Thinking Architecture, Peter Zumthor

"I believe that architecture today needs to reflect on the tasks and possibilities which are inherently its own. Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol for things that do not belong to its essence. In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings, and speak its own language. I believe that the language of architecture is not a question of a specific style. Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society. My buildings try to answer the questions that emerge from these simple facts as precisely and critically as they can."

Thinking Architecture
Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect and winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize.

Peter Zumthor

"Architecture has its own realm. It has a special physical relationship with life. I do not think of it primarily as either a message or a symbol, but as an envelope and background for life which goes on in and around it - a sensitive container for the rhythm of footsteps on the floor, for the concentration of work, for the silence of sleep..."

Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect