Peter Zumthor is a Swiss architect known for his minimalist, sensory-focused designs that emphasize materiality and craftsmanship. His notable projects include Therme Vals, a spa built into the Swiss mountains using locally quarried stone, and the Swiss Pavilion at Expo 2000, constructed from unseasoned wood with a focus on sustainability. Zumthor's philosophy posits that architecture should bridge the natural and man-made, reflecting a deep connection between structure and its environment.

1. PETER ZUMTHORMy buildings are declarations of love for their sites...
- PETER ZUMTHOR

2. INTRODUCTION
■ Born on 26th April !943 is an Swiss architect.
■ Zumthor founded his own firm in 1979.
■ He won Pritzker prize forThermeVals in 2009.
■ His buildings explore the tactile and sensory qualities of spaces
and materials while retaining a minimalist feel.
■ He believes that in the end of every conceptual thinking starts real
architecture which is based on structure and materials.
■ Zumthor foregrounds the materiality of his buildings, so that this
and his wonderful feeling of materials is what probably strikes
first, and then perhaps the beautiful, understated ‘rightness’ of his
details – all of these the products of a master craftsman who
studied to be a cabinet maker and then learned about materials
and construction from the restoration of historic buildings.
■ His work on historic restoration projects gave him a further
understanding of construction and the qualities of different rustic
building materials.
PETERZUMTHOR

3. WORKS
THERMEVAL BATHS, SWITZERLAND
THE SWISS PAVILION FOR EXPO 2000 IN
HANNOVER, ANALL-TIMBERSTRUCTURE
INTENDEDTO BE RECYCLEDAFTERTHE
EVENT
THE KOLUMBA DIOCESAN MUSEUM (2007), IN
COLOGNE, GERMANY
BRUDER KLAUS FIELD CHAPEL,
ONA FARM NEARWACHENDORF,
GERMANY
INTERIOR OFTHECHAPEL (MELTED LEAD IS USED)
KUNSTHAUS BREGENZ,VORARLBERG,
AUSTRIA (1997)

4. THERMEVALS
■ “Mountain, stone, water – building in the
stone, building with the stone, into the
mountain, building out of the mountain,
being inside the mountain – how can the
implications and the sensuality of the
association of these words be interpreted,
architecturally?” - Peter Zumthor
■ Location: Graubünden, Switzerland
■ Design and Construction: 1986-1996
■ Client: Municipality ofVals, Graubünden
■ Special features –
– MOUNTAIN :GEOLOGY OFTHE SITE BUILT
INTOTHE MOUNTAINS
– MATERIAL: STONE
– WATER:FUNCTION___BATH
SOURCE : http://www.archdaily.com/13358/the-therme-vals

5. ■ HISTORY
– In the 1960s a German property developer, Karl KurtVorlop, built a hotel complex with over 1,000
beds to take advantage of the naturally occurring thermal springs and the source, which provides
the water forValser mineral water, sold throughout Switzerland. After the developer went
bankrupt, the village ofVals bought up the five hotels in the development in 1983 and resolved to
commission a hydrotherapy centre at the centre of the five hotels, at the source of the thermal
springs. In 2012 the hotel and spa, previously owned by theVals community, was sold to the
investor Remo Stoffel.

6. ■ TheThermeVals is a hotel and spa for which the
idea was to create a form of cave or quarry like
structure. The idea of a quarry , were cut out of
the single blocks, so that between the stacked and
cut out block caves are created.
■ TheThermeVals is built from layer upon layer of
locally quarriedValser Quarzite slabs.
■ The ‘natural’ thermal water which comes from the
mountain just behind the baths has a temperature
of 30°C.
■ There is no directly visible entrance to the building
- the visitors are access to the complex through a
tunnel.
■ Architecture is bridging the gap between the
randomness of nature and man-made
construction.

7. ■ Building siting.Therme vals sits in the
hillside as a natural rock outcropping,
balanced between the existing
buildings on the site, navigating views
and visits.
■ Vals at the base of the swiss alps is
about, water, and the landscape.
Therme vals is about water, in the
landscape.
THE BUILDINGTAKESTHE FORMOF A LARGE,GRASS
COVERED STONE OBJECT SET DEEP INTOTHE MOUNTAIN

8. ■ The spa building is made up of 15 different table-
like units, 5 metres in height,with cantilevered
concrete of units supported by tie-beams.
■ The roofs of the units don’t join, with the 8 cm
gaps covered by glass to prevent water ingress.
■ The composite masonry blocks are 60,000 cut to
one meter length slabs (metamorphic rock
of feldspar, quartz and mica formed).
■ Whilst these initially appear random, like
an ashlar wall, there is a regular order.The
cladding stones are of three different heights,
but the total of the three is always 15 cm, so it
allows for variety in arrangement, whilst
facilitating construction.
THE BLOCKSWERE FORMEDWITH 15-CENTIMETER-THICK PLATES, STACKED
BY HANDS,WHICH INTURNCONSIST OFTHREE LAYERSOF DIFFERENT
THICKNESSES SLABS.THIS ENABLEDA SIMPLECONSTRUCTION,ALTHOUGH
THEARRANGEMENTOFTHE EYE LOOKS RANDOM.
SOURCE : http://www.wikiwand.com/de/Therme_Vals#/overview
GAP BETWEENTHE BLOCKS
A SECRET HIDEAWAY-THE ROOF PANELSARE
EXTENSIVELY PLANTEDWITH GRASS ANDTHEREBY
INTEGRATE INTOTHE LANDSCAPE.

9. ■ Each block carries a respective roof section
of concrete that juts in some places up to six
meters.
■ Since the underlying blocks are smaller than
the roof plates, intermediate spaces through
which the bath is accessible.
■ The blocks form the facade of the building.
■ The building is divided into a bathing plane
above and a therapeutic and operational
level below.
SOURCE : http://140.116.249.155/file.php/64928/Therme_Vals_Peter_Zumthor.pdf
LONGITUDINALAND CROSS SECTIONS SHOWING
EXPANSION JOINT

10. TOPVIEWSOF BLOCKSAS
ARRANGED
BETWEENTHE BLOCKS
BETWEENTHE BLOCKS
DETERMINING FORM

11. EXTERIORAND IINTERIORVIEWS OFTHERME BATH

12. SWISS PAVILION 'SOUND BOX'
HANNOVER
■ Location: Hanover, Germany.
■ Building Size: 3019 square meters.
■ Construction: 153 Days, 99 stacks,
144 kilometers of unseasoned wood.
■ Designed specifically for the 2000
expo in Hannover.
■ Used one primary element for a
multitude of tasks, i.e., wood.
SOURCE : https://folio.brighton.ac.uk/user/mg237/exemplary-project-swiss-pavilion-sound-box-designed-by-peter-zumthor
SITEVIEW

13. ■ The temporary construction was designed according to
the main theme of the exhibition, sustainability.
■ Taking the theme of sustainability seriously, the
pavilion was constructed out of 144 kilometers of
unseasoned wood, with a cross section of 20x10cm.
■ In total building consists of 45,000 boards and 2,800
cubic meters of larch and Douglas pine from Swiss
forests.
■ The pavilion was assembled without any glue, bolts or
nails.
■ Its 9 meter high walls divide up the internal spaces
according to a complex maze-like logic, while ceilings
made of larch beams rest on vertical beams of Scotch
pine.
■ They were hold in place by steel cables connected to
spring tie rods with an elegant minimal design
‘following the nature of the wood as a changing, living
material’.
■ After the closure of the Expo, the building was
dismantled and the beams were sold as a seasoned
timber.
SOURCE : https://folio.brighton.ac.uk/user/mg237/exemplary-project-swiss-pavilion-sound-box-designed-by-peter-zumthor
PAVILION PLAN
SECTION SHOWING DIFFERENT PARTSOF PAVILION

14. ■ The main idea for the design, was to offer
something specific and useful to the Expo visitors,
who would be tired from studying all the theoretical
and virtual informations in the other national
pavilions.
■ The concept was to design a welcoming place to rest
and relax, a place offering a traditional Swiss snacks
for thirsty or hungry visitors, with a relaxed
atmosphere and a live music rambling around.
■ Zumthor main intention was to create an ideal
combination of performing art, music, drama, and
decor into a form of ‘total theater’.This effect was
accomplished through the aesthetics of the building
and its structure, also as a result of the modular
textures of the continuous, regular chiaroscuro (use
of strong contrasts between light and dark) effect of
the wooden boards and the gaps between them,
which draw a horizontal score contradicted on the
inside by the height of the dividing walls.
■ The result is a harmonious, balanced architecture, in
which the theme of stacked wood is a continual
reminder of the building's ephemeral vocation.
SOURCE : https://folio.brighton.ac.uk/user/mg237/exemplary-project-swiss-pavilion-sound-box-designed-by-peter-zumthor
STRUCTURAL MODELS OF SWISS PAVILION

15. INTERIOR BARAREA STRUCTURAL MODEL OF SWISS PAVILION
ROOF CONSTRUCTION
COMPONENTS
INTERIOR LABYRINTH INTERIOR SITTINGAREA

16. ■ “In each of my works, each material has laid down its own laws... Projects are born out of
an idea, and in my case this idea is always accompanied by a material. I can't imagine a
method of design in which the architect first decides on the form, and then on the
materials“ – PETER ZUMTHOR.
SOURCE : http://www.floornature.com/projects-commerce/project-p-zumthor-swiss-pavilion-at-expo-2000-in-hanover-4032/

17. THANKYOU
Submitted by:
Sakshi Aggarwal
Prashant Shishodia
(B.Arch IIIYear)