How big is the thermal Vals?
The entire structure extends to a width of approximately 58 meters and cuts as far as 34 meters into the slope in front of the main building of the hotel complex, a unit erected in the 1970s and which stands at the northeastern corner of the property like a sweeping gesture with its four rows of loggias overlooking the …
What is Peter Zumthor known for?
Peter Zumthor, (born April 26, 1943, Basel, Switzerland), Swiss architect known for his pure, austere structures, which have been described as timeless and poetic. These qualities were noted when he was awarded the 2009 Pritzker Architecture Prize.
What did Peter Zumthor study?
Peter Zumthor was born on April 26, 1943, the son of a cabinet maker, Oscar Zumthor, in Basel, Switzerland. He trained as a cabinet maker from 1958 to 1962. From 1963-67, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vorkurs and Fachklasse with further studies in design at Pratt Institute in New York.
What makes Peter Zumthor’s thermal baths in Vals so special?
The exploration of Peter Zumthor’s thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland, represents a paragon of architecture as experience — as an extraordinary sensory experience.
Who is the photographer who photographed Peter Zumthor’s thermal baths?
To share a taste of this experience, we caught up with Swiss photographer Jonathan Ducrest, who explored Peter Zumthor’s thermal baths from a distinctive angle — from behind his sly camera lens — shot without special lighting.
What are Zumthor’s Baths made of?
Although devoted to the truth of materials, Zumthor is rather coy in his explanations of structure. The Baths are in fact a composite of in situ concrete and load-bearing gneiss from a local quarry. None of the stacked stone is, in Zumthor’s world, insulted by being merely applique.
How is the Therme Vals Bath made?
Working with the natural surroundings the bath rooms lay below a grass roof structure half buried into the hillside. The Therme Vals is built from layer upon layer of locally quarried Valser Quarzite slabs.