Memory and the Architecture of Peter Zumthor: Introduction

As part of my dissertation studies over the course of the summer this year, I have had the opportunity to visit several of Peter Zumthors buildings, throughout Germany and Switzerland. I have undertaken these visits as part of my ongoing investigation into the work of Peter Zumthor and memory. 


Fascinated with Zumthor's evocative and emotional spaces/atmospheres particularly his Brother Claus Chapel in Germany and the Baths in Vals, Switzerland, I became interested the thought and design processes undertaken by him throughout the initial stages of a projects development. 

Thermal Baths, Vals, Switzerland

Upon reading Zumthor's first written publication "thinking architecture" It became clear the memories of spaces and places and the emotions associated with them were hugely influential in the design process. In a sense the recollections of previous architectural encounters were projected into future hypothetical situations. Perhaps this was one of the keys to creating such intense architectural interventions? 

I like to think the highly self-conscious act of remembering places, atmospheres, places and transforming those memories into future situations lends itself to the creation of the highly emotional spaces of Zumthor. But how?