Peter Zumthor Therme Vals is the only book-length study of Zumthor's Swiss alpine spa — a building that became a touchstone of contemporary architecture — combining the architect's own sketches and plans with Hélène Binet's celebrated photography.
About This Book
Built into the sharp grade of an Alpine mountain slope, Therme Vals announced itself as an icon of contemporary architecture almost immediately after opening. Zumthor's insistence on locally quarried stone, grass-topped roofs that dissolve into Swiss meadow, and spaces calibrated to the elemental experience of bathing produced a building of rare conviction. This volume draws together Zumthor's own annotations on his design concept and construction process with an essay by architectural scholar Sigrid Hauser, who traces the spa's connections to mythology, ritual cleansing, and the idea of the sacred spring. For architects and serious design enthusiasts, it remains the definitive document of a singular work.
Key Features
- 192 pages of Hélène Binet's architectural photography alongside original sketches, plans, and design annotations
- Essay by architectural scholar Sigrid Hauser; annotations by Peter Zumthor
- Published by Scheidegger & Spiess, 1996 (fifth reprint of the original 1998 publication)
What You'll Discover
- Zumthor's reasoning behind the use of locally quarried Vals quartzite, and how material specificity shaped the building's relationship to its Alpine site
- The symbiotic logic connecting grass-topped roofs, mountain topography, and the architect's broader commitment to the essential over the decorative
- Sigrid Hauser's cultural and mythological readings — linking the spa to archetypes of Artemis/Diana, baptism, the mikvah, and the sacred spring
- How a remote Swiss village was placed on the international architecture map, and what that says about the power of a singular, uncompromising built work
About the Author
Peter Zumthor is a Swiss architect renowned for his exacting approach to materiality, atmosphere, and the phenomenological experience of space. His work is characterised by a disdain for unnecessary architectural gesture and a deep attentiveness to the sensory qualities of built form. Therme Vals stands as one of his most celebrated projects and a landmark of late twentieth-century architecture.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 192
- Dimensions: 241 x 305mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783858817044
- Publisher: Scheidegger & Spiess
- Publication Date: 1996
Perfect For: Architects and students drawn to tectonic rigour and phenomenological design, researchers working on Swiss modernism or materiality, and anyone seeking to understand how a single building can redefine a discipline's expectations.