Alpine solitude gives Zumthor his inspiration
Pritker Prize is the Nobel of architecture
April 19, 2009
By Joshua Gallu
The Swiss village of Haldenstein is just like any other typical Alpine scene. Yet, less than 40m up the narrow cow dung-splattered road is a concrete studio that houses designs from a man who has just conquered the architectural world.
"I find it easy to concentrate here," said Peter Zumthor, 65, who last week won the Pritzker Prize, architecture's most prestigious award.
"I love the landscape here. I'm at home here. I need a home to be able to go out into the world."
While past Pritzker winners such as Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry immerse themselves in London and Los Angeles, Zumthor has kept himself to himself in Haldenstein since first buying a barn in the village of about 800 people in 1971.
There he remained while designing works including the Bruder Klaus Chapel in Mechernich, Germany; the stone thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland; the Swiss Pavilion for the Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany and the Kolumba art museum in Cologne.
The $100 000 Pritzker Prize follows last year's award from the Japan Arts Association, which local government officials in Haldenstein celebrated by throwing a party for Zumthor.
"For the first 20 years I was the crazy one, and then as I had more success, you could see they took joy in it too."
The Guardian newspaper in Britain called him a "Swiss architect untouched by fad or fashion" on Thursday while the Chicago Tribune described him as someone "who quietly goes about his business in the remote village".
On an average day in Haldenstein, cows outnumber people.
The village is dominated by a castle, rebuilt after a fire in the 18th century, housing the local administration and a restaurant. There's also a looming evangelical church.
Once an apprentice cabinet-maker, Zumthor studied at New York's Pratt Institute in the 1960s and moved from his native Basel to Haldenstein after he and a colleague decided to buy and renovate an old farmhouse.
He employs about 20 people at his studio.
Zumthor, married with three children and two grandchildren, has built a reputation during his career of more than 30 years for "focused, uncompromising and exceptionally determined" work, the Pritzker jury wrote on Monday.
Zumthor stands in contrast to more public contemporaries like Gehry, the 1989 Pritzker winner; Norman Foster, who took the prize 10 years later; and Hadid, who received it in 2004.
Gehry, 80, based in Los Angeles, was the subject of a 2005 Sydney Pollack documentary and appeared as himself in the cartoon television show The Simpsons. Foster's practice is based in London, where he employs 950 people, according to Foster & Partners.
"To build good houses doesn't take a lot of publicity," said Zumthor, dressed in a white cotton shirt and stroking his gray beard.
Gehry's work includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and Foster, 73, completed the restoration of the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin and designed "The Gherkin" office tower that changed London's skyline.
The Pritzker Prize, awarded annually since 1979, was created to emulate the Nobel by the Chicago-based Hyatt Foundation, founded by the Pritzker family. Zumthor will receive the prize in Buenos Aires on May 29. - Bloomberg
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