Hearth & Soul. An Architect Appreciated Pritzker Prize 2009

Transcription

1 [ cover story] Hearth & Soul An Architect Appreciated Pritzker Prize Pritzker Jury Panel Lord Palumbo Chairman Alejandro Aravena Shigeru Ban Rolf Fehlbaum Carlos Jimenez Juhani Pallasmaa Renzo Piano Karen Stein Martha Thorne Presented in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 29 May The jury for the Pritzker Prize this year made an intriguing choice in Peter Zumthor, thought of by many as a singular talent, and an architect s architect. Like the 2002 laureate, Glenn Murcutt, and unlike such others as Jean Nouvel or Zaha Hadid, Zumthor goes to some lengths to avoid the limelight, carving out a peculiar and, to many, an enviable niche as an individualistic practitioner thriving on the fringes of the building professions. He realises very few projects, takes whatever amount of time he feels is appropriate on the design process, and obsesses about the details and everything else. Those who have visited his buildings virtually always remark on their thoroughness, on their absolute consistency and depth of thought. With his miniscule practice of 15 or so staff, tucked far off the beaten track in rural Switzerland, Zumthor lives the professional life many dream of a kind of romantic fantasy of the genius artist living in his ivory tower, with a queue of wishful clients waiting patiently at its base. Romantic or not, this is rather close to reality with Zumthor he turns down more work than he accepts, lives and practises in an idyllic mountain redoubt (in a superb building of his own creation) and works to an unusual degree on his own terms to which his clients willingly agree (they have little choice). What about this practice is not to envy? hinge 167_47

2 But what are we to make of the work itself? The Pritzker jury cited a couple of his most famous buildings, including the Kolumba Museum in Cologne, which it called, a startling contemporary work, but also one that is completely at ease with its many layers of history. Indeed, it might be said that Zumthor is oddly capable of creating a formal language that is separated, if not divorced, from time. Unquestionably contemporary, his architecture seems somehow disconnected with the entirety of whatever the current discussion is centred on, as if occupying a parallel context of formal thinking, one perhaps accessible only to Zumthor himself, or at maximum a handful of aficionados fortunate enough to get it. This obviously doesn t square with the deep and widely held respect he commands (or indeed with winning a Pritzker Prize!), but it is precisely this apparent contradiction that fascinates the critical world. It is likely the man himself would scoff at such ponderings: his buildings are built for himself and for those who use them, not for critics, and by all accounts they are embraced profoundly as such. Is this quality Photography by Walter Mair and Pietro Savorelli Thomas J Pritzker: A master architect admired by his colleagues for work that is focussed, uncompromising and exceptionally determined Zumthor s buildings have a strong, timeless presence. He has a rare talent of combining clear and rigorous thought with a truly poetic dimension, resulting in works that never cease to inspire. Brother Claus Field Chapel Wachendorf, Germany 2007 The chapel, dedicated to a Swiss Saint, and commissioned and largely constructed by a farmer and his wife, is located on one of their fields above the village. The interior of the chapel room is formed out of 112 tree trunks, configured like a tent. Layer after layer of concrete, each layer 50cm thick, was poured and rammed around the tent-like structure. After a smouldering fire was kept burning for three weeks inside this log tent, what remained of the wood was removed from the concrete shell. The chapel floor is covered with lead. hinge 167_48 hinge 167_49

3 of otherness almost ethereality the intended result of a clever talent, something deliberately sought by Zumthor and his building clients? Is it the consequence of precisely his insistence on working by his own methods, take it or leave it? Does the very difficulty of producing architecture with a master who is averse to compromise go some way to ensuring a masterwork?. Or is there something more profound occurring, something truly inherent to the buildings he makes, something like an interior essence that roots in a poetic soil the kind of core the rest of us dream of reaching? This latter, irksomely romantic, notion has adhered to certain architects over the ages, and probably always will. And there is a surface sympathy among some of them. One thinks of Louis Kahn, for instance, whose hushed, exquisitely crafted few buildings commanded a similarly exalted admiration. Murcutt, of course, is another. These practitioners were and remain hardly anonymous, even as they seemed to genuinely struggle with the idea of recognition. Certainly since the Vals Spa exploded onto the planet s consciousness, Zumthor has lost any chance at invisibility; the building startled us and hypnotised us in an instant as if someone had suddenly uncovered a vast preserved Roman city or Egyptian pyramid, intact John Pawson: He has an amazing portfolio. It may be only a few, but how many good buildings do you need? If I could know only one living architect, it would be Zumthor. The thought, the materiality his work is physically very pleasing and just gorgeous. Todd Williams: It s about an individual s sense of his role as an architect. You have the sense that this is right, that this is good. He ll continue to be kind of a cult figure. His work is hard for people to understand. It s his blessing and his burden. Art Museum Kolumba Cologne, Germany 2007 The Art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese was to be a living museum. The new building in the city centre rises from the ruins of the late Gothic Saint Kolumba Church. Its floor contains a large archaeological excavation site with the remains of previous church buildings dating back to the 7th century. These givens led Zumthor to a building that provides seventeen galleries of different proportions and with different lighting schemes on three floors, with a total floor space of 1,750sq m. hinge 167_50 hinge 167_51

4 Photography by Walter Mair and Thomas Flechtner Brad Cloepfil: He is, unequivocally, the most important architect working today. He mines the realm of the spirit, of profound meaning. He works with the visceral elements of building, which is extraordinarily rare in contemporary architecture. His work is like a tuning fork in the chaos. Swiss Sound Box Hanover, Germany 2000 Taking the sustainability theme seriously, the Swiss Pavilion for the 2000 Hanover Expo was constructed out of 144km of lumber with a cross-section of 20 by 10cm, totalling 2,800sq m of pine from the Swiss forests, assembled without glue, bolts or nails, and only braced with steel cables, with each beam pressed down on the one below. After the Expo, the building was dismantled and the beams were sold as seasoned timber. hinge 167_52 hinge 167_53

5 and awesomely beautiful. In the flood of shared wonderment (and published celebration) may have been lost the subtle irony of such excitement being caused by a monument to quiet and stillness a health retreat devoted to, indeed seemingly oozing the essence of, tranquillity. It was instantly manifest the architect had produced that most clichéd grail of the art worlds, the masterwork. Some ten years in the making, its owners can sleep peacefully in the knowledge that if ever the supply of stressed, overweight or simply repose-minded spa clients ever dwindles, the place will never go short of pilgrimaging architects. Kunsthaus Bregenz Bregenz, Austria 1997 Although the competition brief called for a conventional provincial gallery, in time the museum evolved into a four-storey building, ushering the administration, café and museum shop to a separate structure in front of the museum. The museum is designed without windows, yet daylight is everywhere. Etched glass shingles that refract the light before it enters the building transmit the light horizontally into the interior. Zumthor placed a cavity on every floor to catch the light coming in from all four sides and exploited the ability of the etched glass to diffuse light; it strikes the glass ceiling and is deflected down into each gallery. Can architecture that seems to so consistently provoke such intense appreciation truly remain for long immune to the poison of recognition and fame? Can Zumthor persist in leaking out, slowly, steadily, sublime forms and spaces under the corrupting glare of superstardom, exactly when such an integral aspect of his achievement is the absence of gratuitousness or attention-seeking in it? Can you remain the quiet craftsman craving the silent seclusion requisite for concentration, when all around you are crowds (clients, students, critics, colleagues) clamouring for your reflected brilliance? We shall see. Interestingly, Zumthor himself doesn t seem to suffer any paranoia Luzi House Jenaz, Switzerland 2002 A no-frills private residence with a separate granny flat, or Stoeckli as it is called in Switzerland, for a young couple with six small children. This spacious, expansive house with light-filled rooms is constructed completely of solid wood. It is a further development of the blockhouses typical for Jenaz, with large windows and large balconies full of flowers. Photography by Walter Mair hinge 167_54

6 about recognition; upon learning he d won, he stated: Being awarded the Pritzker Prize is a wonderful recognition of the architectural work we have done in the last 20 years. That a body of work as small as ours is recognised in the professional world makes us feel proud and should give much hope to young professionals that if they strive for quality in their work, it might become visible without any special promotion. Well, nothing like a Pritzker to take care of the promotion part It is strongly appealing, this idea that great architecture needs no help in finding its audience and, helter-skelter, becoming known. We like the idea of the artwork s own naked quality earning it its value, without the aid of praise, critique, media attention, self-endorsements even as we rush forward to do all that (writing about, giving awards). But Zumthor seems genuine in his absorption with the task of making buildings. And at the core of that task is a monumental search, one that probably immunises him somewhat from the distractions of external trivia, including the enjoyment of praise, because it is so difficult and because it has no end. Peter Zumthor is absorbed with the question of beauty. He has asked, Does beauty have a form? and said, Once Paul Goldberger: His work combines Louis Kahn s mystical, quiet power with an almost Japanese restraint, and he exhibits a bit of Mies van der Rohe s extraordinary discipline as well Zumthor is the spiritual child of both brooding in the manner of Kahn, and pristine in the manner of Mies. Thermal Baths Vals, Switzerland 1996 Zumthor s most prominent project originated when the city of Vals acquired a bankrupt hotel complex in an attempt to rescue existing jobs. When a larger, new building with integrated thermal baths and new guestrooms proved too costly, the authorities opted for just the thermal baths. Zumthor s load-bearing composite structure for the baths consists of solid walls of concrete and thin slabs of Vals gneiss broken and cut to size in a quarry just behind the village. The thermal water comes from the mountain just behind the baths. Since completion, overnight stays in the village and the Hotel Therme have increased by about 45 per cent hinge 167_56 hinge 167_57

7 you start a phenomenological pursuit of beauty, of moments, you look at your personal life: When do I experience beauty? When do I have these moments of sensation of beauty? When do I feel this beauty? These are questions one might assume all artists have asked, except that beauty has become a conundrum for modern architecture [we are not qualified to talk about music or painting]. It is the elephant in the room, so to speak. Zumthor s readiness to take it on, both explicitly and in his work, is somewhat rare in the profession. Yet where else does one hope to find an answer to the question of why Zumthor s spa, or his Bruder Klaus Chapel in which he burned the interior timber structure of the concrete teepee to douse it in the desired patina of death, or eternity evoke emotional experiences of such potency? He is unafraid of what so many of his fellow architects fear: the latent ferocity of architecture s lyricism; its possible transcendence to sublimity. His own engagement with the exalted force of the art may tread the path of much more immediate and tangible things materiality, site, light, cultural context, even programme but he knows where it s headed, or at least where he hopes it is. And while no single architect s entire oeuvre can possibly reach such heights, or even arrive at Truog House Versam, Switzerland 1994 Gugalun Farm s manor house looks north, facing the moon (hence the name of the estate). To make the simple wooden house habitable in the future, an extension was built. It contains a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, and a modern hypocaust heating system. To create the space for the annex, the late 19th-century kitchen at the back of the house, on the side of a mountain slope, was demolished, while the entire 17thcentury living room was preserved. A new roof connects the old and the new. Spittelhof Estate Biel-Benken, Switzerland 1996 A small residential estate on one of Basel s most desirable locations, comprising two rows of terraced housing with gardens on the south side and a building with rental units (or Kulm as Zumthor likes to call them), at the upper edge of a central green courtyard. The bedrooms face east towards a nearby forest, while the living rooms have a wide view to the west framing the hills. The Kulm contains five groundfloor apartments; the two upper floors have ten dwellings of different sizes, all with separate access stairs and entrances from the canopied forecourt. The buildings are designed to provide light-filled living rooms and the bedrooms are lined up, porch-like, along the facades. hinge 167_58

8 Homes for Senior Citizens Masans, Switzerland 1993 The twenty-two flats of this residential development for the elderly are occupied by senior citizens still able to run their own households, but are happy to use the services of the neighbouring nursing home. From the kitchen windows, the residents overlook a large entrance porch. The sheltered balcony niches and the living room bay windows on the other side face west, up the valley, towards the setting sun. For this project Zumthor used traditional building materials such as tuff, larch, pine, maple, solid wood flooring and wooden panelling. Homes for Senior Citizens Masans, Switzerland 1993 The twenty-two flats of this residential development for the elderly are occupied by senior citizens still able to run their own households, but are happy to use the services of the neighbouring nursing home. From the kitchen windows, the residents overlook a large entrance porch. The sheltered balcony niches and the living room bay windows on the other side face west, up the valley, towards the setting sun. For this project Zumthor used traditional building materials such as tuff, larch, pine, maple, solid wood flooring and wooden panelling. hinge 167_60

9 Zumthor Studio Haldenstein, Switzerland 1986 Protective Housing for Roman Archeological Excavations Chur, Switzerland 1986 In the 4th century AD, Chur was the Roman capital of the province of Curia. Archaeological excavations in the area now occupying a small amusement strip just off the historic town centre, have uncovered a complete Roman quarter. The protective structures wind-permeable wooden enclosures follow the outer walls of three adjacent Roman buildings. The site s display cases along the street skirt the protruding foundations of the former house entrances. What was meant to be a conversion turned into a new studio house; Zumthor acquired an old farmhouse next door that received little sunlight, having been built onto the north side of a neighboring house, and decided to pull down the old structure and replace it. The new wooden building a reference to the barns, stables and workshops in the village, and a salute to the fellow architects in the Vorarlberg region who had begun building new houses of wood now occupies the northern, and the garden the southern section of the site. The studio contains two southfacing rooms: the upper one for working, the ground-floor one with a fireplace, a view of the garden and a small kitchen for entertaining. Today the latter room is used as a drawing studio. hinge 167_62 hinge 167_63