ‘Models of Learning and Best Practice Pedagogy’ (Oxford Univrsisty press), p. 11.

34 David Halpin, ‘Utopian Spaces of “Robust Hope”: The Architecture and Nature of Progressive Learning Environments.’, p. 244.

15 standardisation of courses and overemphasis on technical and representational skills35 (as a result of the course’s institutionalisation which stems from the illusion “that architectural practice can be reduced to a system of rational prescriptive rules”36) weakens claims for architecture an autonomous form of expression. Any such claim falls short as a result of its dependency on the “heteronomous … [activity] of building [which is] needed to keep the profession alive by demonstrating its social usefulness”.37 Sometimes students are encouraged to think in terms of unbuildable projects, but this only allows for an abstract Utopian thought, rather than a concrete Utopian thought.38 As identified by Adorno within German Existentialism, a dissonance between claims and reality arises.

The focus on marketable skills suggests that the discipline of architecture is on the cusp of inexistence or has already ceased to exist. This goes against the words of Vitruvius, who claimed “the architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning.”39 Vitruvius said that an architect can achieve nothing without a profound interest for music, medicine, theatre, art, science, and philosophy.40 Comparing it to the other six liberal artforms,41 the focus of architectural education on development of skills and the production of beautiful images lacks a sense of the humanities and any sort of social dimension.42

35

Nathaniel Coleman, ‘Utopic Pedagogies: Alternatives to Degenerate Architecture’, p. 316.

Pérez-Gómez, 'Introduction: Architecture and the crisis of modern science', p. 8.

37 Crysler.

38 Nathaniel Coleman, ‘Utopic Pedagogies: Alternatives to Degenerate Architecture’, p. 316.

39 Vitruvius, ‘The Education of the Architect’, in The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. by Morris Hicky Morgan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914).

40 Vitruvius, ‘The Fundamental Principles of Architecture’, in The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. by Morris Hicky Morgan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914).

41 In a contemporary context this general, or liberal focuses on three branches of knowledge. “The humanities (literature, language, philosophy, the fine arts, and history), the physical and biological sciences and mathematics, and the social sciences.” The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, ‘Liberal Arts’, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998 <https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberal-arts>.

42 Coleman, 'Utopic Pedagogies: Alternatives to Degenerate Architecture’, p. 323.

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16 Chapter Two - Claiming Authenticity – Peter Zumthor, a critical review Although the term ‘authenticity’ is illusory, certain architects continue claiming to have demonstrated it. One such architect, Peter Zumthor, writes about how he works on “developing an architecture that sets out from and returns to real things.”43 The following investigation explores the validity of his claims, their translation into reality and a resulting authenticity, or more appropriately, a lack thereof.

2.1 Zumthor’s General Design Ethos, Focus, and Method Zumthor claims to embody authenticity in his ethos, process and designs. He grounds his claims in explorations of location, tradition and material. One of his most famous pieces of architecture, the Therme in Vals, is an example of Zumthor’s obsession and worshipping of what he defines as locality. He uses this basis of locality to “elevate … [his work] to an honorific event; [which is] filtered through his self-conscious preoccupation with authorship, wholeness and the production of an authentic original.”44 This is shown in the way that Zumthor speaks about his method and his architecture: “The concept of dwelling understood in Heidegger’s wide sense of living and thinking in places and spaces, contains an exact reference to me as an architect.”45 “I paint the paintings, but I need others to contribute so I’m not alone. They have input, but it’s my painting.”46 The way he speaks demonstrates a second key factor in Zumthor’s design process.

Using Adorno’s words regarding claims of authenticity, achieving “the self-sufficient corporeal wholeness of an architectural object [is] the essential … aim of [(in this case)

43

Zumthor, Peter, ‘The Hardcore of Beauty’, in Thinking Architecture, 2nd expanded edition (Baden: Lars Müller Publishers, 2006), pp. 7-8.

44 Nathaniel Coleman, ‘Pool and Cave: Zumthor’s Thermal Baths at Vals (1996)’, in Materials and Meaning in Architecture (Great Britan: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020), p. 97.

45 Zumthor, 'The Hardcore of Beauty', p. 37.

46 Ellen Himmelfarb, Inside Peter Zumthor’s Mentor Program, 2016 <https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/pritzker-architect-peter-zumthor/> [accessed 17 November 2020].

17 Zumthor’s] work”.47 Achieving this wholeness demands an immense level of control over every aspect in the process of producing architecture. The latter of Zumthor’s quotes highlights his self-awareness of this. This control begins at the earliest stage in the process, where Zumthor is selective about the work he accepts, being quick to turn down many projects including a library at Magdalen College at Oxford.48 He limits his office size, stating 30 employees is the ultimate maximum, considering that he is “existing on the limits of what … [he] can do every day and still counsel people, and not leave them alone too long.”49 His training as a cabinet maker50 gives him the confidence to maintain control on site and during production.

2.2 Materiality Aesthetically Zumthor does not relinquish control. Speaking about his aesthetical design approach Zumthor says: “When I try to identify the aesthetic intentions that motivate me in the process of designing buildings, I realize that my thoughts revolved around themes such as place, material, energy, presence, recollection, memories, images, density, atmosphere, permanence and concentration … Martin Heidegger gave the title ‘Bauen, Wohnen, Denken’ (‘Building, Dwelling, Thinking’) to an essay with his reflections on what it means to build homes and live in specific places.

Building, dwelling and thinking are activities which belong together, and which men use as ways to learn about and be part of the world. Heidegger observed that our thinking, as abstract as it may seem, is closely connected with our experience of place.”51 Through material choice, structural decisions, and manufacturing of experiences Zumthor attempts to bestow a sense of wholeness onto the thermal baths in Vals. A key material used

47

Adorno, p. 32.

‘Peter Zumthor & Partner’, Archello, 2020 <https://archello.com/brand/peter-zumthor-partner> [accessed 17 November 2020].

49 Peter Zumthor, 2011 <(https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/archive/peter-zumthor-my-work-is-not-aboutdesign?tkn=1> [accessed 17 November 2020].

50 Peter Zumthor, 2016 <https://www.cladglobal.com/architecture-design-features?codeid=31591&ref=n> [accessed 17 November 2020].

51 Peter Zumthor, ‘Lightness and Pain’, in Peter Zumthor Works: Buildings and Projects, 1979-1997 (Basel: Birkhäuser, 1998), p. 7.

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18 is the local Valser quartzite (Gneiss),52 which manages to tie the structure to a sense of place “by endeavouring to answer the basic questions arising from the location of the given site, the purpose, and the building materials.”53 Specifically this is down to the locality of the source material, the building’s physical submersion into the landscape as well as the cave-like atmosphere created in the interior spaces.

Fig. 254 - A textural study done as part of a group investigation into the Therme Vals.

52

Sigurd Hauser and Peter Zumthor, Peter Zumthor Therme Vals (Zurich: Scheidegger & Speiss, 2007), p. 23.

Zumthor, 'The Hardcore of Beauty', p. 31.

54 Tabitha Edward, Group Work, 2019.

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19 Although he calls the structural system encompassing the quartzite “Valser Verbundmauerwerk [Vals Compound Masonry]”,55 the truth lies in short slices of quartzite, stacked upon each other and infilled with the structural in-situ concrete and load-bearing gneiss.

“Stone and concrete are combined in a special way: section by section, stone slices of different widths and lengths are stacked on top of each other, with concrete poured into the back creating a firm bond between the stond slices and the ‘liquid stone’ [Concrete] … On the exposed side of the wall the slabs are stacked flush on top of each other but they are staggered in the back where the concrete is poured.”56

Fig. 3 - A sectional drawing showing the concrete wall, on the left, clad in the stone.

55 56

Hauser and Zumthor, p. 90.

Ibid., p. 94.

20 Although the claim of structural compound cladding avoids Loos’ criticism of ornamentation,57 in actuality the trivial, shallow slabs make the underlying structural system invisible. While the stone attempts to emulate the nature of the surrounding mountains, Zumthor’s control over it leaves the stone smooth and consistent, weakening the claim58.

Alongside the stone, the water plays a role in allowing the space to have a cave-like atmosphere. “Allowing” being the key word, as Zumthor attempts to control inhabitation through the creation of fixed atmospheres. As a result, visitors experience an atmosphere which is “something of a seduction, less authentic than beguiling”, Coleman recalls.59

Fig. 460 – The surreal atmospheres created by the steam coming off the pools.

57

See: Adolf Loos, Ornament and Crime, trans. by Shawn Whiteside (Penguin Group, 2019).

Coleman, ‘Pool and Cave: Zumthor’s Thermal Baths at Vals (1996)’, p. 75.

59 Coleman, ‘Pool and Cave: Zumthor’s Thermal Baths at Vals (1996)’, p. 105.

60 Fernando Guerra, Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals Spa Photographed by Fernando Guerra, 2016 <https://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/25/peter-zumthor-therme-vals-spa-baths-photography-fernando-guerra/> [accessed 22 November 2020].

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21 2.3 Claims and reality Zumthor believes that authenticity lies within an object and needs to be searched for and found.61 This recalls Andreas Hild’s question of how the authenticity might have gotten there in the first place? According to Kenneth Frampton, Zumthor focuses in on the ‘essence’ of things by engaging with the “elemental ‘thingness of things,’ [which] compels one to reexperience the nature of one’s ‘being in the world’”,62 implying he may have created something authentic at the Therme in Vals. The issue with this is that the atmospheres Zumthor has focused on “presume a no longer (or never) alienated condition, for which there is not credible evidence”.63 This speaks directly to Adorno’s criticism in the Jargon of Authenticity. Using Trent Schroyer’s forward to understand Adorno’s critique shows that: “[Adorno’s] basic thesis is that after World War II this philosophical perspective became an ideological mystification of human domination – while pretending to be a critique of alienation.

[Further, the] use of existentialistic terms became … a jargon: a mode of magical expression which Walter Benjamin called an ‘aura’. In the aura of existentialism the historical need for meaning and liberation was expressed, but in a way that mystified the actual relation between language and its objective content.”64 Applied to architecture, it becomes clear that Zumthor’s intent of creating an authentic experience is eradicated by the built form. The authentic experience only seems to exist in Zumthor’s jargon which is shroud in mystification. A mystification similar to that experienced by Coleman when visiting the baths. Zumthor’s vision for Vals only exists when the “architectural aims [, which] confound realisation … [, are] made manifest by assemblages of words.”

61 Irina Davidovici, The Dilemma of Authenticity in Recent German Swiss Architecture: Part 1 (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 2006) <https://www.academia.edu/16253911/The_Dilemma_of_Authenticity_I_Swiss_architecture_between_ethical_i ntent_and_aesthetic_object_2006_> [accessed 17 November 2020], p. 8.

62 Kenneth Frampton, ‘Minimal Moralia: Reflections on Recent Swiss German Production’, Scroope Cambridge Architecture Journal, 9, 1996, p. 25.

63 Coleman, ‘Pool and Cave: Zumthor’s Thermal Baths at Vals (1996)’, p. 107.

64 Trent Schroyer, ‘Foreword’, in Jargon of Authenticity, trans. by Knut Tarnowski and Frederic Will (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1973), p. xiii.

22 However, Zumthor’s language also shows signs of failing him. His pursuit of wholeness is presented as seemingly objective. Still, Gion A. Caminada, reflecting on working alongside Zumthor, believes that when an architect meets a project, objectivity is impossible to maintain.65 The architect’s own desires, premonitions and faults become embodied in the project. Considering Benjamin Lee Whorf’s “conception of the interrelationship between language, thought (mind) and reality”, explains the veracity of Zumthor’s claims. Trent Schroyer, however, argues that such subjectivity plays a role in “block[ing] meaning and autonomy”.66 This further loads Zumthor’s authorial claims with uncertainty.

The building’s programme Zumthor’s intent on controlling the inhabitation of these spaces inevitably also falls short. He attempts to apply his control to the building’s programme – bathing. An ancient practice described by Leonard Koren: “Baths are almost always rich in symbolic and metaphorical implications … So how do I define a great bathing environment? It is simply, or rather not-so-simply, a place that helps bring my fundamental sense of who I am into focus. A place that awakens me to my intrinsic earthy, sensual, and paganly reverential nature. A quiet place to enjoy one of life’s finest desserts amidst elemental surroundings. A profoundly personal place, even when shared with other people, suitable for the most intimate sacraments of bathing.”67 Zumthor attempts to reimagine this in his baths but falls short while failing to evoke the “sheen of antiquity” associated with ancient bathing. Described by Junichiro Tanizaki the “sheen of antiquity” is: “The glow of grime … that comes of being touched over and over again, a sheen produced by the oils that naturally permeate an object over long years of handling – which is to say grime.

If indeed ‘elegance is frigid’, it can as well be described as filthy … among the elements of the elegance in which we take such delight is a measure of the unclean, the unsanitary …

Westerners attempt to expose ever speck of grime and eradicate it.”68 65

Gion A. Caminada, ‘Regarding the Utility of Architecture’ (published Lecture, London, 2003) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxZYHSxJdMw> [accessed 17 November 2020].

66 Schroyer, ‘Foreword’, in Jargon of Authenticity, p. xiv.

67 Leonard Koren, Undesigning the Bath (Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 1996), pp. 10-13.

68 Tanizaki Jun’icherō, In Praise of Shadows (1933), trans. by Thomas Harper and Edward Seidensticker (London: Vintage Books, 2001), p. 20.

23

In translation to the built form, this ‘essence’ of bathing is completely erased.

Fig. 569 and Fig. 670 - A set of photos showing the Hamal Ali Spa just south of Mosul, in Iraq.

The water is rich in sulphur. The walls are rich in history and tradition.

69

Bran Janssen, Customers Enjoy the Hamam Alil Sulphur Spa, Situated in an Historic Building Half an Hour South of Mosul, Thursday, April 27, 2017. Before the Islamic State Took over the Town of Hamam Alil in 2014, People from All over Iraq Visited the Historic Spa., 2017 <https://apimagesblog.com/blog/2017/4/27/iraqshamal-ali-spa> [accessed 22 November 2020].

70 Bran Janssen, A Customer of the Hamal Alil Sulphur Spa Gets a Scrub and Massage South of Mosul, Iraq, on Thursday, April 27, 2017. Many Iraqi Soldiers Visit the Spa in between Fighting against the Islamic State

24 2.4 Zumthor’s brand Furthermore, although the baths are municipal, they are advertised as a luxury destination spa. It is a highly polished, serviced and photogenic luxury good, that is consumed by tourists with a high frequency. It seems that “by using the methods and trappings of ‘industrial-design civilization’ to escape from … [the unattainable sheen of antiquity], rather than collapsing the divide between the new as desire, and the primordial as reclaimed, in Zumthor’s Therme, the new is represented as a pathway to accessing authenticity, which is ultimately unrecoverable; precisely because alienated by the very techniques deployed to retrieve it.”71 Again, Zumthor’s need for control means that, ironically, he lost all of it. Already in 1997, one year after the completion of construction, the building was a backdrop for bathing suit models as part of an edition of Vogue magazine.72

Fig. 773 - A model posing in the thermal baths.

Group for Relaxation., 2017 <https://apimagesblog.com/blog/2017/4/27/iraqs-hamal-ali-spa> [accessed 22 November 2020].

71 Coleman, ‘Pool and Cave: Zumthor’s Thermal Baths at Vals (1996)’, p. 110.

72 Steve Parnell, ‘Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals Baths in Print’, Architects’ Journal, 2009 <https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/practice/culture/peter-zumthors-therme-vals-baths-in-print>.

73 Vogue Cover, 1997 <https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/practice/culture/peter-zumthors-therme-vals-bathsin-print> [accessed 22 November 2020].

25 The building was, in part, intended as an economic strategy for boosting tourism in the area, but the photogenic structure, with its restrained beauty and elemental and pure traces,74 meant that it gained immense international appeal. Zumthor’s determined jargon of wholeness and authenticity became his and the building’s brand. As a branded location, it has hosted music videos,75 more photoshoots, and thousands of wealthy visitors. Eventually, the commoditisation which was being appropriated by the “culture industry”76 became too much, and he and his wife relinquished all control of the structure.

Now, after it was sold to an, according to Zumthor, “egotistical” developer, Zumthor claims the thermal baths are destroyed, and he seems to want to sever any association to them. He says that the building is a “landmark” but it’s ‘essence’ and its programme as a “social project is dead.”77 It seems that while Zumthor’s writing and claims became part of his brand, in manifestation, his claims about the project fell apart. It is no longer whole nor veiled in a jargon of authenticity. It now stands bare as a beautiful, hollow vessel. Looking at the future of alpine regions under the force of the ‘culture industry’, the thermal baths was the first stone to fall.

2.5 Framing the Therme Vals against the Archaeological enclosure near Chur and the Kunsthaus in Bregenz Archaeological enclosure near Chur If we compare the thermal baths to some of Zumthor’s other work these themes remain relevant. An example, the archaeological enclosure near Chur, which was built using an “ontological approach”78 as explored by Frampton. This approach stems from distancing

74

Coleman, ‘Pool and Cave: Zumthor’s Thermal Baths at Vals (1996)’, p. 111.

See: Matthew Rolston, EVERY TIME (Jam & Lewis Disco Remix) - Janet Jackson (Vals, 1998) <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqPJ8YEJy5Y>.

76 Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry : Selected Essays on Mass Culture (London : Routledge, 2001).

77 Peter Zumthor <https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/11/peter-zumthor-vals-therme-spa-switzerland-destroyednews/>.

78 Frampton, ‘Minimal Moralia: Reflections on Recent Swiss German Production’.

75

26 the project from the urban environment. The approach revives some hope for Zumthor’s claim to authenticity as it explores a “gentle concern for the life of the building with a sensuality grounded in correct tectonic expression”.79 Furthermore, the timber detailing used in this structure references Zumthor’s cabinet-making experiences. Frampton argues that this is evidence of Zumthor exploring his own artistic vision into a tradition80. It evokes some sense of what Loos described as the “architect-craftsman”.81 It also begins to show traces of the Heideggerian notion of dwelling.

Fig. 882 - Wooden detailing on the structure.

79

Davidovici, The Dilemma of Authenticity in Recent German Swiss Architecture: Part 1, p.4.

Frampton, Frampton, ‘Minimal Moralia: Reflections on Recent Swiss German Production’.

81 See: Loos, XII. 82 Hans Danueser, August Fischer, and Hélène Binet, Zumthor’s Arcaheological Enclosure Timber Detail, 2018 <https://www.atlasofplaces.com/architecture/shelter-roman-archaeological-site/> [accessed 22 November 2020].

80

27 However, the Swiss architect Hans Frei, argues that the authenticity of the “ontological approach” once more fails to translate into reality.83 He believes that these manifestations of authenticity are staged and highly edited in order to represent “exactly the phenomenon which Frampton attacks so vehemently, namely the artist-architect, who merely produces theatrically his exhausted passions.”84 Kunsthaus Bregenz In addition to my study of Zumthor’s work at a distance, I visited one of his works – the Kunsthaus in Bregenz.85 What stood out to me was that the real thing looked nothing like it did on the photos.

Fig. 986 and Fig. 10 - Showing contrasting experiences from professional photos (left) and in reality (right).

83

Davidovici, Davidovici, The Dilemma of Authenticity in Recent German Swiss Architecture: Part 1, p. 5.

Hans Frei, Birth of the Cool. In Memoriam for "Swiss-German Architecture, SD, no. 2 (401), 1996.

85 See: Appendix D for a description of my visit 86 Kubr, KUB 2 Hoch, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Außenansicht, 2010 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KUB_2_hoch.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

84

28 Loos wrote on the influence of photos saying that “photography produces pretty or not so pretty pictures.87 It diverts people from the object. It miseducates them. “Photography is a deceiver.”88 What lacked in reality, that was so highly documented on the photos, seemed to be the role of light in the space. In the photos, light shines through the translucent etched glass walls, illuminating the space to look like part of a surreal dimension. Photos show an incredible lightness, a vast empty space with a few artworks hanging on the walls, and silhouettes of people as they pass through the space.

Fig. 1189 and Fig. 12 - The role of the artificial lighting is much more present in reality (right) than in the photos (left).

Looking at just the photos, the experience is very controlled. There is such a strong emphasis on light and its ability to make a space feel liberated. None of the photos, however, show the vast amounts of people, that even during the COVID-19 pandemic, were visiting the space. Consequently, even my images are often aimed at the roof, to avoid crowded shots.

There is also a dissonance in the inhabitation of the spaces, contrasting empty rooms with ones littered with partitions, or light filled rooms and dark film screening spaces.

87

See: Appendix E Adolf Loos, ‘On Thrift (1924)’, in On Architecture, trans. by Michael Mitchell (Riverside, CA: Ariadne Press, 2002), pp. 178–79.

89 Hélène Binet, Hélène Binet Foyer <https://www.kunsthausbregenz.at/fileadmin/user_upload/KUB/Presse/Architekturfotos/Helene_Binet_Foyer_Z12_600x400.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

88

29

Fig. 1390 and Fig. 14 - Showing the contrasts in the use of space, and the atmosphere.

Images I saw before getting there mislead me about the experience I would have.

Important to note is that not all photos online are approved or seen by Zumthor, let alone taken on his behalf. All these images were shot by visitors, trying to capture a building.

Interestingly, this means that Zumthor’s branded celebrity status and his jargon about what the building should be has proven to be extremely convincing. Evidently, in this case, as Loos puts it, “photography says nothing”91 about what you experience in reality. Leading on from this, Loos says that architects “make their reputation with pretty drawings and beautiful photographs”92 meaning that all these photos are solidifying Zumthor’s claim of authenticity.

However, in doing so, these photographs distance his claims, his brand, further and further from reality.

90

Jörg Baumann, Adrián Villar Rojas - The Theater of Disappearance, 2017 <https://www.kunsthausbregenz.at/fileadmin/user_upload/KUB/Presse/Aktuelle_Ausstellung/Adrian_Villar_Rojas/AVR_T-OD__KUB_0128-34.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

91 Ibid.

92 Ibid.

30

Fig. 1593 and Fig. 16 – The external façade (left) – clean and controlled. A glimpse behind the scenes (right) – dirty and uncontrolled reflections.

2.6 Framing the Therme Vals against the Stiva da Morts by Gion A. Caminada Stiva da Morts in Vrin Returning to the baths in Vals, just one valley towards the West, lies the even smaller mountain town of Vrin. When visiting Vrin, I explored the creations of local architect, Gion A. Caminada, who works predominantly from his home village. He is well integrated into the community, acting as a political member as well as an economic and social driver.94 He also teaches at the technical university in Zurich and has produced many projects there. A standout project is the Stiva da Morts. A small building next to the church, Stiva da Morts is a communal space for ceremonies related to death. The process of grieving in the village spans

93

Jürgen Klieber, Peter Zumthor - Fassade - Kunsthaus Bregenz <https://www.pinterest.de/pin/241153755030728888/> [accessed 22 November 2020].

94 Caminada, 'Regarding the Utility of Architecture'.

31 over multiple days, with processions and wakes that involve the whole community.95 The wakes used to be held in the deceased person’s living room but Caminada wanted to create a space that could be designated for this important cultural event.

Caminada’s method Having nowhere near the reputation and brand that Zumthor has, Caminada’s work is less documented. Caminada has, however, said that his architecture focuses on celebrating marginal areas, like his village. He believes in “autonomy and independence”,96 which are staples of alpine life. For many years, there was no efficient access to the nearest town, at the mouth of the valley, so the village remained reliant on itself. Swiss Alpine life was isolated from the rest of the world, meaning that each village formed its own communities.97 With this in mind, Caminada redesigned most of the communal buildings, in his village, to allow its community to survive. The Stiva da Morts is just one example, which demonstrates his attention to vernacular construction.

95

Ibid.

Gion A. Caminada and others, Gion A. Caminada: Cul Zuffel e l’aura Dado, ed. by Bettina Schlorhaufer, 2nd Extended Edition (Luzern: Quart Publishers, 2016).

97 Peter Rieder, Vrin - Am Ende Oder Nur Zuhinterst (Zürich: Stiftung Pro Vrin, 2006).

96

32

Fig. 17 - The Stiva da Morts in winter.

33 He adapts the traditional ‘Strickbau’ construction technique to a more efficient and contemporary form. He uses double layered log walls and a concrete base to reference the farmhouses and barns of the area. These were traditionally logs stacked on top of each other, sitting on stone slabs to raise the building off the ground. This prevented rats and the cold from reaching the building’s inside. The proportions and materials are just like the surrounding buildings.98 Along these lines Caminada references Loos who inspired him to consider tradition in the following way. If the new cannot do a better job than the old, then one should just stick to the old.99 Therefore, he does what he can to modernise the traditional technique, without replacing it.

Fig. 18 and Fig. 19100 - Old and new, side by side.

Caminada’s Ethos Along the lines of Loos, Caminada also believes that “environments are invisible” as a result of conventional architecture. Caminada therefore attempts “to protect a landscape … [and] maintain it in its recognisable form”.101 Caminada’s monograph, titled Cul zuffel e

98

Caminada, 'Regarding the Utility of Architecture'.

Paraphrased from Caminada, 'Regarding the Utility of Architecture' who paraphrased Adolf Loos.

100 Vrin Totenstube - Wandkonstruktion <https://www.archinform.net/projekte/11398.htm> [accessed 22 November 2020].

101 Caminada and others, Gion A. Caminada: Cul Zuffel e l’aura Dado.

99

34 l'aura dado (architecture with the winds),102 references wind as a crucial design element. The building’s layout flows with the wind blowing down the valley, and views orientated towards the river highlight nature through carefully considered openings. Caminada also uses wood consistently throughout the whole structure, with the outside painted white to minimise how much it stands out in winter. The wood is grown, cut and used in the area.103 Caminada also experiments with traditional alchemy. For example, the paint is made with a blend of calcium and quark, a dairy product.104 The painted surface elevates the building’s status as it becomes aesthetically linked to the church. The inside is left unpainted, with the light brown of the wood providing a sense of warmth and safety. Large heavy doors and thick walls amplify this feeling. The interior is coated in Shellac, a material harvested from fleas.105 This references the farmhouse building typology, where fleas would live amongst the farm animals.

Fig. 20 - The warm inside of the structure.

102

Translation of the Romansch title from Caminada and others.

Caminada, 'Regarding the Utility of Architecture'.

104 Caminada, 'Regarding the Utility of Architecture'.

105 Caminada, 'Regarding the Utility of Architecture'.

103

35 Caminada is heavily inspired by the writings of Aldo Rossi. One of Caminada’s favourite quotes by Rossi is that “architecture must allow for events to occur.”106 This sense that some things are defined, and others are determined by use and inhabitation is reflected in the Stiva da Morts. Comparatively to any of the previously discussed works, the windows and doors are openable, allowing for the user to control the experience. The spaces are also multifunctional. Even mountain goats have begun to engage with the structure using it as a climbing wall.

Fig. 21107 - Mountain goats climbing on the structure in summer.

106

Caminada, ‘Regarding the Utility of Architecture’, paraphrased from Aldo Rossi.

Jindřich Běťák, Vrin Totenstube (6), 2017 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vrin_Totenstube_(6).jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

107

36 When I visited, I had to retrieve the key from the church and was allowed to enter and explore the space on my own. The community can use it for free and visitors are welcome.

The structure is left to speak for itself. There is no luxurious programme nor a sense of exclusivity. It engages with the community and becomes one with nature, in line with Caminada’s intentions.

Caminada embraces and acknowledges alienation. His attempt to work with this entails focusing on a micro scale. He looks at his village, the community, the local animals, the vernacular architecture and just that. This is similar to the methodology applied by Zumthor with the difference that the Stiva da Morts’ exposure to these themes is not controlled. It occurs on its own through its inhabitation. The patina develops over time making it look more and more like one of the traditional houses. The building is used for an undetermined range of events. Nature takes over the structure.

Fig. 22 - A view from the new out towards the old.

37 An aura of silence in Vrin Caminada makes no direct claims of ‘authenticity’ nor of perfection and wholeness.

Still, like Zumthor, he is arguably even more specific about the work he accepts. However, once he crosses that threshold, he leaves the building to its own devices. Notably, unlike Vals, very few tourists visit and when they do, they come to hike in the surrounding mountains.

Furthermore, the building is rarely documented in the English language, rather in German or Romansch, further highlighting its reach. One of the only websites to heavily feature the Stiva da Morts is ‘hiddenarchitecture.com’.108 His use of language in regard to architecture is crucial. If Caminada speaks, he speaks only of the technical details, his inspirations or the context. On the basis of Benjamin Lee Whorf’s linguistic theories, Coleman argues that “language shapes conceptions of this vocation through descriptions of how buildings ought to shape reality - cognizant of success and failures.”109 Caminada’s restrained use of language, when speaking about what the Stiva da Morts ought to be, is exactly what allows the structure to achieve its aims. Caminada avoids the traps of phenomenology, which demands an exact vocabulary in which to categorise his own structure. It is as close as possible to “pre-verbal” architecture as explored by Vitruvius.110 It is an escape from the condition of modern architecture in which “we are all mistaken in our common belief that any word (or building) has an ‘exact’ meaning.”111 Arguably through its independence, Vrin, with its 250 inhabitants, has managed to fight against the post-WWII isolation experienced in the modern architecture movement.

108

See: Hidden Architecture, ‘Stiva Da Morts’, 2018 <https://hiddenarchitecture.net/stiva-da-morts/>.

Nathaniel Coleman, ‘Forms of a Conclusion’, in Materials and Meaning in Architecture (Great Britan: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020), p. 280.

110 See: Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, ‘Book II’, in The Ten Books on Architecture, 1st C. BC. 111 Benjaminn Lee Whorf, ‘Language Mind and Reality’, in Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf, January and April (Madras, India: Theosophist, 1942), p. 258.

109

38 During the war, before the war, after the war, and far into the future these 250 people will mostly trade, communicate, live, interact and be amongst just themselves and nature.

Occasionally some tourist might come by asking to take a look at their architecture for a project at Newcastle University.

39 Chapter Three - Perspectives My critical review of Zumthor shows just a certain perspective. This idea of perspective, in relation to the perception of authenticity was raised earlier through Andreas Hild. Hild explores four different perspectives on authenticity. The everyday user, the historian, the architect and the “Denkmalschützer” (the preservationist).112 I will explore these in regard to claims of authenticity at Vals.

3.1 - The Historian’s Perspective on Authenticity The historian approaches the issue of authenticity through facts, relics and educated speculation about historical events. Grounded in truth, a historian aims to demonstrate and explore how things were. To understand how a historian approaches authenticity, we can consider the debate surrounding the reconstruction of the castle in Heidelberg in 1890.113 Lengthy debates were held about what to do following 1764’s fire that left the castle in ruins.114 These discussions were fronted by two sides: restoration and preservation, headed

by Karl Schäfer and Georg Dehio, respectively. Schäfer being dubbed “Der WahrzeichenRekonstrukteur”115 (The Monument-Reconstructor) while Dehio gained notoriety with his saying “Konservieren, nicht restaurieren!”116 (Conserve, don’t reconstruct).

112

Andreas Hild and Andreas Denk, ‘Original Und Fälschung: Zur Neubegründung Des Authentischen in Der Architektur’, BDA Der Architekt, 4 (2007), pp. 16–23.

113 Ibid., p. 21 114 Schloss Heidelberg, ‘Zeitreise durch die Geschichte: Vergangenes Entdecken’, Schloss Heidelberg Romantik Pur: Die Berühmteste Ruine der Welt <https://www.schloss-heidelberg.de/wissenswertamuesant/zeitreise> [accessed 18 November 2020].

115 Denkmalstiftung Baden-Württemberg, ‘Baumeister - Carl Schäfer (1844-1908): Der “WahrzeichenRekonstrukteur”’, Denkmalstiftung Baden-Württemberg - Stiftung bürgerlichen Rechts, 2006 <https://denkmalstiftung-baden-wuerttemberg.de/wissen/baumeister/s-u-baumeister/carl-schaefer-1844-1908/> [accessed 18 November 2020].

116 Georg Dehio and Alois Riegl, Konservieren, Nicht Restaurieren: Streitschriften Zur Denkmalpflege Um 1900 (Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg & Sohn Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 1988).

40 3.2 The Preservationist’s Perspective on Authenticity Dehio was in the truest meaning of the word a preservationist. In his book, he argues that Schäfer intended to improve upon what already exists. Dehio saw this as a blasphemous disregard for the intense and rich historical greatness of the castle.117 He argued that a part of a building’s conception involves facing the inevitable end via decay and destruction. This approach to truth (and thus authenticity) aligns with that of Christopher Bollas, who believed that the process of death and decay must be incorporated into the process of architectural thinking. Bollas believed this the only way not to create something too alien to be integrated into society.118 Dehio argues that the “vandalisme restaurateur”119 (vandalistic reconstructor) Schäfer would cause a “vollständige Verschiebung der Proportionen, eine total veränderte Bedeutung und Wirkung der ganzen Fassade”120 (complete change in the proportions, a totally different meaning and effect of the whole façade) through his “Denkmalserneuerrung” (renewal of a monument). Schäfer’s justification was that restoration was the best way of conserving the existing and demonstrating the “Originalität und Schönheit”121 (originality and beauty) of the structure. Dehio argued against this as he claimed it was impossible for anybody, even Schäfer, to know with full certainty what the structure looked like at every corner. Questioning the statement of originality, Dehio believed that this restoration will result in a copy. A copy like that which Ludwig Dihm argued is a “selbständige

117

Dehio and Riegl, 'Konservieren, Nicht Restaurieren: Streitschriften Zur Denkmalpflege Um 1900', p. 1.

Christopher Bollas, ‘Architecture and the Unconscious’, International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 9.1–2 (2000), 28–42 <https://doi.org/10.1080/080370600300055850>.

119 Ibid., p. 1.

120 Ibid., p. 8.

121 Ibid., p. 8.

118

41 Kunstleistung im Geiste der Alten”122 (autonomous artwork referencing the old) and therefore replaces the monument with Schäfer’s artwork. 123 Contemporary implications Contemporary questions around the topic of Denkmalpflege (process of protecting historical structures) consider similar themes as Dehio. The process attempts to address such questions by considering the “reason” for dealing with a historical structure. For example, archaeological value versus history education. The question of who makes the decision about what to do remains. In the case of Heidelberg, it seems they made the right decision, as it has been enjoyed by thousands of tourists since, including Goethe and Mark Twain.124 The structure is now a self-proclaimed “World famous ruin” with over one million visitors a year, and over one million overnight stays.

The historian and the preservationist at Vals Imagining Vals in the year 2220, a ruin of its former self. Decay has set in many years ago and it stands empty. Given Zumthor’s stature, we can argue that the lens through which they would engage with the ruins would be with the intent of celebrating his work. Due to the value put on imageability in the year of 2020, the historian would argue that the structure should resemble what it once did visually. The preservationist may aim to maintain the atmospheric emphasis that Zumthor spoke about. The question of what stage to restore it to would still stand. Before the sale to the “egotistical developer”? Or to the day it was last open? Also, how can you recreate the atmospheres that Zumthor strived for? Are they still the

122

Ibid., p. 13.

What Schäfer’s artwork might have looked like, see: The author Julian Hanscke reinvisions and reconstructs the castle in 3D allowing an exploration of the internal and external spaces. Timo Teufert, ‘So veränderte das Heidelberger Schloss sein Aussehen’, Rhein-Necker-Zeitung, 15 December 2015 <https://www.rnz.de/nachrichten/heidelberg_artikel,-Heidelberg-So-veraenderte-das-Heidelberger-Schloss-seinAussehen-_arid,149339.html> [accessed 19 November 2020].

124 See comments by Mark Twain when he visited the Ruins and described them in his 1880 book - Mark Twain, 123

‘Appendix B - Heidelberg Castle Described’, in A Tramp Abroad (United States: American Publishing Company, 1880), pp.

1146–47 <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/119>.

42 same? Is Vals still working with stone? Is the village still an alpine village or have even more developments in a bid for touristic appeal grown around the town, changing its form?125 Attempting to ground the structure in the context of a 2220 Vals would be different from Zumthor’s intent. An attempt of restoration will make it an empty vessel again, with any traces of Zumthor’s claims gone. I think Zumthor would want them to just leave the building to its devices, maybe it would make him love the structure again.

3.3 The Architect’s Perspective on Authenticity The architect and his views have been extensively discussed. Contrasting these to the historian and preservationist, it can be said that the former finds authenticity in the intent, the concept and the construction, whilst the latter two find authenticity in originality of substance that was.

3.4 The Everyday User’s Perspective on Authenticity The everyday user has also already been discussed. They rely on an image of the building. An authentic experience, atmosphere and look is what matters to them most.126 In that sense, Zumthor’s attempt at creating a fake truth should be more than enough.

Consuming architecture In a contemporary society, buildings are consumed as products which carry exchange value based on their imageability. Global interconnectedness has informed a homogenization of culture and a global “collective memory”. Maurice Halbwachs describes this as “precisely the instruments used by the collective memory to reconstruct an image of the past which is in

125

See: Leah Ghazarian, ‘Morphosis Unveils 7132 Tower in Switzerland’, Architect Magazine, 25 March 2015 <https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/morphosis-unveils-7132-tower-in-switzerland_o> [accessed 22 November 2020].

126 Hild and Denk, ‘Original Und Fälschung: Zur Neubegründung Des Authentischen in Der Architektur’.

43 accord, in each epoch, with the predominant thoughts of society.”127 This collective memory has diluted individual perspectives and provides a basis for all thought regardless of physical, political or cultural specificity. This alienation from oneself as a result of a presumed agreement based on collective memory is exactly what phenomenologists talked away with their ‘jargon of authenticity’.

Anna Klingmann128 states that this homogenization means architecture evolved from “what it has” and “what it does” to “what you feel” and “who you are”.129 She argues that any interaction between the individual and the global is achieved through capitalistic consumerist narratives controlled by brands. Bernd Schmitt believes, “experiences are usually not selfgenerated but induced”130 suggesting these brands have the power to mould the collective identity. The emergence of branding coincided with newfound societal craze obsessed with discovering personal identity. As described by Klingmann, in the early stages of discovering personal identity, people remain malleable to global forces. Using the tools of marketing, global brands (including ones like Zumthor) have the power to use architecture to “create [the] identity of people, communities and places.”131 Klingmann compares the influence of an architect’s brand to the branding of monuments relating to religion, like churches in the city of Prague.132 Their large dimensions and verticality define their brand. Zumthor’s brand being asserted through his claims and “pretty pictures”.133

127

Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory - The Heritage of Sociology, ed. by Lewis A. Coser, 1st edn (University of California Press, 1992), p. 40.

128 See also: Kevin Robins, ‘Tradition and Translation: National Culture in Its Global Context’, in Enterprise and Heritage - Crosscurrents of National Culture, ed. by John Corner and Sylvia Harvey (New York: Routledge, 1991), pp. 21–44.

129 Anna Klingmann, Brandscapes: Architecture in the Experience Economy (Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 2007).

130 Bernd H. Schmitt, Experiential Marketing: How to Get Customers to Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate (New York: Free Press, 1999), pp. 61-63.

131 Klingmann, 'Brandscapes: Architecture in the Experience Economy'.

132 Ibid.

133 Loos, ‘On Thrift (1924)’.

44 Umberto Eco explores the role of globalisation in the process of creating architecture in his essay Mass Appeal in Architecture: “Architecture is a business. It is produced under economic conditions very similar to the ones governing much of mass culture, and in this too differs from other forms of culture. [In comparison to painters or writers who can produce work for which there is no direct market] ... the architect cannot be engaged in the practice of architecture without inserting himself into a given economy and technology and trying to embrace the logic he finds there, even if he would like to contest it.”134 This refers back to the dilemma of Zumthor. He aims to produce on a local level, engaging with the vernacular and nature. He makes claims but falls short of them because no matter how much “he would like to contest it”, his brand, his fame, as well as the Therme’s luxury program situate it in the global market. There it is consumed by thousands; thousands who arguably never experience anything of what Zumthor is intending to express.

The impact of photogenic architecture The rapid spread of images on social media has brought the concept of “commodity fetishism” to architecture. Guy Debord defines this as “the domination of society by ‘imperceptible as well as perceptible things’”.135 He argues that a sense of spectacle, mystification, and beauty in a staged image of commodified architecture carries more value than the lived experience.136 The spectacle being the “everyday manifestation of capitalistdriven phenomena; advertising, television, film and celebrity.”137 This introduces a whole new alienated condition that when the global citizen meets architecture, for example in the case of Vals, they experience something even further from the architect’s intent. This results in the Therme Vals standing as a silent obelisk,138 hollow of any meaning other than being a

134 Umberto Eco, ‘Mass Appeal in Architecture’, in Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, ed.

by Neil Leach (London: Routledge, 1997), p. 196.

135 Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (New York: New York : Zone Books, 1994).

136 Ibid.

137 Tiernan Morgan and Purje Lauren, An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord’s ‘The Society of the Spectacle’, Hyperallergic, 2016 <https://hyperallergic.com/313435/an-illustrated-guide-to-guy-debords-the-society-of-thespectacle/> [accessed 19 November 2020].

138 Klingmann, 'Brandscapes: Architecture in the Experience Economy'.

45 pretty thing to go look at.139 Zumthor has already begun to observe this process himself. Due to his brand, the building has gained notoriety not for the reasons of what Zumthor claims imply, but for the reason that Zumthor is famous, and his buildings are pretty, and apparently the experience is amazing. Comparable to great monuments like the Eiffel tower, it is destined to become a “0% monument” 140 existing purely as a commodity, with nothing to offer but views to and from it.

139

John Berger, Ways of Seeing (London : New York: London : British Broadcasting Corporation, 1977).

Kevin Robins, ‘Tradition and Translation: National Culture in Its Global Context’, in Enterprise and Heritage - Crosscurrents of National Culture, ed. by John Corner and Sylvia Harvey (New York: Routledge, 1991), pp. 21–44.

140

46 Chapter Four - Interpretation Crucial to the consumption of the Therme Vals is how the everyday user perceives and interprets this building. Susan Sontag wrote extensively about various art forms and the way their intentions are subject to interpretation. To understand the process of interpretation, the above characters experience about Zumthor’s work, we first have to understand the sense of truth that some art attempts to assert.141

4.1 A Background on Interpretation Interpretation historically In one of the earliest widespread theories about art, Mimetic theory, Plato implied that art was merely an imitation of reality. This attack on the truth of art has perpetuated a need for art to justify itself.142 When translated into a contemporary setting, art still relies on its content as justification. Sontag argues that the way that art is spoken about, in terms of “what X is trying to say…” reflects this need for justification.143 In an exploration of Jean-Paul Satre’s work, Saint Genet, Sontag identifies an agony in the writer who dedicates a large part of the book to feed his “compulsion to assign meaning, a refusal to let the world alone.”144 Similarly, Zumthor cannot let his buildings be. He invites interpretation.

Interpretation rose to its peak when the scientific enlightenment pierced the mystification surrounding religion. Old religious texts didn’t fit modern values anymore.

Interpretation bridged a presupposed gap between clear meaning and the demands of the reader.145

141 “Truth – demonstrable through the laws of science – constitutes the fundamental basis upon which human decisions are made over and above ‘reality,’ which is always ambiguous”. Pérez-Gómez, 'Introduction: Architecture and the crisis of modern science', p. 5.

142 Susan Sontag, ‘Against Interpretation’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009), p. 3.

143 Ibid., p. 6.

144 Ibid., p. 95.

145 Ibid., p. 6.

47 Contemporary interpretation Interpretation as a tool is deeply imbedded in contemporary perceptions of art. Sontag argues that “none of us can ever retrieve that innocence before all theory when art knew no need to justify itself, when one did not ask of a work of art what it said because one knew (or thought one knew) what it did.”146 Criticising “new interpretation” as a result of this inevitability, Sontag states that unlike “old interpretation”, which respectfully layered meaning upon meaning, “new interpretation” seeks to dig below the artwork and replace its meaning with one that is truer.147 This is a result of interpretation having become an obsession responding to truth.

This evokes the imitation status of art, as explored by Plato, resulting in a reaction upon a reaction, untruth upon untruth. This is further explored by Adorno who attacked Igor Stravinsky for “raiding the past, for making musical pastiches” going as far as aligning his reactionary approach with fascism.148 It seems that “reaction is identified with an inauthentic relation to the past; … with abstractness”.149 Vals apparently reacts to nature and to the local.

There remains a sense of nervousness about the raw form of art, even in the creator of an art piece themself.150 An example being Thomas Mann who felt a need to accompany his work with interpretations, as Zumthor does with his claims. Sontag explains that such a demand for a collective agreement on the truth of an artwork, “violates” art and commits to be an item of use, rather than one of autonomy.151

146

Sontag, ‘Against Interpretation’, pp. 4-5.

Ibid., p. 6.

148 Susan Sontag, ‘The Literary Criticism of Georg Luckács’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009), p. 90.

149 Ibid., p. 91.

150 Sontag, ‘Against Interpretation’, p. 9.

151 Ibid., p. 10.

147

48 Avoiding interpretation’s search for truth and meaning Some of Ingmar Bergmann movies, as an example, triumph “over the pretentious intentions of their director” although they are “crammed with lame messages about the modern spirit”,152 which would invite interpretation. These movies focus on a direct tone, leaving it descriptive rather than prescriptive. This glimmer of hope seems long gone for Zumthor and his ‘jargon of mystification’. Comparatively, Caminada has the confidence to let his work stand for itself, providing him freedom from the imprecision of language. The Stiva da Morts provides a hopeful invitation for personal reflections liberated of meaning.

4.2 Therme Vals, a ‘Happening’?

Zumthor’s claims can be considered a theatrical performance. Similar to the spectacle of ‘Happenings’ in 1960s New York, Zumthor manages to keep his audience at arm’s length.

Eliminating the need for a physical stage in Vals, by spreading his jargon through writing and online photos follows Antonin Artaud’s prescription of spectacle.153 Zumthor’s mystification accompanying his performance means that “there is no attempt to cater to the audiences desire to see everything.”154 He teases the audience, keeping them from experiencing the raw art of his structure, which could potentially allow for some engagement with a sense of truth or authenticity. It does not help that, like Alain Resnais does in Muriel, Zumthor meddles, mixes and matches, various intentions.155 Akin to the use of speech in Muriel, but also by Artaud in Marat/Sade,156 Zumthor’s use of language has an alienating effect on the viewers.

It does not engage with the viewers on an emotional level but veils them in a fog created by Zumthor’s incantations. It can be said that, as with Muriel, Zumthor is overburdened by the

152

Ibid., p. 11.

Susan Sontag, ‘Happenings: An Art of Radical Juxtapositoin’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009), p. 274.

154 Ibid., p. 265.

155 See: Alain Resnais, Muriel, 1963.

156 See: Peter Weiss, Marat/Sade, 1964.

153

49 synthetic157 attempt to create experience, truth and authenticity. He falls short of his aspirations, as a result of his need for control, once more. Sontag argues that art that fails to reach its end in terms of its themes and intentions, cannot be great art.158 Ionesco’s claims that if something “is merely willed, the result is always unconvincing, and usually pretentious”159 becomes relevant for Zumthor.

4.3 What Makes Zumthor’s Claims so Convincing?

Like Albert Camus,160 Zumthor demonstrates a strong commitment to his intentions, craft, and ideas. Zumthor has “an entirely genuine, and historically relevant passion”161 with locality, tradition and atmosphere. Sontag argues that Camus’ pure intentions are too easily appropriated “into an inexhaustible self-perpetuating oratory.”162 The grand nature of Zumthor’s claims and his belief in them helps convince his followers. His tendency towards mass consumerist culture helps keep him hidden from the critics of high art. He remains undetected by being famous. His work doesn’t reflect the moralistic high art, nor does it align with the wholly aesthetic ‘Camp’.

What will happen once only his work remains, and he can no longer make his claims?

Sontag argues that “A work of art, so far as it is a work of art, cannot – whatever the artists personal intentions – advocate anything at all”.163

157

Susan Sontag, ‘Resnais’ Muriel’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009), p. 241.

158 Ibid., p. 241.

159 Susan Sontag, ‘Ionesco’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009), p.

121.

160 See: Susan Sontag, ‘Camus’ Notebooks’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009).

161 Susan Sontag, ‘Simone Weil’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009), p. 51.

162 Ibid., p. 52.

163 Susan Sontag, ‘On Style’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009), p.

26. For further discussions on this topic see: José Ortega y Gasset, The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Art, Culture, and Literature (Princeton University Press, 1968).

50 4.4 A Hope Beyond Interpretation Driven by a Zumthor Narrative?

Nathalie Saurrete suggests that we invite artists to “resist the desire to amuse … [their] contemporaries, to reform them, to instruct them, or to fight for their emancipation; and simply, without trimming or smoothing or overcoming contradictions, to present ‘reality’ as … [they] see it, with as great a sincerity and harness of vision as … [they are] capable.”164 However, the alienation from any trace of truth in art, the contemporary obsession with the image and control asserted by brands like Zumthor’s has gone as far as consumers having to be told what they see in front of them, rather than just seeing it. Nothing is left uninterpreted for us. Even if we eliminate any “preconceived ideas and [the] ready-made images that encase … [them]”,165 the blank canvas of an empty vessel, potentially a non-art, is interpreted for us. Maybe it has an upside, it means that there is no subjectivity, there is one truth?

Let us consider an anecdote my tutor shared with me, about an educational video which teaches students about a building, rather than letting them engage with it without narration. Having someone tell you what is right in front of your eyes is part of the laziness perpetuated by a consumerist culture, creating a new form of interpretation. To add to this, the information relayed in this video, which is on a reliable website, was factually incorrect.

An untruth, about an untruth, about an untruth.

164

Susan Sontag, ‘Nathalie Sarraute and the Novel’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009), p. 109.

165 Ibid.

51 Conclusion Exploring authenticity in architecture reveals the way in which language can be deceiving. As a result of a global misconception about an apparent de-alienated condition in architecture, the agreed upon term of authenticity acts as a mistruth. This investigation into the word and its use in architecture has left me with a sense of devastation. It seems that this term, which is taught to students on a daily basis, is empty.

The dissonance between what someone claims and what is reality, as demonstrated by Zumthor, encourages a sense of caution when labelling architecture. Taking time to experience pre-verbal architecture, free of the limitations of language, is vital to even begin exploring any truth other than the one prescribed by what ought to be.

However, the way that architecture is perceived by the general public is focused on imageability and status. This highlights the drift away from architecture as an art form and towards the reproducibility associated with a commodity. However, this might not necessarily be a bad thing. It allows architects to explore certain pretentious ideas and claims without being detected.

It seems that we are beyond a stage where authenticity might regain meaning.

However, there is hope in readjusting the focus of architecture from terms like authenticity toward the relative silence of lesser-known architects like Caminada. His pure work offers a chance to approach something resembling actual truth. Maybe it even allows for imagining an architectural Utopia.

This investigation has opened many alleyways for future research. Further investigation into conceptions of truth and meaning in architecture seems pertinent to developing a way of escaping preconceived notions of what architecture should be.

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57 ———, ‘Happenings: An Art of Radical Juxtapositoin’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009) ———, ‘Ionesco’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009) ———, ‘Nathalie Sarraute and the Novel’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009) ———, ‘On Style’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009) ———, ‘Resnais’ Muriel’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009) ———, ‘Simone Weil’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009) ———, ‘The Literary Criticism of Georg Luckács’, in Against Interpretation and Other Essays (England: Penguin Group, 2009) Teufert, Timo, ‘So veränderte das Heidelberger Schloss sein Aussehen’, Rhein-NeckerZeitung, 15 December 2015 <https://www.rnz.de/nachrichten/heidelberg_artikel,Heidelberg-So-veraenderte-das-Heidelberger-Schloss-sein-Aussehen_arid,149339.html> [accessed 19 November 2020] The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, ‘Liberal Arts’, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998 <https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberal-arts> Twain, Mark, ‘Appendix B - Heidelberg Castle Described’, in A Tramp Abroad (United States: American Publishing Company, 1880), pp. 1146–47 <http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/119> Venturi, Robert, Denise Scott-Brown, and Steven Izenour, Learning from Las Vegas (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1972) Vitruvius, ‘The Education of the Architect’, in The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. by Morris Hicky Morgan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914) ———, ‘The Fundamental Principles of Architecture’, in The Ten Books on Architecture, trans. by Morris Hicky Morgan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914) Vogue Cover, 1997 <https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/practice/culture/peter-zumthorstherme-vals-baths-in-print> [accessed 22 November 2020] Vrin Totenstube - Wandkonstruktion <https://www.archinform.net/projekte/11398.htm> [accessed 22 November 2020] Walsh, Niall Patrick, ‘Abandoned Russian Orthodox Monuments Appropriated with Abstract Modernist Shapes by Danila Tkachenko’, 2019 <https://www.archdaily.com/909662/abandoned-russian-orthodox-monuments-

58 appropriated-with-abstract-modernist-shapes-by-danila-tkachenko> [accessed 21 November 2020] Weiss, Peter, Marat/Sade, 1964, Play Werner, Berthold, Porta Nigra, 2008, Photo <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trier_Porta_Nigra_BW_1.JPG> [accessed 22 November 2020] Whorf, Benjaminn Lee, ‘Language Mind and Reality’, in Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf, January and April (Madras, India: Theosophist, 1942), pp. 246–70 Zumthor, Peter, ‘Lightness and Pain’, in Peter Zumthor Works: Buildings and Projects, 19791997 (Basel: Birkhäuser, 1998) ———, ‘The Hardcore of Beauty’, in Thinking Architecture, 2nd expanded edition (Baden: Lars Müller Publishers, 2006) ———, 2011 <(https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/archive/peter-zumthor-my-work-is-notabout-design?tkn=1> [accessed 17 November 2020] ———, 2016 <https://www.cladglobal.com/architecture-designfeatures?codeid=31591&ref=n> [accessed 17 November 2020] ——— <https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/11/peter-zumthor-vals-therme-spa-switzerlanddestroyed-news/>

59 List of Figures Cover image - An axonometric drawing of the Thermal Baths at Vals Author’s Own [2020], inspired by Maria Cebri, TERMAS DE VALS <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_5h8DPXmdk&feature=emb_title>.

Fig. 1 - Etymological timeline Author’s Own [2021] Fig. 2 - A textural study done as part of a group investigation into the Therme Vals.

Group work project with Tabitha Edwards, Newcastle University [2019] Fig. 3 - A sectional drawing showing the concrete wall, on the left, clad in the stone.

Author’s Own [2020] Fig. 4 - The surreal atmospheres created by the steam coming off the pools.

Fernando Guerra, Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals Spa Photographed by Fernando Guerra, 2016 <https://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/25/peter-zumthor-therme-vals-spa-baths-photography-fernando-guerra/> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 - A set of photos showing the Hamal Ali Spa just south of Mosul, in Iraq. The water is rich in sulphur. The walls are rich in history and tradition.

Bran Janssen, Customers Enjoy the Hamam Alil Sulphur Spa, Situated in an Historic Building Half an Hour South of Mosul, Thursday, April 27, 2017. Before the Islamic State Took over the Town of Hamam Alil in 2014, People from All over Iraq Visited the Historic Spa., 2017 <https://apimagesblog.com/blog/2017/4/27/iraqshamal-ali-spa> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Bran Janssen, A Customer of the Hamal Alil Sulphur Spa Gets a Scrub and Massage South of Mosul, Iraq, on Thursday, April 27, 2017. Many Iraqi Soldiers Visit the Spa in between Fighting against the Islamic State Group for Relaxation., 2017 <https://apimagesblog.com/blog/2017/4/27/iraqs-hamal-ali-spa> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. 7 - A model posing in the thermal baths.

Vogue Cover, 1997 <https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/practice/culture/peter-zumthors-therme-vals-baths-inprint> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. 8 - Wooden detailing on the structure.

Hans Danueser, August Fischer, and Hélène Binet, Zumthor’s Arcaheological Enclosure Timber Detail, 2018 <https://www.atlasofplaces.com/architecture/shelter-roman-archaeological-site/> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 - Showing contrasting experiences from professional photos (left) and in reality (right).

Kubr, KUB 2 Hoch, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Außenansicht, 2010 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KUB_2_hoch.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

And Author’s Own [2020] Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 - The role of the artificial lighting is much more present in reality (right) than in the photos (left).

Hélène Binet, Hélène Binet Foyer <https://www.kunsthausbregenz.at/fileadmin/user_upload/KUB/Presse/Architekturfotos/Helene_Binet_Foyer_Z12_600x400.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

And Author’s Own [2020] Fig. 13 and Fig. 14 - Showing the contrasts in the use of space, and the atmosphere.

Jörg Baumann, Adrián Villar Rojas - The Theater of Disappearance, 2017 <https://www.kunsthausbregenz.at/fileadmin/user_upload/KUB/Presse/Aktuelle_Ausstellung/Adrian_Villar_Rojas/AVR_T-OD__KUB_0128-34.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

60 And Author’s Own [2020] Fig. 15 and Fig. 16 - The external façade (left) – clean and controlled. A glimpse behind the scenes (right) – dirty and uncontrolled reflections.

Jürgen Klieber, Peter Zumthor - Fassade - Kunsthaus Bregenz <https://www.pinterest.de/pin/241153755030728888/> [accessed 22 November 2020].

And Author’s Own [2020] Fig. 17 - The Stiva da Morts in Winter.

Author’s Own [2018] Fig. 18 and Fig. 19 - Old and new, side by side.

Author’s Own [2018] And Vrin Totenstube - Wandkonstruktion <https://www.archinform.net/projekte/11398.htm> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. 20 - The warm inside of the structure.

Author’s Own [2018] Fig. 21 - Mountain goats climbing on the structure in summer.

Běťák, Jindřich, Vrin Totenstube (6), 2017 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vrin_Totenstube_(6).jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. 22 - A view from the new out towards the old.

Author’s Own [2018] Fig. A1 - Neue Wache Berlin, Idealistic authenticity Ansgar Koreng, Neue Wache Berlin, 2015 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:150214_Neue_Wache_Berlin.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. A2 - Porta Nigra, Trier, Essentialist authenticity Berthold Werner, Porta Nigra, 2008 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trier_Porta_Nigra_BW_1.JPG> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. A3 - Römer, Frankfurt, Aesthetic authenticity Mylius, The Römer’s Famous Eastern Facade, 2011 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frankfurt_Am_Main-Roemerberg_19-27_von_Suedosten20110307.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

Fig. A4 - Martin Siebenbürger Gedenktafel, Vienna, Preformistic authenticity Ewald Judt, Rathausturm Hauptzugang, Martin Siebenbürger Gedenktafel, 2011 <https://austriaforum.org/af/Bilder_und_Videos/Bilder_Wien/1010_Gedenktafeln/0556> [accessed 22 November 2020].

61 Appendix A - An Explanation of the Four Categories of Authenticity as Explored by Stefan Lindl

166

Fig. A1 - Neue Wache Berlin, Idealistic authenticity

Idealistic authenticity applies especially to classicist and historicist architecture from the 19th century. It blends a functionalist program with a façade consisting of appropriated antique architecture fitting the ideals of construction and modernism.167 The application of these ideals on the façade

168

166

Fig. A2 - Porta Nigra, Trier, Essentialist authenticity

Ansgar Koreng, Neue Wache Berlin, 2015 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:150214_Neue_Wache_Berlin.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

167 Lindl.

168 Berthold Werner, Porta Nigra, 2008 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trier_Porta_Nigra_BW_1.JPG> [accessed 22 November 2020].

62 Essentialist authenticity refers mainly to structures that maintain and celebrate the historical originality of the structures building blocks. These structures tend to be understood through their history and references real material, rather than a revival169. Unlike reconstruction this authenticity celebrates ruin as part of a structures history and is not reproduceable.

170

Fig. A3 - Römer, Frankfurt, Aesthetic authenticity

Constructed completely based on photos these houses in Frankfurt are an example of the aesthetic approach to authenticity. There is a lack of a patina and history due to its age. There is a focus on creating a historic atmosphere and evoking nostalgia.171

169

Lindl.

Mylius, The Römer’s Famous Eastern Facade, 2011 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frankfurt_Am_Main-Roemerberg_19-27_von_Suedosten20110307.jpg> [accessed 22 November 2020].

171 Lindl.

170

63

172

Fig. A4 - Martin Siebenbürger Gedenktafel, Vienna, Preformistic authenticity

The last of the four approaches to authenticity, the preformistic tends to freeze a historical event in time. As a form of architectural symbolism, a story is performed in relation to a space. Without the use of such remembrance plaques, for example, the structure loses any authentic value.

172

Ewald Judt, Rathausturm Hauptzugang, Martin Siebenbürger Gedenktafel, 2011 <https://austriaforum.org/af/Bilder_und_Videos/Bilder_Wien/1010_Gedenktafeln/0556> [accessed 22 November 2020].

64 Appendix B - Narrative Experience of Visiting the Kunsthaus Bregenz We had been stuck in traffic on the way into the city of Bregenz. It was a hot day. The tourists flocked to Bregenz. Now that the lockdown was over, it seemed everyone felt it was time to travel. We were driving into Bregenz today to see the Kunsthaus. Well to be honest, we were going to see the “Building by Zumthor”. The rest of my family was going to an see the amazing Women’s Museum in Hittisau. I was missing out. But I knew I had to go see the work of Zumthor. He is this amazing architect, who creates amazing buildings. We had parked nearby and turned onto Karl-Tizian-Platz. There is stood. My first reaction was, ‘wait is this what I saw on the photos?’ I spent quite some time working out which parts of the translucent building I was seeing were the stairs and what the other parts. It didn’t shine as it did in the photos. The main structure seemed to be outdone by the café Infront. Kids were playing on the statue of a Porsche car in front, others were just walking by. Not many people stopped and stood looking at the building. I am not sure I can fully explain what was underwhelming. I think it might just be down to lighting and editing on photos, that just made it seem that much more special. In reality, its kind of blended into the landscape and didn’t make me think, “Wow, Zumthor really hit it out of the park.” We walked up and entered the building, seeing a long queue in a fall filled only with people. Some benches, some magazine stands in the corner and a tv previewing the installations upstairs. We stood in the line, bought the tickets. Nine euros with the student discount. We walked around the back of the ticket booth, where we stored our bags, and we were ready to take in the building. It felt like a museum should. Lots of space, lots of light and neutral. The concrete floor slabs seemed to float on the etched glass walls. There is a sense of lightness to the space. It feels isolated from the outside. Although light comes in, it seems far from the natural spaces just outside the door. There was not much else to see, and we wanted to head up to the first floor. However, we struggled a bit to find out where the staircases were, and then, which staircase was the

65 right one to take, and if we should go up or down first. Once upstairs, we saw an exhibition showing an artist’s diary entries throughout lockdown. Interesting. But I quickly moved to the walls to try and see up along them to discover any hints on structural systems. I gathered that the structure relies heavily on the concrete core housing the staircase, one housing the elevator and one with the service staircase/fire escape. There were concrete walls on which artworks were hung, with just a slice of the etched glass panels. We moved on up to the second floor. Another installation about artwork during Coronavirus. We were walking over to one specific artwork, displayed on a table. I started to lean in to take a closer look. Before coming close to touching it, just looking at it from closer, I heard a shout from across the hall.

“Bitte gehen Sie nicht so nahe ran!” (Please do not go so close to the artwork) Although I was shocked by her intense nature; the woman did have a point. To preserve art, by not touching it and not getting it dirtied by everyday interaction. This control which she projected onto me, wasn’t necessarily a result of Zumthor’s approach to design. But something about the layout of the installations, the wrapping path you take to get to the next staircase, the light slits drawing your eyes up, the disconnect from the visual outside, apart from the light all made you focus on the artwork. The plain walls, floors and ceilings didn’t distract from the artwork being celebrated. But once I got too close, and really tried to immerse myself into the artwork, I was held back. Another such experience happened to my grandfather. He, for just a second, removed his mask to unlock his phone, and was instantly reprimanded by the same woman. “Nehmnen Sie die Maske nicht ab!” she said, while not wearing one herself. (Do not remove your mask!” I understood her concern, it was the rules after all. However, the sense of control, of being watched followed us throughout We went through the rest of the floors and saw an audio-visual installation and another art installation of an artist who edited classical portraits. We had to head back down the same stair we came up on, realising that

66 they are a bit of an optical illusion. On a photo it’s hard to tell if the staircase goes up or down.

We went to the last space in the cellar, a dark space for presentations, as well as for a bathroom. We were out of the building after less than an hour. Once outside I had a peak behind the outermost façade to look at the structure of the building. I saw the frame on top of the first layer of glass and concrete, the ventilation gap and the outer layer. We sat down to have some lunch and waited on the rest of the family who were coming from the Women’s museum.