Eindhoven University of Technology

MASTER

Building in context

Goluszka, K.A.

Award date:
2016

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Building in context

Katarzyna Anna Gołuszka

Building in Context

Graduation Project conducted n the Masterly Apprentice Graduation Studio

Author: Katarzyna Gołuszka
Tutors: Jacob Voorthuis, Jan Schevers, Raoul Vleugels

University of Technology Eindhoven

Chair AHT/ADE
2015/2016
 contents

Introduction 4

I. Peter Zumthor 21

II. Miroslav Sik 125

III. Courtyard building 141

IV. Design 171

2|3 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 Introduction

T his book comprises a research part and a design made within a Masterly Apprentice Graduation Studio at Eindhoven
University of Technology in year 2015-2016. The studio focused on a master-apprentice relationship between
contemporary Swiss architects. We investigated how does the transfer of knowledge happen between a teacher and a
student and what can we learn from great architects. This is why every student had to choose his master, research his work
and his teaching and on this basis create a design, that will not be his masters copy but a combination of own designers
identity with a critical response to his teachers architectural heritage. The location of the project is a campus of Academy
of Architecture in Mendrisio, where in 2015 a competition was organized for a new buildings housing students ateliers.
Our task was to design such a building following to some extent the competition brief. To know the context of the design
better we went for a week long field trip to Switzerland visiting Zürich, Graubünden and Mendrisio. We went to ETH
and AAM, where we had an opportunity to listen to critiques given by well-known professors such as Miroslav Sik, Valerio
Olgiati and see many other teachers ateliers. For my masters I have chosen Peter Zumthor and Miroslav Sik. This book will
present what I have found out about their approach to architecture and my design will show what I have learnt from them.
introduction 4|5 BuiLdinG in contEXt..
 introduction

Photo essay

The following photo essay will present Switzerland through my eyes: my

fascinations, details and atmospheres I am fond of. All the pictures have
been taken by me with an analogue camera, during two trips I have made to
Switzerland in November 2015 and January 2016.
 1

introduction 6|7 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 2 3

4
 5

fig. 1 A road to Vals

fig. 2 Bonaduz
6 fig. 3 Bonaduz
fig. 4 Vals, Switzerland
fig. 5 Gugalun Haus by Peter
Zumthor, Versam
fig. 6 Gugalun Haus by Peter
Zumthor, Versam

introduction 8|9 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 7

8
 fig. 7 Cloister Stable Block in
Distentis by Gion A. Caminada
fig. 8 School in Churwalden by
Peter Zumthor
fig. 9 School gym in Churwalden,
by Peter Zumthor
fig. 10 Haus Luzi by Peter Zumthor,
Jenaz
fig. 11 Haus Luzi by Peter Zumthor,
Jenaz
10

11

introduction 10 | 11 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 12

introduction 12 | 13 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

13

14
 16

fig. 12 House by Rudolf Olgiati in

Flims
fig. 13 House by Rudolf Olgiati in
Flims
fig. 14 House by Rudolf Olgiati in
Laax
fig. 15 Das Gelbe house by Valerio
Olgiati
fig. 16 A house by Rudolf Olgiati
15 in Laax

introduction 14 | 15 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 17

18
 fig. 17 Centro Scolaristico by
Aurelio Galfetti in Riva San Vitale
fig. 18 Centro Scolaristico by
Aurelio Galfetti in Riva San Vitale
fig. 19 Centro Scolaristico by
Aurelio Galfetti in Riva San Vitale
fig. 20 La Congiunta by Peter
19 Märkli in Giornico

20

introduction 16 | 17 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

21

22
 fig. 21 Therme Vals by Peter
Zumthor
fig. 22 Therme Vals by Peter
Zumthor
fig. 23 Therme Vals by Peter
Zumthor

23

introduction 18 | 19 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 I.

PETER ZUMTHOR

pEtEr zumthor 20 | 21 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 peter zumthor

AS A MASTER

F or my master architect I have chosen Peter Zumthor. I have enountered his book ‘Thinking Architecture’ during my
bachelor studies. As many readers I was enchanted by the new way of describing and thinking about architecture: not
with plans, schemes and theories, but with space, light, and senses. However at the Polish university, where I was studying
architecture at that time, there was no ground for my fascination to develop. It was only later at Technical University in
Munich, where I heard again the term ‘atmosphere’ in regard to the architecture from professor Stephen Bates. Since then
on I have completely changed my approach and the strive to create a certain atmosphere has become the ultimate goal
of my designs. Peter Zumthor in his two books ‘Thinking Architecture’ and ‘Atmospheres’ talks about places we used to
know and love, the magic of real things, which are made of materials that posess different qualities, how light is important
in creating the space and many other things, which are always closely realted to how a human being with his body and its
senses experiences architecture. Buildings designed by him are an honest refelction of his beliefs.
 24

pEtEr zumthor 22 | 23 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 24 Peter Zumthor portrait
fig. 25 Peter Zumthor, Ustria Cafe
de Mont in Vella 1971

Apprentice period

Peter Zumthor was born in 1943 in Basel, Switzerland as a son of a cabinet

maker.1 In one of the interviews he mentions:

‘I grew up in a family, where everything was made by hand. The craft of making (...)
was a sort of tradition.’ 2

He was an apprentice in his father’s workshop between 1958 and 1962.3

‘I had to work in my father’s shop, I didn’t want to do that but he forced me to

so that I could work in is footsteps.’ However he admits that by this ‘powerful
experience(...) I learnt how to aim at quality and precision in my work with
endurance and persistance’.4

Afterwards, till 1967, he studied at the University of Art and Design in Basel
(Kunstgewerbeschule) and at Pratt Institute in New York.5

‘ Then I went to the Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel, the Academy of Applied Arts,

and there the school was organized on the lines of the Bauhaus: a one-year course,
Vorkurs, of preparation teaching the basics of design, and the Fachklasse, teaching
knowledge of a specific field. In my case this was furniture and interior design. I
didn’t know it at the time, but looking back I saw that everything I learned there I
learned in the first year, during the basic course. Not during the Fachklasse. In the
Vorkurs I learnt about the principles of composition with lines, areas and volumes,
the principles of writing and typography, the techniques for recognizing and mixing 1,3,5,8,10 pritzkerprize.com (2009)

colors. Then drawing objects, animals, plants, human beings by hand, and this
2,4,6,7,9,11 interview with Peter
practice was mainly about looking precisely.’ 6
Zumthor for klatmagazine.com
(2011)
 25

pEtEr zumthor 24 | 25 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

26
fig. 26 Peter Zumthor - Haus
Dierauer 1976, groundfloor plan

‘
Before that I had also studied at the Pratt Institute in New York, and there I really
learned nothing. I went to the industrial design class and the teacher looked at the
material I had done before and told me: “I cannot teach you anything, none of my
students can do what you have already done.” 7

Beginnings as an architect

In 1967 he started working for 10 years in the Department of Preservation of

Monuments in the Canton of Graubünden.8

‘
Looking at farmhouses, looking at settlements. I wrote a couple of books on this topic.
I was doing inventories, studying the structures of historical settlements and checking
historical art forms inside buildings: for instance the decoration on the façade of
farmhouses, like graffiti in the Engadine. It was a way to learn art history from the
bottom up. I was studying vernacular architecture. It was a fantastic and formative
experience.’ 9

The examples of his work from that time have not been officially published. I
managed to find only few examples of his restorations: a Tower in Lumbrein
from 1970, Ustra Caffe de Mont from 1971 (fig.24) and a new built project
Haus Dierauer in Haldenstein from 1976. (fig.25) I personally really enjoy these
projects, as in his personal contribution to the historical tissue of a building I
can trace influences of Rudolf Olgaiti’s curved lines and playful plans.

Starting own practice

8,10 pritzkerprize.com (2009)

In 1979, he set up his own practice in a village of Haldenstein in Graubünden,
7,9,11 interview with Peter
where he has lived with his wife Annalisa Zumthor-Cuorad, since 1971. They
Zumthor for klatmagazine.com
(2011) have three children, all adults, Anna Katharina, Peter Conradin, and Jon Paulin,

pEtEr zumthor 26 | 27 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

27
 28

pEtEr zumthor 28 | 29 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 27 Peter Zumthor Atelier in
Haldenstein
fig. 28 Interior of Atelier
Zumthor, Haldenstein photo by
Ortalli&Verrier
fig. 29 Haus Gugalun in Versam,
(1990-94)

and two grandchildren.10

‘Now I think that this place has a really great quality. Because in this small and
pleasant corner among the Alps, all the houses belong to us or to friends. And this
gives us the possibility of maintaining the quality of the place. It’s a little bit of
paradise here. But perhaps the crucial thing to be said about this place is that living
and working coincide here, there’s no difference. The image in a way is that of the
farmer with a large working family, children, grandchildren and so on. This has
always been the way I work.’ 11

Early works and influences

His early works were built locally in the are of Graubünden.

‘My first new building was erected in Haldenstein in 1976. (Fig.2) (...) [The early
projects] come from a time in which I started out working in a more playful and
carefree vein, and later increasingly under thr influence of role models.(...) Aldo Rossi
opened my eyes to the history of architecture and the architecture of my biographical
memory.’ 11

When asked about other architects that had an influence on him at that time
he mentions German-speaking Swiss architects and the ones from Vorarlberg,
Vienna and Ticino. Next to these architects was an Architese journal founded
by Stanislaus Moss and Learning from Las Vegas book by Robert Venturi. All of
these experiences affected him as an architect starting his own practice.12

10 pritzkerprize.com (2009)
Among the earliest works by Peter Zumthor we can find School in Churwalden
11 interview with Peter Zumthor for
from 1983, his atelier in Haldenstein from 1985 and a Shelter fro Roman
klatmagazine.com (2011)
Archeological Ruins in Chur, all of that in Graubünden. 11,12 Zumthor (2014), v.1 p.9
 29

pEtEr zumthor 30 | 31 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

Soon after came the buildings, which made him world famous: Bregenz Art
Museum in Austria (1989-197), Therme Vals (1990-96) and Kolumba Art
Museum (1997-2007). They were all published hundreds of times in architectural
journals and online magazines, making the crtitics gasp in admiration. However
I am personally more fond of designs by Zumthor, which are more related to
the everyday life of every human being as a St. Benedict Chapel from 1985-88
- a small church in the mountains, made entirely out of wood, connected with
a nice story, that Swiss architect Valentin Bearth, who worked with Zumthor
on that project, told us. Another of my favourite projects is Gugalun House
refurbished 1990-94. It is an extension of an existing old wooden house, were
we can see how the old and new can be combined in a subtle way not making
any of two shine stronger. (Fig.28)

Peter Zumthor Atelier

First building of his atelier was built between 1985 and 1986 and has a simple,
rectangular volume cladded with fine wooden slats, resembling a barn. In 2005
new building was added on the adjacent site. It is in a U-shape and is arranged
arround a small courtyard garden. One wing with office rooms is facing the
old atelier building, and the other wing is a two-storey residential unit, where
Zumthor and his wife currently live.13

To know Peter Zumthor better I decided to conduct interviews with people who
used to work with him in his Atelier. One of them was Daan Koch, a Dutch
architect, who graduated from TU Eindhoven in 2008 and afterwards worked
with Peter Zumthor for three years. This is how he recalls the first time he
entered the atelier in Haldenstein:

‘The day when I had the interview, this young woman opened the door and she let 13 Platt&Spier (2010)

30 | 32
 me in. I saw young people everywhere, which was already strange for me. It was also
quite a big mess with drawings, sketches on the walls and the models didn’t look that
nice. But there was a drawing of Kolumba and some other things, so it was still Peter
Zumthor’s atelier.‘14

Young people are a very important component of the Atelier. Peter Zumthor
seems to gain vital strength from their youth:

‘Myself, I was always flabbergasted with the energy he had to keep on going. He was
sixty-eight when I worked there, he plays tennis every day to stay fit. But he works
like a madman; he flies over the entire world. (...) at the end of the day I was tired,
but he kept on going like a Duracell battery. That was kind of an experience.’ 15

The fact that Zumthor likes to surround himself with young people has to do
with another significant preference of his: consulting his ideas with inexperienced
minds:

‘Another thing is that only young architects get into the office, no older architects.(…)
I started to understand that he doesn’t like his architects to have too much experience.
He doesn’t want people to come over and be told that he should build it in a certain
way. (...) sometimes the interns had more to say than the architects. Because they
were more naïve, didn’t read so many books and could not speak so much nonsense
about philosophy.’16

Apart from architectural interns Peter Zumthor often asks his wife, his friend
Jurg and secretaries working in the office for opinion on the ongoing designs.
This is a very unique way of working, which has to do with the fact, that he
believs that architecture is to a greater extent experienced by our bodies and ‘gut
14-16 interview with Daan Koch
(2014) feeling’ than our minds and theoretical knowledge about architecture.

pEtEr zumthor 32 | 33 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

30
 fig. 30 Peter Zumthor Concept
Therme Vals

‘One of the most interesting things is that Peter would ask a good childhood friend
of his from Basel to come over. So Jurg would come to Haldenstein for a couple
of days. He didn’t know anything about architecture; he couldn’t read a plan or
whatsoever. (...) Peter would take his time and every day he would show him two or
three projects. (...) Peter would only be satisfied if Jurg understands how it works and
would give his approval. But when he would say that he couldn’t understand a thing,
then we had to start all over again.’ 17

‘During one of the design meetings he grabbed the secretaries – two young women
who don’t know anything about architecture – and asked them if the wanted to stay
in that room. “It’s a bit funny” the secretary would say, so it was wrong according to
Peter.’ 18

When asked about the hierarchy inside the Atelier, architects who I have talked
to were divided. Karol Żurawski, Polish architect who made an interniship and
worked as an architect in the Atelier after graduating from Warsaw University of
Technology in 2010 and Daan Koch agree that:

‘The hierarchy is very simple: there is Peter Zumthor and then a fairly flat hierarchy
architects.’ 19

However Gaëlle Verrier and Giacomo Ortalli, who had worked for him for
almost 5 years, saw it diffrently. This can be attributed to their favourable
position in the office as they also studied with Peter Zumthor in the Academy
of Architecture in Mendrisio. 17,18 interview with Daan Koch
(2014)
19 interview with Karol Żurawski
‘..for him it is more like a work of team. It is not a pyramid if you are an intern, an
(2014)
architect or already a senior architect, everyone can say everything what he thinks
29 interview with Karol Żurawski
about something.’ 20 (2014)

pEtEr zumthor 34 | 35 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 31 Museum in Chiasso, student
work from design studio with Peter
Zumthor by Gaelle Verrier 2004-
2006

When it comes to the design process and working methods it is clearly visible
that it all starts with Zumthor’s concept sketch, which is later developed by
architects with the help of interns who are responsible for models.

‘He would always start with drawing the rules, because he made the first sketch. That
was always with a lot of people next to him; other architects and interns.’ 21

‘One evening Peter came in and he gathered stones and he started to do his artistic
stuff. He always has these artistic moments when he puts on the Jazz music very loud
and he takes out his aquarelle or his stones.’ 22

Dutch architect Raul Vluegels, who worked for 10 months as an intern in

Zumthor Atelier, continues to describe the design process as follows:

‘The architect is the one that is controlling the vision of Zumthor. Zumthor tells the
architect in what way we are working and what the direction is. Then he [Zumthor]
makes a rough sketch and then the architects start to design with this rough sketch. It
is often very open to interpretation; you have to interpret a lot.’23

Models are the most important design tools for Zumthor. There are three
main types of models that can be distinguished within the design process:
atmospheric models, including the landscape in scales between 1:200 to 1:50,
then the structural models 1:100 or 1:50, models of the spaces in 1:20 and for
the execution of the buildings 1:1 mockups made out of real materials. 20 interview with Gaelle Verrier
and Giacomo Ortalli (2014)
21,22 interview with Daan Koch
‘... every time we started a new project, you would start to design the model and
(2014)
start making a landscape. You would make a big model of the surrounding and on
23,24 interview with Raoul Vluegels
scale 1:100 or 1:200 and sometimes even 1:50, depending on how big the building (2015)
 31

pEtEr zumthor 36 | 37 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 was. But there would always be a lot of landscape around it and the choice for the
material already dictated a lot about the architecture of the design.’ 24

‘There are the atmospheric models; the big landscape models where Peter is searching
for the atmosphere of the place. He doesn’t want to have a fancy model in wood that
has been made to perfection by laser cutting. He wants to have only the atmosphere of
the place, the way he experienced it for the very first time. Those were the atmospheric
models and then it just starts to go up: 1:100, 1:50, structure models. They also
have to be very precise, but also atmospheric; about colour, about smell, about a
lot of these side things what normal architects don’t think about. When execution is
there, everything happens on a 1:1 scale. We would build models in the workshop
1:1 only, making mockups, pieces of the building with real materials and we would
test it out.’ 25

‘In 1:20 models he starts building the actual spaces and then he prints the texture
or uses the actual materials. For example when he decided to make an oak and glass
building, he started making those models from glass and oak to see if the connection
works. So a lot of this kind of research happens inside of the model.’ 26

All of the interviewed architects agreed that the working conditions and the
atmosphere inside the Atelier were extraordinary good.

‘There is a lot you can do. You can have an idea about a model and there is no
question about the money.. You do, you try. It is great working conditions.’27
25,28 interview with Daan Koch
(2014) ‘The experience that I had in his office was something totally exceptional.’ 28
26,30 interview with Raoul Vluegels
(2015)
‘In general, this is an amazing place, it is the architectural mecca, which attracts
27 interview with Gaelle Verrier and
Giacomo Ortalli (2014) people from abroad, everyone knows each other. The same office is very international,
 although it is a little at the end of the world, in the countryside, in the mountains it
attracts people from all over the world and these people spend a lot of time together.’29

‘But it is also an atmosphere of creativity and very nice things that are being made,
and very nice people.’30

This leads to the question about what do you learn from Peter Zumthor an can
he be described as a master.

‘This is the key of the master-apprentice system concerning Peter Zumthor. That he
really is the master; he is the big guy. He takes his students and he teaches them exactly
how they have to work, to question everything. (...) I think Peter was the biggest
architectural master that I had. He is inside me when I think about architecture.’31

‘Although I had built models before, I did not realize what opportunities lie in this,
how helpful they might be in the design process. (...) working on models makes it
easy to design and make the right decisions, they are decisions based on something
real, and with the help of feelings and intuition you can explore what you see on
the model. It is not ‘theorising’, but it is a reality and everyone can say “yes” or “no”,
move something or maybe make it bigger. With such models we can consult the design
wtih people that are no architects.’ 32

‘ ...that is also a thing I learned from Peter: To admire these normal buildings. I still
think a good quality – which he taught us - is to stay low by the ground like Jurg
was’33

31,33 interview with Daan Koch

‘This was also a lesson for Peter Zumthor, because he was a former carpenter. And
(2014)
he said if you want to make a nice window you have to design it and we can do it.
32 interview with Karol Żurawski
(2014) You do not have to go to the catalogue and take the windows they presented there

pEtEr zumthor 38 | 39 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

32
 fig. 32 Educational pavilion in
Golędzinów, design and model by
Karol Żurawski

but you have to design it. That was one of the lessons. And the other was that Peter
Zumthor worked here in the canton Graubunden and made a lot of monumental
research and research of the traditional architecture.Wwhen I was in his office I built
two or three buildings and refurbishments in the valley of Surselva. Then I learned
to appreciate the traditional architecture, to know and to understand, because it was
important in this time in his office, to understand this traditional architecture. To
understand not only formally but what is behind the typology, the way how wooden
buildings are made.’34

However as many great personalities Peter Zumthor triggers controversies.

Architects working with him predominatingly criticize his strive for perfection
and deciding on every single element of the project, not giving enough autonomy
to his employess, which sometimes resulted in architects frustration or burnout:

‘That also comes with a shadow side of course, having a bit of a temperament and
having quite a slow architecture.(...)Zumthor releases a project maybe every two or
three years. So (...) that can be quite frustrating. You work on a project for so long
and then it just stops or you have to change it.(...) That is why people don’t stay
there for very long, maybe a maximum of five years. People leave because they are
frustrated or because they want to do something else.’35

‘And nothing that you put into is yours, because Peter would take everything and he
makes the decision. I have seen drawings of the Kolumba; every wall has been drawn,
every brick has been decided on. We drew these bricks thousands of times, until we
had the rule, which came from Peter. Even the exceptions to the rule came from Peter. 34 interview with Valentin Bearth
The lamp, which came out of the wall, was done by Peter. Even the pins where the (2014)
35 interview with Raoul Vluegels
lightning hits the roof were done by him.’ 36
(2015)
36 interview with Daan Koch
(2014)

pEtEr zumthor 40 | 41 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 33 Gaelle Verrier and Giacomo
Ortalli with Peter Zumthor in
Atelier

A teacher

Peter Zumthor was a visiting professor at several schools between 1988 and
1992, including Harvard. In 1999 he was invited by Mario Botta to become
one of the first professors in his newly founded Academy of Architectue in
Mendrisio (AAM), were he was running his own design studio untill 2009.
Architects Gaëlle Verrier and Giacomo Ortalli not only worked for Zumthor
but they had also studied and graduated from AAM with him. This is how they
described him as a teacher in our interview:

‘He was a great teacher. I met him in Mendrisio while I was an Erasmus student and
his teaching opened my eyes on architecture. It was very different from the teaching
in Paris-Belleville, which was more classical even though the professors didn’t want to
be classical. I learned to enjoy freedom and to take some risks while doing a project of
architecture. It was a “Learning by doing” method, there was not a standard way in
doing a project, if you have strong ideas and a positive energy, you could keep going
constructing your own thing. .’ 37

The way he worked with students is very similar to his work in the Atelier, as
it is all about the models and the space, that is presented in them. One also
could only refer to his feelings, not to his theoretical knowledge. However the
main difference was that the students had more freedom in deciding about their
project and in the Atelier Peter Zumthor decides about everything.

‘It was not about arguments; it was mainly about things we were producing, that
should ideally speak for themselves. 38
37,38 interview with Gaelle Verrier
(2014)
‘Discussions were very direct and focused on what you are showing, so you couldn’t
39 interview with Giacomo Ortalli
talk too much about theories, concepts or references.’ 39 (2014)
 33

pEtEr zumthor 42 | 43 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

The models were the main design tool of the atelier, all of the discussions were
focused around them as well as the presentations. The working model was at
the same time the presentation model. As they were often presenting the space
inside the building, the studio was using small pedestals, called cavaletti, that
placed the models on the eye level height.

‘It was a physical model, or a picture taken from a model. Sometimes, models were
ugly seen from the outside, but looking through a small hole one was discovering
a very specific inner space. He considered more than just the visual aspects of our
projects: for him it is important how things feel when you touch them, how they
resonate and what associations or images they evoke.’40

Another important feature of Zumthor’s approach is a simultaneous work on

different scales. This control over the whole design: from the external form,
through every single space to the smallest detail is also visible in his professional
work. He encourages his students to work in the same way, by making many
different models, zooming in and out.

‘it was interesting to work on different scales at the same time, from 1:1000 to 1:1,
when we had to assemble real materials with the right dimensions. At the end of the
semester you could understand the project by putting together the different pieces of
the puzzle: a detail, a structural model, a floor plan, images of interior spaces.’ 41

As Gaelle Verrier and Giacomo Ortalli are now teachers themselves (Gaelle
is currently a teaching assistant at ETHZ at the chair of Christian Kerez and
Giacomo is a teaching assistant at Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio.)
40 interview with Giacomo Ortalli
They also run their own professional practice, Ortalli&Verrier. We asked them,
(2014)
how is their work and teaching similar to the one they know from Zumthor.
41 interview with Gaelle Verrier
(2014)
 ‘ I think we tried to continue a little bit what we learned at school and also with
him at the office. I think that over the time it will transform and become completely
mine’. 42

‘What we have taken from him is his way of doing things. The passion.(...) the
capacity of concentration. Trying to push your ideas. It’s more this kind of things,
which are not formal or aesthetic.’ 43

Conclusion

The conducted interviews have allowed me to create a realistic picture of my

master, who according only to the press, would be an infallible god. I realized
that the perfection that Peter Zumthor achieves in his designs sometimes comes
at a price of many architects’ frustration. It has also made me think about the
perfection in architecture as an environment that is not so familiar for a human
being, who himself is imperfect. However taking into account all of the stories
that have been told, the positive feedback seems to prevail. All of the architects
recall their time at Peter Zumthor Atelier and his design studio at Academy of
Architecture in Mendrisio as an invaluable and forming experience. All of them
were talking about Peter Zumthor with great respect, recognising him as a great
architect of our time, for whom architecture is ‘the extension of his body’.44

42,43 interview with Gaelle Verrier

and Gaicomo Ortalli(2014)
44 interview with Giacomo Ortalli
(2014)

pEtEr zumthor 44 | 45 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 peter zumthor

Interview with Valentin Bearth

Jing, Reni, Michal and me met Valentin Bearth on 18th of November 2015 in
his office in Chur. Chur made an impression of a very friendly and relaxed village
surrounded from every side by mountains. From the office, which is located in an
indistinctive cuboid, plastered building, I can clearly rembember only one thing:
the view through the window, which was filled with the mountain tops in the sun.
This view accompanied us throughout the whole interview in the conference room.
Valentin Bearth was born in 1957 in Grisons. He studied at ETH, where he made
his diploma by Prof. Dolf Schnebli in 1983. Between 1984-88 he worked at Peter
Zumthor Atelier. Directly afterwards he set up his own office with Andrea Deplazes,
and two years later Daniel Ladner joined them. Since 2000 he is teaching at
Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio, where he was a director between 2007 and
2011. Their most significant designs include: the Artists House in Obermarktdorf
, Monte Rosa Hut, ÖKK office building and New Federal Court in Bellinzona.
Only later I realized that I should not have been nervous before our talk as Mr.
Bearth turned out to be a very friendly person, who as a university professor is keen
on talking with students our age. We met Valentin Bearth two days later in the
Academy of Mendrisio, where it was very kind of him to give us a tour around the
school.
 34

pEtEr zumthor 46 | 47 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

fig. 34 Valentin Bearth

the office First we would like to know something about your own design studio. If we are
correct, you also have a studio in Zurich? Is that the place where Andrea Deplazes
and Daniel Ladner work?

Here in Chur is our main studio. We started in 1988. Two years later, probably
in 1990, Daniel Ladner joined us. We also founded a studio in Zurich a couple
of years ago. However we always work together. It is not so that one is responsible
for the studio in Zurich and another for the one here. In our way of working it is
important that each one of us is informed about what happens in a project. This
is why we have a meeting every week on Monday. Monday is a set day when we
start off the week and we talk about our projects all together. Andrea Deplazes
teaches at the ETH (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, in Zurich) and I
am teaching at AAM (Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio) on the other
side of the Alps. In this way we occupy two sides of the Alps: one to the north
of the Alps and the other to the south of the Alps. There was a time when we
both were deans for four years of the two schools. You could say that two-third
of the Swiss students were directed by us at that time. It was not planned this
way, but it happened.

combining teaching Did you manage to combine your professional practice and teaching at that time?
with practice
We have been teaching since 2000, so more or less fifteen years. Being a dean
was a special situation but that was only for four years. So I had my studio, I
was the dean, and I also had the office. That was more or less four years ago.
But in Switzerland you teach on the one side and you work on the other side.
You have to have an office in Switzerland to teach about architecture. This is a
rule and it has worked very well since the ETH was founded. The idea is that
you have to have a connection with the field. In Italy it is different. In Germany
also a lot professors do not have their own offices. But at ETH, EPFL (École
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and also at AAM it is a standard. And this
is a standard what applies to all the schools in Switzerland. If you are making a
research on Swiss architecture this is an important thing to know, because then
architects are always up to date with the architecture practice and they are not
only closed in the academic world but there is a connection between these two
worlds. And there should be one. In Holland it it probably more or less similar?

Some professors do have their own practice but it is not a requirement.

And here it is a requirement. Andrea and I teach about two days a week.Andrea
teaches two days in Zurich and I teach two days in Mendrisio each week. And
Daniel manages the office whilst we are away.

How many people now work in the office?

More or less twenty and then always between two and three interns. Two in this
office, and one in Zurich.

How have you become a teacher at AAM? Was it your choice to become a teacher or academy of architecture
were you offered a position as a teacher? in mendrisio

In the end it was my choice. The AAM is a relatively new school. It was founded
in 1996. Mario Botta founded the school with Aurelio Galfetti. They invited
young architectects, for example Peter Zumthor. Peter Zumthor together with
a Greek architect called Galfetti started this school with approximately 100
students. Four years later the school grew and they needed more teachers. This
is when I was invited by Peter Zumthor to work there for a semester. I knew him
because I worked in his office for four years. I worked at AAM for half a year
and it worked out very well. As they needed more professors I had to write an

pEtEr zumthor 48 | 49 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 application in a formal way to become a professor in Switzerland. The AAMis
not a polytechnic but a university. It is a faculty of the Università della Svizzera
Italiana.

architectural education Is it different to become a professor at the university than at the polytechnic?
in switzerland
Formally it is the same. There are a lot of colleagues who also want to apply,
so you have to win a competition. I made it together with Valerio Olgiati and
we both won, so we started together. The difference is that the polytechnic
is connected directly to the Federation. This is the Eidgenössische Technische
Hochschule- ETH. Eidgenössische means federal so it makes: Federal Technical
School of Switzerland. The universities are related to the cantons: canton
Graubünden and canton Ticino. This is where the money is comes from. We
have the exchange system in Switzerland. You can start at the ETHand later go
to the AAM. In Switzerland we have three schools of architecture on university
level: Zurich, Lausanne and Mendrisio. All with a different curriculum. Both
ETH and EPFL are technical schools and the idea of AAM was that the
curriculum is a little bit different. Academic. This is why it is the Academia di
Architettura, not the technical school. Therefore there are humanistic topics.
The curriculum is different. It is not so technical, because we do not have right
infrastructure for this, i.e. machinery. There was also the idea that Switzerland
didn’t want to found a third technical school, but to have an alternative of a
different way of teaching architecture. A huge difference is also to be found
in the fields of the research. It is clear that in Switzerland we have three main
languages. In Zurich they speak German, in Lausanne they speakFrench and in
Mendrisio they speak Italian. So the language is an important factor for people
to choose to which school they want to go.
Are the design studios at AAM only in Italian? Or are they also offered in English?
Both. At the AAM the Italian language is the main language. Then there are languages at aam
English courses, theoretical and the design ateliers as well. Today Zurich is
German and English too. Let’s take Adam Caruso for example. Today there
is increasingly more English within the school.But it is changing more and
more to English. The idea is that the language is important. It is a kind of
Swiss convention that you try to speak the language in the different parts of the
country. And the fourth language is Romansch, it is spoken here in Graubünden.
I am a Romansch. One of the last fifty thousands Romansch’s. This is a Roman
language. It is not Italian, but is a Latin language.

What do you think of the trend that more foreign professors are coming to the Swiss international teaching
universities? Do you find it beneficial or would you prefer the Swiss education to staff at aam
stay in Swiss hands?

No, I think that the concept that professors from abroad come to Switzerland
is very important. In Mendrisio it was a kind of statement, as it is a small place.
We founded a new university and then the faculty of architecture. Back then the beginnings of
it was very important that this school started with an international appeal, to mendrisio academy
have potential, so that the people will come to study here. It was Mario Botta
who had a lot of connections and this is why for example Kenneth Frampton
also started teaching there. In the beginning, and this is interesting, if you are
looking at the people who started there with teaching, not only with ateliers but
also in theory, there were many ‘schools within a school’.This was incredible. It
was an important decision to have valuable relations with other countries, not
just a priori with the countries, but moreover it was important to search for the
best people qualified for the job. Hence the school started with 100 students.
Now we have 850 students and we decided not to grow bigger. It is because we
want to have a size that is not too big. It is a question of management and the

pEtEr zumthor 50 | 51 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fact that it is difficult to find so many good professors. Therefore we decided
two years ago to begin with admission tests, so that now we have around 800
students. An interesting thing about Switzerland is that, not only in architecture
fields, we need people from the outside as it is a small country. This is why all
of the Swiss universities are full of German people and it has been so since the
ETH was founded 150 years ago. This is the concept that we have to bring the
best brains to Switzerland and I would say that this is a factor of success.For me
personally it was very interesting to teach at AAM and to have new colleagues
from other countries.

Does your work also benefit from that?

visiting professors Yes, absolutely. We do not know exactly how it works. There are the Mateus
in switzerland brothers (Manuel Aires Mateus, Francisco Aires Mateus) from Lisbon. And we
also have connections with Alvaro Siza and other people from Spain. This is
what we need as architects. We have to be curious, and we also have to be open
to the world. This is a specialty of AAM.We are a very small school, we do not
have many teachers ant the professors are only at school two days in a week. We
talk together, we eat out together, and this is also very important.

building outside of However you don’t do many projects outside of Switzerland. It is maybe, that you
swiss context want Switzerland to gain influences from abroad, but you yourself don’t want to
design abroad?

Not so much. The projects come to architects and not the opposite way.
However we do participate in a lot of competitions abroad. Two years ago we
finished a small bar and exhibition in Milano. In fact two weeks age we finished
a competition where we were invited and we hope to win it and go to Hamburg.
One the one hand we have enough projects to do in Switzerland but if we
would have the opportunity and someone would offer us to build something in
London than we would accept.

Would you like to build in Asia?

No, not in Asia. We have no interest in working there. We know that some
colleagues try to have connections in Asia. But we cannot have everything. We
have an office, we make projects, and we teach and we are not interested in
growing to have 40 or50 or60 employees. 15 to 25 employees works well for
us. I would say that doing projects in Asia is a completely different job for an
architect. If there isn’t a special request and you do not know the environment
and there are no people who say: ‘Yes, I want to build with you’ then you don’t
do it. It is not that we are not interested in building there at all, we just don’t
want to participate in uninvited competitions there. The fact that we did not
participate in so many competitions in other countries is probably a reason why
we are not so much present in Europe. For the moment there is enough work
here. What is more there is also the reason of different building conditions.
As you know in Switzerland we have really good conditions to build. We have
experience here and we have a structure of people that we know that are able
to work. However, Peter Zumthor builds all over the world. If we had the
possibility, then we would do it. But we don’t have that intention at the moment.

Now that you have mentioned Peter Zumthor, we were wondering how you actually work at peter zumthor atelier
started at his office?

It is a nice story. I started studying in Zurich and then I received a ‘free’ diploma.
‘Free’ means that I could choose the topic. To do this I needed an expert from
outside the university to tutor me. My topic was the planning of Tiefencastel, in
Graubunden.It is the village where I was born. The question was: how to extend

pEtEr zumthor 52 | 53 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

35
 fig. 35 Valentin Bearth and Peter
Zumthor

this village? I was looking for a person who also dealt with this theme. This is
when I found Studio Vicosoprano. It was the title of a small booklet made by
Peter Zumthor. I did not know this person but the booklet was interesting. I
decided to call the author and this is when I met Peter Zumthor.

Could you explain what was interesting about this booklet?

In the 60s and 70s in Grisons, there was a huge development and it caused a
fight between the ‘Westerners’, who wanted to build all over in this landscape,
and there were people who said: ‘No,you have to define the periphery, the villages
and the country.’ The theories of Luigi Snozzi and Aldo Rossi were important to
Peter Zumthor in this field. He made a study of Vicosoprano, trying to answer
the question: how to extend this village? It was in a way similar to how Luigi
Snozzi made his proposal for the extension of a village in Ticino called Monte
Carasso. This was more or less what I intended as a student to make for my
Master degree. I met Peter Zumthor and asked him if he was interested to come
to Zurich to be my tutor. I started my graduation with Dolf Schnebli and he meeting peter zumthor
is a very important person in this field. He taught Märkli, Diener, and Herzog
de Meuron. He was a promoter of open competitions in Switzerland. Young
architecture offices in Switzerland have to start with competitions. However competitions in switzerland
thanks to the actions of Dolf Schnebli out of 15 people that are invited to
take part, 2 or 3 have to be young architects without experience. The spirit of
organizing competitions in Switzerland is very old and started in 1847, when
the Swiss Confederations was founded. Because there was this concept that
Switzerland has to express the idea of the State, that the Switzerland is a republic.
This should be expressed through architecture. The best architects were invited
at that time to build- [Gottfried] Semper for example the ETH. This tradition
lasts till today. There is the SIA: the Chamber for architects and engineers. sia, chamber for architects
This chamber is also very important. It is also how architects and engineers are in switzerland

pEtEr zumthor 54 | 55 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 presented in political Switzerland. They organise all the stuff you need in the
offices, the law, the norms, the competitions and norms for the competitions.
And on the other hand they make connection to the political world.

Are there a lot of architects in this chamber? Is this Chamber for architects and
engineers also represented by Swiss practicing architects?

Yes, for example Andrea Deplazes is in the steering committee and Valerio
Olgiati as well. This is the way we can influence how architecture is present in
every day life. It is very pragmatic, but very important to determine for example
how architects are paid. This is why we have a norm that there is a level of
paying the architects. You have to define this in a political way, so if the public is
building,they know that there is a are minimal tariff. In all of Europe the reward
for the architects is under pressure and we try to define it.

So, this is one of the many aspects the Swiss do to preserve a high standard quality
in architecture.

Yes this is very important, and that is also why you have to engage.

working at peter But back to Peter Zumthor: I made a diploma and my master then. It was
zumthor atelier successful and I got to know him and he was nice. He had a small office of two
employees in Haldenstein. But at the time I finished my diploma he did not have
enough work for me to let me join the office. So I made a one year in another
office first, here in Chur, and then, one year after, he won a competition here,
a school in Churwalden, and so I started there. And I worked there for more or
less four years.

Did you worked on this school in Churwalden?

Yes, in the beginning I worked out some things on this school. They had already designs at peter zumthor atelier
started the project and I did made some plans for the school. Jurg Conzett,
one of the best engineers in Switzerland, was working for Peter Zumthor too
and he did most of the work for this school.Subsequently I made various
refurbishments, for instance small refurbishments of churches in Graubunden
but also building extensions and then I worked on the shelter for Roman ruins
in Chur. Meanwhile I was working on the atelier building in Haldenstein which
was build at the same time and finally I worked on the chapel of St. Benedict
in the village of Sumvitg, Graubünden. There I was the project manager. But
this was in my last year when we worked out this project. Eventually I stopped
working there because they needed more money. And after four years of working
there I wanted to make a change. But finally when the project was finished a
year later I came back and I was the first who was getting married in this chapel.

Oh really? So the chapel was the place of the end of the Zumthor period and it was a sumvitg chapel
beginning of something new, your marriage.

It is a small but nice story. When we worked on this competition we worked

together till 4 or 5 in the morning. Not to mention that Peter Zumthor would
be the “last man to fall under the table”. It was very hard. But I said to him:
‘Look Peter if we win this competition then I will get married there!’. And that
is exactly what happend.And till today there are hundreds of couples who got
married there. Additonally the story of the chapel is also interesting because it
started with this shape of an ellipse and finally it became a kind of a tear form.
And in the beginning we did’t even know that for a moment it was also a kind
of stomach shape. Jung Conzett was the engineer and he had to finally make the
construction. However we didn’t know exactly how but then he said;’Oh it is a
nice form, I can also determine it in a geometrical way’. He disappeared for one
day and then he came back and said;’Now I know what it is; It is a Lemniscate’.

pEtEr zumthor 56 | 57 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

fig. 36 Peter Zumthor Sumvitg
Chapel

Lemniscate is the symbol of infinity, like the Möbius strip. And the half of that is
the Lemniscate. And then it worked and we went to the client, the Benedictines
from Disentis. They looked at our drawings and said: ‘Ah, that is incredible:
this is the archaic Christian sign.’ Therefore they felt extremely connected to it.
Meanwhile I lived together with a musician and I told him this story that we are
preparing to build this church. Then he brought me a book about the history
of a mandolin and there you saw that this shape was a former mandolin shape.
So we thought this room would probably have good acoustics. And it was really
the case. And when I was getting married, my two sisters were playing violin
and it was fantastic!

Actually 10 years later you built a house in Sumvitg. You used similar cladding,
right?

Yes, exactly. If you want this forced logical influence: I built this house for my
brother and I know it was related to wood constructions and it was a kind of
experience to say that first we havethis chapel in wood and now we try to build
a house in wood. We cladded it in the same way, because we knew that it has
worked well. Without the chapel the house would probably have another form.

So this is a way of learning, we could say?

learning from zumthor I learned from a lot of important teachers. At the ETH it was Dolf Schnebli,
Alberto Camenzind and other people that were important. Afterwards Peter
Zumthor was clearly important, because I came to him from the ETH without
an idea how to build. I started there, knowing that each thing that you wanted
to do is able to be constructed. This was also a lesson for Peter Zumthor,
because he was a former carpenter. And he said if you want to make a nice
window you have to design it and we can do it. You do not have to go to
 36

pEtEr zumthor 58 | 59 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 the catalogue and take the windows they presented but you have to design it.
That was one of the lessons. And the other was that Peter Zumthor worked
here in the canton Graubunden and made a lot of monumental research and
research of the traditional architecture. In the Valley of Surselva, when I was
in his office, I built two or three buildings and made refurbishments. Then I
learned to appreciate the traditional architecture, to know and to understand,
because it was important at this time in his office, to understand this traditional
architecture. To understand not only formally but what is behind the typology,
schweizerischer werkbund the way in which buildings are made. And then we found the ‘Schweizerischer
Werkbund’, the Swiss work federation. Peter Zumthor was the chairman of
this Werkbund. We made different lectures and expositions about traditional
architecture and we talked about subjects like what is ‘Heimat’, what it means
to live in a homely environment and all these things that were important and
implemented in his work. And then when he finished as a chairman I was his
replacement. This was the time, when there were a lot of interesting young
architects in Switzerland. There were for example Herzog & de Meuron, and
I invited them to make lectures here in Grisons but I invited also Marques,
Zurkirchen and other interesting people. My concept was to invite both young
and old architects, like Rudolf Olgiati for example and I invited Haller, who
makes the metal furbishments. All to take part of these lectures series. Initially
we started with a public discussions. It was at the time that the office of Peter
Zumthor was at the size of five employees. At first I made these lectures together
with Zumthor and in this way I learned from him. Each person who was
giving a lecture started from the design to the realization. These lectures were
an important activity for Zumthor as he was very interested to know what other
people made. He was for instance very interested in what Herzog & de Meuron
made.
Maybe it was because he did not study at the ETH and he wanted to get to know them.

Exactly. He absorbed all that came form the outside. He was very good at this. zumthor learning from others
For example with the competition in Vals. In the beginning it was completely
different from what it turned out ten years later. But we designed it, we won
this project and I know I made this small drawing of putting a plan in the bath
of Vals. So we had to bring something new to Vals. And this project had a lot
of transformations. First it was a modernistic project, then for two years it was
a kind of Gehry project. The whole office had to buy curved rulers, because we
had to draw curves. Zumthor was fascinated with Frank Gehry, besides it was
the beginning of Frank Gehry. So this bath became a kind of animal. But that
was the moment when I left the office.

That means that his design process is very long and it can change so dramatically.

Absolutely. If you are asking what I have learned from him is to be curious
what is happening outside. Because in architecture all things have already been
invented, you have to find these things and then you have to transform them
in a way they make sense.. I would say the lesson was: if you want to make
something, this table for example, then you can do it. But you have to have a
knowledge. It is not enough to say:‘we are designers, we can do it’. You have to
have a knowledge how to design plans 1:1 and know how things are made, so
you have to learn it. And I learnt it by doing, by realizing projects 1:1 and then
talking to carpenters, talking about how are things made, how can you do things
in a right way. That means that architects have to have this knowledge. And
finally it is that what I teach my students today. On the one side we design and
behind the design there is this knowledge how should it be built. If not, what
happens in a lot of American universities, where people are flying over the moon
and making incredible designs, virtual designs and computer images.

pEtEr zumthor 60 | 61 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 Your designs are made of many different materials. For example brick in the Artist
House in Marktoberdorf. Is it your approach that you want to talk with the people
who are experts in dealing with a particular material?

learning from peter märkli This is one thing that makes our profession rich, because you learn a lot of
things. For example if you play piano, you are not only playing on one octave,
you can play with the whole piano and this is interesting. And finally we want
to concretize the work. It is not an abstract work. And this is why Peter Märkli
was important for us, when we started our office. We looked for what he had
made in Sargans and we were interested in his first building, the museum of
Hans Josephson. Because he was also strongly related to making things, he
was a ‘Handwerker’, a craftsman. And on the other hand he is a thinker, he is
interested in the theoretic part and the Roman and the Greek history. And this
is the connection with Rudolf Olgiati. Rudolf Olgiati was also interested in
the tradition of the Greeks. And the lesson was ‘We are not inventing things’,
because in architecture you have the history and the future and we are in
between. We have to learn from the history but not in a post-modern way. This
is probably the difference.

He said in a lot of his interviews that he basically doesn’t work in the present, he only
takes from the past and then he transforms it into the future in his designs. He is
present only at the university, when he is giving the lectures and apart from that he
is living in the past, researching.

Yes, and then he learned from that and transformed it. You know, there are
different ways how to make architecture. You can start from different points of
view. This aspect is also very important in our work in the end. It is different
from Peter Märkli’s, but we are connected together in a way. This is probably one
of the interesting things, why Swiss architecture has some presence. Switzerland
is a small country and you know people. You know them not only from a book,
but you know them personally. You talk together, you look at what they are doing
and you think: ‘This is interesting, I could learn from that.’ In the competitions respect
you also compete with them, so on the one hand its is a competition and on the
other hand there is a respect and interest in what other people are doing.

It is interesting how you have this respect towards each other, while you also have to
compete with each other in competitions.

Yes, it is both: we can be enemies because each one of us wants to win the
competition. With Quintus Miller, he also teaches in Mendrisio, we make
competitions against each other, one is in the jury and two others are making
competitions and then a week after we have to live together. So this is important
that the respect towards the other person is there.

I already hear a lot of influences and interest. Could you define the most influential influences
things for your own work?

In the end it has to do with the place where we are living. Here the landscape
is very present and the huge part of our projects are situated in beautiful
landscapes. And more and more I find out that the landscape is not a kind of
panorama. But the landscape is an incredible space with a monumentality. But
this space is a contradiction of working on a plain. For example in the north of
Germany or in Holland it is flat. And that means when your are building on
a flat plain you have to build your space, because the space around is endless,
it has no limits. You have to define it. And here you have a definition a priori.
And this definition is extremely interesting because I think that this is a kind of
archaic feeling of human to space. Because ‘What is space?’. When I started as a
student our teachers talked about the space, that it is the most important thing

pEtEr zumthor 62 | 63 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

37
 fig. 37 Neue Monte Rosa-Hütte by
Bearth & Deplazes Architekten

in architecture. The space is this and space is that. But what is it? And there
are a lot of definitions of the space. You can read in a Japanese tradition: the
difference between inside outside, the definition of the wall. I am very interested
in these questions because I think this is the hard core of architecture. What
means space for humans? And here I learned that through the way the artist
represent this landscape. For example Kirchner or Giacometti, both in very giacometti
different ways. Once again it is not about making a picture in a panorama, but
it is about, what is behind the space. For example I can explain it through the
work of Giacometti. Giacometti grew up in a small valley in the Bergell. The
Bergell is a very deep valley. It is incredibly spatially defined. And his drawings
since the beginning were influenced by this environment, by this strong space.
And then as a young artist he went to Paris. He came to Paris, which is flat. The
horizontal it is the opposite of the vertical. But Paris, in 1920, was built through
houses, the long corridors by Haussmann. I can imagine when Giacometti came
to Paris, he was probably incredibly impressed about this feeling of space. The
opposite from his experience. And finally in his work you can see how he started
to invent this kind of persons, who were small and high. He was extremely
interested in this relation between human and space. And what happens in a
physical way but finally in a spiritual way. What does it really mean for the
existence of human. And this was for me extremely interesting.

Now back to the projects here: I learned that if you are building in this country, landscape and architecture
in this landscape, you are not only building an object, but you are building an
object that is all related to this landscape. And I can now profit from this huge
space, that my house is a part of. So that a small house could be bigger in terms
of how do you feel in this space. This is also one of my interests. I wrote a book
about my teaching in Mendrisio, it is called ‘Microcosmi’. It is also about this
thing of space, which is my interest.

pEtEr zumthor 64
64 || 65
65 BUILDING IN CONTEXT
fig. 38 Mountains at Bergell
with Mount Disgrazia, Alberto
Giacometti

microcosmi Yes I just received the book and if I am right Microcosmi is about a research about
dwelling.

Yes, exactly. But not only a dwelling of a house, yes I am teaching about dwelling
in Mendrisio, but finally it is the relationship of landscape and architecture.
And then the thing is that I talk about landscape and landscape is nature. And
a lot of our projects are here in this landscape. Some colleagues say: ‘You are a
specialist of building in the Alps.’ And I say no, it is not our only interest, we
build also in the city. And there is no difference to building in the alps. You
know how to build in the alps, because you know about topography, you know
the climate and all these things, but this is too short thinking. Because you
can then transform it and bring in the city and say: ‘The city is also a kind of
landscape.’ This is my lecture from Giacometti. He came from this valley, came
to the city and felt this strong presence of space which, is horizontal there. That
means, when we are building in cities we can reproduce the space, for example
in a monumental way, to make axes, like in Baroque. What in the end is a lesson
from Baroque. But finally, cities are always more and more smaller than this
landscape here. But the method is the same and this is interesting.

In Microcosmi you can see, that I work with these both realities. One is a small
project in a landscape and then we go to the the second semester which is working
in the city. But working in the city is another aspect, that is important. You have
one: the landscape and this is the nature and then you have the artificial world.
A small house in a landscape is a kind of artifact. Then you go in the city, and
the city is, in a way, the most complex artifact that humans invented. It is not
an artifact, but the city is also extremely complex. Complex in different ways,
culturally complex. You can go there and build the Monte Rosa hut, where you
have no culture, you have glaciers. And the city has a culture, and I am very
interested in culture also. And this is, now back to canton Graubünden and back
 38

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to Rudolf Olgiati. Canton Graubünden is, in architectural and environmental
terms, a stratification of a lot of cultures that made an imprint. Graubünden is
between North and South, so there are a lot of connections here. People, who
have overpassed the mountains and stayed here to set up families, brought a lot of
different cultures here. The Latin culture: Romansch. Throughout the centuries
there were a lot of influences from the outside here. Because Graubünden
was originally a wild region, not really populated. When it started to become
populated, it was by people who came from the outside. Now this region is full
of traces from people coming from the South but also from the North. The
two constructions: the massive construction is coming from the South and the
wood construction from the North: the vales construction. Beautiful churches
are coming from different times but also different cultures. We grew up in this
environment. Is is a part of my identity. But on the other hand it is important
to be connected with the world. It is a huge issue in Europe. ‘What is Europe?’,
It is not only a financial union, but it is important to have an identity, a culture.
Back to my interests: I like to deal with these different cultures. Is probably a
reason why my projects are different: the school in Vella is different from the
school we built here in Chur. And we also try to research what the ingredients,
could help to make the project. It is not a scientific research, architects have to
make decisions what to transform into a design.

Sou you could say that yo have personal interests and that you architecture really
derives out of social context so it is really from out of a particular place.

Yes it is out of a place, but not in the terms of context, but more what is behind building in context
this context. But this is one thing and there is the synthesis coming from the
outside, completely independent from the context. For example: Monte Rosa,
formally was no context. There was the climate, the topography. But there no
possibilities to interact with the existing building tissue.
andrea deplazes Could you say that Andrea Deplazes has different interests?

Yes of course, he is interested in the construction - he wrote this ‘bible.’

[‘Constructing Architecture’]. In Zurich he studied with the Analogen, with
Sik. This was the opposite to the modernistic teaching of Schnebli.

final advise We would like to ask you for an advise: Now we will be designing in Ticino, so this
is a completely different environments to what we are used to. We have different
backgrounds: Reni is form the Netherlands, Jing is from China and me and Michal
are from Poland. Do you think we could use our experiences of the different spaces
that we come from in Ticino?

It is a kind of my method to go to the different places in Europe. When you are

going to another place, you have to deal with this place in a way. That means
that practically we had 3 days: we visited museums, architecture, we went to
Amsterdam. The idea behind is to open the minds of the students. To open
them to see that for example Croatia is very different to Holland. Finally it
depends were you are making your design: in the city or on an island. There
you have other conditions. How do we help students? The students go to the
libraries, researching what happened there. Finally they have to work on the
specific place, and then with their own experience they have to react and try
to make the project. We help them with my staff of assistants. We went also
to Genova, where we studied typologies of huge villas. You have those villas in
many places but they were studying what is the specific thing about the Genova.
It is also in a way in our profession, that we can come from the outside and we
can design a building and say: ‘I am not interested what happens.’ I think it is a
way that you can do it. Palladio invented also his ideal villa. He had an abstract
idea but he adapted it to the place. I think it is both. I had this discussion with
Valerio Olgiati, he said ‘I am independent.’ You can do it in this way but finally

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fig. 39 Jing, Kasia and Michał with
Valentin Bearth at Academy of
Architecture in Mendrisio

,also in the projects of Valertio Olgiati if you look at them precisely, it is not
that they are independent from this place, they also related to the place. In his
fist competition he won, I was in the jury. The Paspels school. I invited him, he
came back from the USA and he asked me: ‘I have no work, what can i do?’ and
I said: ‘We are preparing a competition. Would you like to participate?’ and he
said: ‘Yes, yes of course!’ and then he won.

This is a nice story, I did’t know this.

There are a lot of stories. Finally you have to have stories and behind the stories
there are people.
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 peter zumthor

Interview with Raoul Vleugels

Raoul Vleugels was an intern in Atelier Peter Zumthor for 10 months, starting in
July 2009. During the internship he was mostly responsible for making models. This
experience he is now using in his own office, which he has set up with his partner
Niels Greonveld after graduating from Eindhoven University of Technology. Their
office is mainly concerned with building with natural materials and models play an
important role in the design process.
pEtEr zumthor 72 | 73 BUILDING IN CONTEXT
What were the most influential aspects or people at Atelier Zumthor?

Annika was one of the most interesting people at Peter Zumthor. She had a
lot of influence within the of ce because you have to be really creative but also
skilled to work at such a high level. She was the one that was guiding us as young
interns, and telling us what we should make together with the architect. Without
her I think it would be an absolute mess in the workshop. This translating of
ideas is really interesting because she was sculpting the ideas together with the
architect and the interns. The architect is the one that is controlling the vision
of Zumthor. Zumthor tells the architect in what way we are working and what
the direction is. Then he makes a rough sketch and then the architects start to
design with this rough sketch. It is often very open to interpretation. If you look
at the buildings of Zumthor, you see that they are often very sculptural in how
they look and how they are made. We had a girl at Zumthor who was a metal
worker, and then she started studying architecture and came to the of ce. So
there were a lot of people who weren’t architects but they were interns. Because
you need all these kind of disciplines to make this kind of architecture that is so
about materials and so much about details.

Do you believe a model has an influence on the design?

Yes, a lot. I thought about that when I left the of ce. The interesting thing is
that every time we started a new project, you would start to design the model;
you would start making a landscape. So you would make a big model of the
surrounding and on scale 1:100 or 1:200 and sometimes even 1:50 depending
on how big the building was. But there would always be a lot of landscape
around it and the material choice for the material already dictated a lot about
the architecture of the design. So we had models that were made out of wood
and we had models that were made out of plaster blocks, models of concrete,
 models of steel, models of wax. When you create such an abstract landscape, this
abstraction immediately tells you something about the design. So when you put
the design in there, you see if it works or it doesn’t work. When you start making
these landscapes and start putting things in there, there will be a point where
you can see that it starts to work. You become clearer in what you are designing;
so if you want to build a wooden house, this already becomes clear within this
abstract model. Most of the work went into making this model of the landscape.
We made a whole city out of concrete blocks, cast in the shape of all the houses.
After, when we put the design in, it immediately starts to speak to you. This
abstraction is really important. The moment you start to make an abstraction of
the surrounding of your design, you get a feeling with your design and the rst
sketches that you make. Otherwise it will always be hard to draw a house, and
you draw a little bit around it; a piece of the driveway or a bit of the garden.
But rarely you draw the plot and you draw everything in there, including your
building 1:100. Normally it is on a bigger scale such as 1:500 to see the whole
garden, and you do not do that so often. A model is a very nice way to have this
conversation between the design and the surroundings.

Would Peter Zumthor draw a sketch of his rst idea and then would Annika translate
that sketch into a design or into a model?

She would translate it into a model but she would not really design it. Zumthor
would draw a design and the workshop then started to visualize this rst sketch or
design. He had these big pencils and he started sketching and we would measure
with a ruler which line we were going to use. Because there were ten lines next
to each other and we had to decide which one had the nicest curve. We would
cut that one out and we would use it to build the rst models. This was the start
of the design process and it would always happen inside the workshop. That was
always really nice because we were there; we had to cut out the design, glue it

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40
 fig. 40 Atmospheric model of a
summer restaurant, with floating
roof, on the island of Ufnau, Zurich
by Peter Zumthor. photo by pep
romero garcés . + ufnau

together and make something really quickly. So it was a super intensive working
schedule. You would be working for three hours and designing, but the nice
thing was that we would do it together. He would ask every single person in the
room what that person thinks of that column. But they couldn’t say what they
thought; only think. Then one person could move for example a column, and
then the next person moves the column until everybody was satis ed. It was really
a design by making. Just moving the column and not giving an explanation why
the column had to be there, but it would move until it was in the best location
by feeling. Annika is very closely related to this working method, because you
would be making these things and she was always there. So she would not design
it but she was the rst one to visualize the design.

Which materials would you use for that specific process? Was styrofoam used?

Styrofoam was banned from the of ce. It was only used for the bigger models
or things that would be covered up with paper. But working on smaller scales
it would be wood or wax or clay (car building clay). This kind of clay would
always stay soft.

How were projects communicated within the ofdice?

We never really talked about architecture; we always talked about what we see.
Because he knew that we were all good architects, so he just wanted to know
what we thought of the project. He did not want any architectural explanations
about the volume, but just saying what we liked.

Are you still working in this way within your own office?

We were actually talking about it this morning. We try to but it is hard as a

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young architecture of ce. Peter Zumthor is of course a different thing, because
he has a lot of money and a lot of people working for him. We have to build
up a business, still earn money and keep a certain speed. So we do our best to
keep this in the of ce; to keep working with models and to always use them. We
always make a model and we study with the model, never being afraid to touch
it. At some point we have to stop with the model, but in the future I hope we
can keep working on models. The most dif cult thing, especially for a young
architect is to let yourself go. To have this flow in your drawings or to make
something and to make it emotional. That is what Zumthor does; he is a very
emotional man. To just draw something that is not about precision, and even
though his sketches are very rough, they were really precise and to scale. He
would draw something on a piece of paper and it would be scale 1:50 exactly.
He can do these really nice watercolour drawings and he has a really keen eye
for architecture.

Did architects have a lot of influence on the design process? Did Peter Zumthor have
the nal decision on all designs?

I was more involved in the more creative process in the beginning of the project
and all the detailing was more at the end of the project. But it could be super
frustrating for people because I saw that in the of ce; that you design something
and Peter would completely tear it apart. That’s the thing, that he really sees it as
an educational process; he sees it as post university training for architects. That
is why people don’t stay there for very long, maybe a maximum of ve years.
People leave because they are frustrated or because they want to do something
else. He really isn’t pleasing anyone or creating long-term relationships, it is
about the project. He cares about the people, but he really talks some people
down and I saw somebody crying multiple times. I don’t know if it is a good
thing or a bad thing, to design in such an emotional way. You probably know
 it from university that you design something and your teacher does not like
it. But on this kind of level it becomes even more emotional. On top of that
you are working with Zumthor and you want to impress him. But it is also an
atmosphere of creativity and very nice things that are being made, and very
nice people. We also went to the of ce of Valerio Olgiati and he never builds a
model. He only works with technical drawings and sketches. He makes fun of
Zumthor by saying that you need models to understand his architecture. He
has a totally different perspective on designing, so there is no one good way to
make something beautiful. It is all about how you can express yourself. Olgiati
expresses himself in a vastly different way than Zumthor does.

Miroslav Sik relates atmosphere to personal memories, is this similar in Peter

Zumthors work?

Yes, that is what he says in his book. How you create it however, is a different
thing. It also goes back to a deeper understanding of materials and understanding
what makes a space special. What we said in our lecture at the University of
Eindhoven is that everything is becoming white and impersonal. It also has an
atmosphere but a different one. But if you look at the buildings of Zumthor,
every surface has been considered, the roof is something, the walls are something
different, and the things that you touch are made from a material. He has the
ability to giving you these new memories: I still remember the rst time I entered
Therme Vals, I still remember the smell when I rst entered his of ce. All your
senses are being triggered when you enter one of his buildings. For example
the way the door opens or the way the light comes into the space. But I also
think it comes from deep within him. We do have this ability too, but as young
architects we are used to working with schemes and diagrams to make this really
organized kind of architecture. But to really make spaces from thinking clearly
and experimenting and thinking about materials that is a different thing. So

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fig. 41 Various models by Werkstatt
fig. 42 Atmospheric model by
Werkstatt

you have to keep sketching and keep building models, and then you start to
understand your design better. You always have a phase within your work where
you think that it is not going to work, and you are stuck. That is the moment
where you have to keep going and try to simplify it, taking all the things away,
which are not necessary. Taking these things away and bringing it back to a
basic element is something Peter Zumthor can do at the beginning. He makes
a drawing and after ten years the design is nished and it still looks like his rst
sketch more or less. That is something we probably don’t have yet. He has a large
memory, with which he knows what spaces should feel like for certain functions.
He really trusts his instinct, and that is something we don’t get trained for at
the university. We also have to explain why we did something, and saying that
it feels and looks good, is not an explanation. That should be one of the most
important explanations in a way, and then you can start analyzing it.

Would you say that the atmosphere has something to do with the context, and the
tradition of the place?

Atmosphere has a lot to do with the inside of a building. A lot of Swiss architects
make amazing buildings from the outside but I don’t want to know how to feel
or look from the inside. That is what separates Zumthor from a lot of other
architects is that atmosphere is all about the interior. A lot of his buildings
are also relatively closed or shy even. That is what I learned in the of ce is that
when you make a model, the building never popped out of the model. You
would not make a Styrofoam model and then put a Perspex block in it and
said that that was the building. It would be the same material or the same feel
to it, so the context is really important for his design; the design would not
pop out but should blend in. That is really dif cult to build something that
has its own character but also has a real connection to the place. If you look
at all of his projects, they are very expressive, but also quiet at the same time.
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81 BUILDING IN CONTEXT
Of course the tradition and the context are important for his work, but it is
not something that is discussed. It is not that he decides with a project to do
something with the context. It is something you nd out through the model; you
build a model and then you see what the context is. For example when you build
in a forest, the model is made from wood. The mining project in Norway, where
the buildings are on stilts, is a good example where he used the context and the
tradition of building. It was designed in a sort of mine-architecture with simple
structures out of wood with platforms. Then he makes it into architecture by
making these things really thin and long and black and blue and metal. Then
it becomes beautiful, but the idea in itself is really simple. The context is very
special because a lot of architects don’t really consider it anymore. They are
more focused on designing something that is special in itself. But that is never
Zumthors goal, and it is a lot about people. How do you perceive the building
when you enter the building? I know that a lot of architects talk about it, but it
is a very underestimated thing, the user.

When does he decide on the materials to use for the project?

That is relatively in the beginning. When you are building this model, this rst
abstraction of reality, it already starts. I think he immediately knows what he
is going to make and he is quite strict in it. For example, Therme Vals, which
is a stone building with bronze details, and nothing else. It is the same with
Kolumba, it is a solid wall, and the whole wall is made out of brick. You don’t
even see it, but the whole building is solid. But he wanted to have meter thick
walls, like a cathedral. I think that he wanted to do that as soon as he knew that
he was building on an old chapel: It was going to be a heavy and big volume.
Kolumba doesn’t even consist of just brick; there is even a wooden room inside.
Different atmospheres exist within the same building so it does not all have to be
brick. I think he has a clear idea of what he wants to do and that has to do with
 the context. He reads the context, he tries to understand it and then elaborates
on that. He is at his best when he designs in Switzerland or cultures that are close
to his own memories. So it is relatively quick within the process and it has to do
with the function. For example the mining building, he made the floors out of
cast steel, the same as the Bruder Klaus Kapelle. It always has something to do
with the context. The Bruder Klaus Kapelle had an earthy environment so it has
this layered concrete.

In his book he describes that it is important to place two materials next to each other
in order to compare their ‘reaction to each other’. Did you ever see him do that in
the office?

He puts it next to each other but in a smaller scale. In 1:20 models he starts
building the actual spaces and then he prints the texture or uses the actual
materials. For example when he decided to make an oak and glass building, he
started making those models from glass and oak to see if the connection works.
So a lot of this kind of research happens inside of the model. I still remembered
a moment when we were thinking about a façade and he grabbed two pieces of
glass and he started playing with it. Suddenly we had an idea for the façade and
what it should look like. So there were always a lot of materials lying around.
But most of the research was done within the models and 1:1 mockups. This
combination is always important, because if it is just one material it would get
really blend.

As you said, Therme Vals is completely stone but the extra element is bronze. Does he
use a similar approach with every design?

Yes, but it depends on the building. When you go to Bregenz every floor has
a different type of terrazzo. The only thing that I know is that he doesn’t have

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43
rules. If you look at his house – it is a concrete house – with a lot of glass, but fig. 43 Construction detail model of
it has a wooden room, a steel kitchen, and nice leather seats. If I would have to Shelters for Roman Archaeological
analyze it, you would more likely nd that it is a place to sit, where people want Site by Peter Zumthor. Photo
courtesy of Carson Russell
to stay warm so he used wood.

Previously we were discussing architectonic scales; does he have a speci c order for the
application of scales?

No he doesn’t. Sometimes he starts with 1:200, and I worked a lot with 1:20
because I worked on the Dutch project. We build these whole buildings out of
paper and foam. We had to understand the existing structure and we had to
recreate the atmosphere of these buildings. So that was 1:20 and everything in
between, but I don’t think he used 1:33, however always the standard scales.

At which stage of the process does he begin using the correct scale for the speci c
material he intends on using?

The scale of the material is pretty much almost always on the correct scale. If
you would make a beam 1:100, we would cut beams that are exactly on scale
1:100. The models for the mining museum we changed the beams maybe fty
times because we changed the proportions so often. Then we would cut them
in the correct size. So a lot of different things going on at the same time and we
even went back and forth. But he was always hammering on that we should use
more materials, and the models should be more about the materials. When I was
working there he was even working on a glass tower, and the rst thing that he
did was invite a Czech glass company who can still manually make glass. From
the beginning on we were discussing the glass during the design meetings, and
how to build with glass and the structural possibilities. One of my favourite
models was the model for the restaurant on the island, and that really captured

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 fig. 44 Spacial model 1:33 by
Werkstatt
fig. 45 Wooden model by Werkstatt

the atmosphere. It was a wax model with at least twenty layers of wax to get
the depth of the colours. And although it didn’t look completely like the real
situation it really captivated the atmosphere. It is also one of the rst designs
where he goes away from the angled building but starts with curved shapes.

Were model materials used to create atmosphere or were they representations of the
real material?

No, the atmosphere that you create could be the representation. So the wax
could in some way represent the stone and other parts represent wood. But it is
up to you as the architect to have the interpretation of the material. It is not that
wax always represents one element; there is no rule or a library. Especially the
landscape is important. If you look at the model for a house in England - with
these blue stone blocks – it was made completely out of sand. Cladded clay for
example is a clear representation of a solid block, but the sand was a really good
way of representing a grassy landscape. The blue colour however, was a way to
display the gloomy rainy days of England. But I don’t know if it has changed or
not, because when I was there he really hated Styrofoam. We had to make a very
large model for the Meelfabriek, but we had to do it in Styrofoam because it was
so big. It is a nice and fast material to design spaces.
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 peter zumthor

WORKING WITH MATERIALS

O ne of important topics of my reasearch is working with different materials. It involves choosing for right materials in
the first place. Peter Zumthor often chooses for the traditional, locally avaible material. However he comes up with
new solutions of using it, as he did in Haus Luzi with reinterpreting the traditional strickbau method or in Vals, where he
made bricks out of locally available gneiss stone. Still the most imortant factor behind the decision to use a certain material
is the final effect it has on space and atmospere inside the building. In the book Atmospheres, Peter Zumthor writes: ‘choose
materials in the knowledge of the way they reflect light.’ or in Thinking Architecture: ‘I am convinced that a good building
must be capable of absorbing the traces of human life and thus of taking a specfic richness.’ and finally in the same book:‘ I feel
respect for the art of joining, the ability of craftsmen and engineers. I am impressed by the knowledge of how to make things’. All
of this require a vast knowlegde of material one is working with, its physical propertis, structural capabilities and the way
it is going to change with the passing of time. I am going to look at the basic properties of wood and stone that I would
like later to use in my design.
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 working with materials

Wood

Wood is the primary component of the trunk and branches of a tree. The natural
environment of trees are the forests. Trees are invaluable for our ecosystem as they
produce oxygen, retain water, prevent erosion and provide shelter for animals as
well as for human economy by providing building material and serving recreational
functions. Each wood species has particular physical, mechanical and aesthetical
qualities. This variety comes from different structure and arrangement of cells as well
as the speed of growth. The wood of deciduous and coniferous trees has very different
qualties and hence applications. The first woone is commonly used in furniture and
the second in building industry. The process of preparing a tree trunk to become
a market product is complex and involves extensive knwoledge and machinery
facilities. Trees suffer from various diseases already during the growth process as they
grow in different conditions: cold, windy or experience lack of sun or water. There
are many products available on the market, which can heal the wood or prevent it
from destruction as wood is prone to the different climate conditions also after its
application: humidity, fungi and insects.
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fig. 46 Drying wood logs in
Graubünden, Switzerland
fig. 47 Gneiss rock, Vals,
Switzerland.
fig. 48 Bonaduz, Switzerland
fig. 49 Horizontal section of a tree
trunk (Deplazes, 2008)
fig. 50 Conversion options for
squared sections and battens:
1. Squared log (boxed heart)
2. Heart section (exposed pith on
face) 3. Heart section (exposed pith
Wood structure
and arris) 4. Side section 5. Centre
section. Deplazes (2008)
fig. 51 Conversion options for Wood has a complex structure. The basic building unit is a cell. Cells of a same
boards. Deplazes (2008) type and function form a tissue. The wooden pulp is formed by elongated cells
with walls made from rigid cellulose.1 Deciduous trees has three types of cells:
for support, conduction and storage. Coniforous trees have only one type of
cells, which serve all of these functions and therefore their wood is more elastic.

In the centre of a trunk there is a pith, which is dry and does not conduct but
performs mechanical functions. 2 In mature trees we find heartwood around the
pith, which as well is excluded from vital functions. In the process of storing
the minerals, pigments and tannins it becomes dark and hard. Going outwards
there is the sap wood responsible for the conduction of water and nutrients.
The next layer, cambium, is dividing during the growth period. New wood
cells grow towards inside and the bark cells grow outside. Just under the bark
there is phloem, which transport the juices. Finally there is bark, which serves
covering and protection. 3 Throughout the section of a trunk we can also see
radial rays, which are responsible for storage and also determine the character
and appereance of wood.4

Process of growth

The nutrition and growth process of a tree i based on the cycle of juices flowing
up the trunk to the leaves. In the leaves chlorofil absorbes the sun light energy and
the water is combined with the dioxygen from the air. New nutrients are being
created and later spread throughout a tree to be stored or to form new tissues. 5

In the section of a tree trunk we can see the growth rings. Bright and dark
1,3,5,7 Vigue (2010), p.15,18,19
2,4,6 Deplazes (2008), p.82 rings are arranged alternately. The first ones are called early-wood and grows in
 49

50

51

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 fig. 52 Drying of wood logs in
Switzerland

spring. The wood is porous and the walls of its cells are thin. It transports the
juices to the leaves. The other dark layer is called late-wood. It grows in autumn
and is harder and more compact. 6
The early wood layers are usually thicker
than the late ones due to the rapid growth of a tree in spring.57

Logging
Felling means separating the trunk from the roots. A tree can be cut when it reaches
a proper age. Young wood has too much sap therefore its vulnerable to insects
and cracks easily. Too old wood can be rotten inside. The best time for felling is
the early winter, when the trees do not have too much juices, which could attract
vermin. Every year one is allowed to cut down as many trees as one have planted.

The typical process of logging looks as follows:

1. After felling wood is sorted at a collection site in the foresWt where the
branches are cut from the trunks. Sometimes also the bark is removed.
2. Stems are cut into pieces, sorted and stacked ready for transport.
3. After sorting the trunks are exported from the forest to the mill as soon as
possible.
4. Upon arrival at the sawmill the logs are peeled in debarkers. Bark is
afterwards used in the mill as fuel or in the private gardens as decoration.
5. Stems are measured and cut depending on the destination. Wood used for
construction lumber is sorted by size and shape, arranged in the conveying disc
in disc in bundles and passed through a circular saw blade to cut off the ends
so that the boards are of equal length.
6. Now the wood must dry.
Wood of conifers should be peeled before being cut so as the water contained
in it could quickly evaporate.The wood from deciduous trees is not peeled to
avoid cracking due to too fast drying.
8 Vigue (2010), p.20
 52

pEtEr zumthor 94 | 95 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

The logs are cut in the way so as to minimilize the loss of material and prevent
the wood warping during the drying.8
Drying
Cut wood contains a lot of juices, which can attract insects. Fresh would may
consist up to 1/3 out of water. During the proces of drying the wood shrinks and
changes its shape. The wood dries until its water content reaches the humidity
of the surroundings. There are two mian ways of drying: naturally in the fresh
air and in the driers with hot air and vapour.10

Properties
Wood is an anisotropic material, since it consists of fibers arranged in a
certain direcition. This results in diferect propetries of the material depending
on the direction of the force which acts on it. Three directions can be
distinguished: axial - parallel to the axis of the trunk, radial - perpendicular
to the fibres and parallel to the core rays, tangential - perpendicular to fibers
and parallel to the rings.11 Parallel with the grain wood can carry tensile and
compressive stresses with ease thanks to the colullose, forming the cells of
wood, but perpendicular to the grain it has a lower compressive strength. 12

Wood is also hygroscopic, which means that it takes and gives back the
surrounding air. When wood looses water its hardness increases and so
it can be used for building purposes (timber for external works should
have moisture content of 15-18%, for internal 9-12%.13 When it absorbs
water it swells and when it is loosing it, it shrinks. The changes along
the fibres are minor but in the radial direction might reach 5-8%. 14

Wood is a porous material, what makes it a good insulator (0.13 W/mK for
9,12,13,15 Deplazes (2008). p.83
softwood and 0.20 W/mK for hardwood). The properties that goes with it, is
10 ,11, 14 Vigue (2010), p.26, 29,
density. Depending on species it ranges from 0.1 to 1.2 g/cm3. 15 31
 Another property of wood is elasticity. It describes how the material deformates
under a stressing force. An example of an elastic wood is: oak, elm, pine and fir,
while maple and deciduous wood is little elastic. Wood is also plastic: we can
easily bend young or heated wood. Different tree species has different hardness
of their wood. For example ebony, boxwood and evergreen oak are very hard,
while linden, willow and balsa are very soft. Wood has a tendency to crack and
separate along the fibers. It is resistant to abrasion in the direction perpendicular
to its fibres, less in the parallel. 16

Species
There are about 40 000 species of tree, some 600 of which are used commercially.
17
They grow in the temperatures between 00 and 550C. The amount of water
available and the strenght of wind deterWWmine the leght of their lives.

Wood of conifers (softwood):

- usually has a low density and is soft,
- its colour is bright yellow to brownish red,
- clearly visible structure due to the contrast between late and early wood,
- homogenous and ease to treat, therefore has wide applications: construction,
furniture and paper production,
- due to rapid growth is less expensive than hardwood.

Deciduous wood (hardwood):

- of high density, therefore hard (exception: balsa),
- is more durable than softwood,
- large diversity of colour and textures,
- more expensive,
16, 18-20 Vigue (2010), p.34, 35
17 Deplazes (2008). p.82 - used in construction, for veneer and tools production. 18

pEtEr zumthor 96 | 97 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 wood

Strickbau

Strickbau (eng. log cabin structure) is a method knows since the Broze Age. The
oldest house in Switzerland built using this method, called Bethlehem House, was
created around 700 years ago in Schwyz (central Switzerland).1 In Grisons (Ger.
Graubünden) the oldest examples are from the beginning of XVth century. It is a
construction method using timber logs as a basic structural unit. Strickbauten, in
German literally means knitted houses.2 This method has a longlasting tradition in
many European region, where the wood was an easily available material. However it
is still used today, sometimes using exactly the same methods that were used years ago
but sometimes in a refreshed form.
 53

pEtEr zumthor 98 | 99 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

fig. 53 Strickbau buildings in
Jenaz, Switzerland

fig. 54 Wood joints

The exterior wall

A block wall is built up from stacked logs, beams and planks. They gain their
stability from interlacing these components together at the points where
two wall structures collide. The original form of this structure was made by
unilateral interlacing. Where the log walls intersect, a notch must be cut to lock
the two walls together.3 This type of knitting is called in German ‘Strickbau’.4

We distinguish three types of log cabin structures: (Ger. Blockbau) from

round wood, half logs and square timber. The ends of the logs projecting
over the intersection, when building with round or half logs, are called in
German ‘Vorstöße’ or ‘Gwettchöpf ’. There are different types of corner
notches for walls out of logs: dovetail, V-notch, but the oldest one is
saddle notch.5 When building with square timber the often used joint
is the square notch (Ger. Zapfenstrick) or the half lap jonit, but in this
case the projecting ends are missing. (Fig.1) Moss is used for sealing.6

A block wall origins from a ‘roofhouse’, which was gradually transformed

to a standard house with vertical walls, by adding new rings on top of each
other. (fig. 2) To achieve a relatively flat wall with this technique a grown
and straight trunks are required. This fits the best the coniferous wood
(softwood) however after processing also hardwood like: oak and elm.7

The bottom ring of the building should be made out of the most durable
type of wood. in Switzerland, where the commonly used type of wood is
spruce, for the basic thresholds they use larch and for the bottom ring:
Elm. In regard to durability the still used wood species are classified as
follows: above all the oak, the larch, pine, spruce, and finally the white fir.8
When building with squared timber beams it is very important to keep in mind
1,3,5,7,9 Phleps (1989)
4,6,8 Simonet (1965) the shrinkage and cracking tendency of wood. The beam should be cut out of
 saddle notch half-lap notch

V-notch half-lap notch

54
diamond notch square notch

pEtEr zumthor 100 | 101 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

55

56

57
fig. 55 Projecting beams of a family
house in Zillertal
fig. 56 Connetion of a partition
wall with exterior wall
fig. 57 Barn and stables of Styria
and Carinthia (a roofhouse)

Partition walls

For the connection of the partition walls the same rules apply as for the outer
walls. The beams might also be projecting from the walls surface or not.
Sometimes every second log sticks out from the wall and they happend to be
ornamentally carved at the ends. ‘Malschrot’ is a timber-art, which involves
carving out sifferent shapes and letters in the beams end so that an ornament is
created on the plane of the exterior wall. 10

The connection at the corners and at the start of the partition walls is not
sufficient to ensure the position of the block beams in alignment. The work
of the wood may also cause changes in shape of the beams. To control this
inconvenience, 3 cm thick and 16 cm long dowels are embedded in the distance
of about 1.5 m on average. In cross section, it must be designed and located so
that a stress is turned transversely to the fiber from the outset. 11

Floor

As already indicated, the block wall has emerged from a threshold wreath. This
development led to the blockhouse built initially on no special foundation
but directly above the natural terrain or on a dirt floor. (fig.x) Because of the
humidity bigger, misted timber beams or a timber grate on a dry masonry base
was introduced. (fig.x) In the further phase of the development masonry was
replaced with timber support or stone posts. In case the floor rested directly
above the ground the floor planks touched the inner surface of the walls, when
the floor rested on the posts the floor planks went throughout the plane of
the wall. Later the most durable brick foundation was introduced and the
asphalt insulation was used to prevent the structure from the moisture from the
10-15 Phleps (1989),
p.64,66,72,83,84 ground.12

pEtEr zumthor 102 | 103 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 58 Swedish log cabin house with
timber roof. Phleps p.92
fig. 59 Wooden shingle from
Carinthia. Phleps, p.104
fig. 60 A barn with stone roof from
Wallis. Phleps, p.116

Roof

The structure of the truss and the properties of the materials with which the
roofing is carried out, are in mutual dependence on each other. This is expressed
especially in the roof slope. 13

Peat and sod roof

The most primitive form of a roof is the peat or sod roof. A roof executed with
these kind of covering must have an appropiate roof pitch, so that the water
can drain but the peat remains undamaged. It can be achieved through an edge
beam, giant nails, wedges or wedged nails.14

Thatched roof

The mounting and securing the straw is more diverse than in sod (turf ). Gen-
erally we distinguish.15

Timber roof

It is no surprise that already in the beginning of the development of roof

structure people rached for the easily accessible material from the forrest - wood.
The first form of the wooden roofing was a double layer of split half-timbers,
which are connected via the joints overlapping by a half width and touch with
the cleavage plane. The leakage was prevented with a covering of birch bark. 16

In the further development the lowermost layer of the cleaved logs transforrmed
into a formwork of planks, while the uppermost part retained their old shape
or also took the shape of planks. The top coating of half-timbers or planks 16-19 Phleps (1989), p.92,95
 58

59

60

pEtEr zumthor 104 | 105 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 was either suspended by placing them folded with identically configured reverse
coating, or it was supported by a plank on the edge of the eaves.17 (Fig. x).

Because of the changing weather conditions, this kind of roof coating suffers
from shrinkage, what results in leakages. These shortcomings has led to the use
of wood as top coat in a form of small planks. This is how the shingle cladding
originated.

The shingle roof

The term refers to the roof sking designed covered with split boards.
The boards come in a width of 8 to 25 cm, and a length of 25 to 100 cm.
The shingle roof (Ger. Schindeldach) has a great tradtion among the
Germanic nations. The written references date back to the 1st century. 18

For the production of shingles various species of split wood are used. There
is good and easily cleavable wood: spruce, pine, larch, fir; medium-easily
cleavable: beech, oak, alder, ash. The most durable are the oak shingles. Their
lifespan is estimated at 100 years; then follows the larch shingle with 70 to
80 years, then the pine with about 40 and most and eventually fir with 25
years’ lifetime. In high altitudes the durability of the shingles increases. To
make the shingles weather resistant, its longitudinal timber must be water
repellent so that its fibers keep their shape. This can only be reached through
spliting the wood. When cutting the wood the fibres are being torn and
become hzgroscopic, what results in the rapid degradation. During splitting
a protective lazer is incidentallz produced that is not only weather but also
fire resistant. They should be made out of knotless wood, from the trunk at
least 16-20 cm. Sometimes shingles are smoked to increase their durability. 19

20-22 Phleps (1989), p.114,116

The shingles are imbricated so that the respective joints are protected. Two
arrangements are possible: either one puts load over several layers, or one fixes
each shingle by nailing to a corresponding pad. As a result of these fixing types we
distinguish a “Legschindel- or Schwardach” and a “Nagelschindel- or Schardach”.20

The roof boards

The roof boards in its current form are among the wooden roofing types the
youngest one, because the boards are cut with the saw from the tree trunk.
The older form used planks, which were split from a log. Because of their large
dimensions, the tendency for cracks is bigger than with the shingled roof. The
boards can either be imposed alternately one on another or be laid in a double
layer and nailed. In the horizontal plane each board can only be fixed with one
nail.21

The stone roof

A peculiar roof skin can be found in the southern cantons of Switzerland, where
gneiss slabs of about 6 cm thick are used in a similar manner as the Legschindeln.
The carefully handled pieces are of a length up to 90 cm and a width of 60 cm.
These panels are laid on a particularly strong battens in a way that one layer
presses one or two layers underneath so that the roof surface stays flat, what
prevents slipping.22

pEtEr zumthor 106 | 107 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 wood

Haus Luzi

architect: Peter Zumthor

year of construction : 2002
location: Jenaz, Switzerland

type: single-family house

material: wood
type of construction: strickbau
typology: single-family house
 61

pEtEr zumthor 108 | 109 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 61 Haus Luzi, view from the
village
fig. 62 Towers diagram
fig. 63 Structure axonometry

The house is located in Jenaz, in the mountainous canton of Grisons in Switzerland.

The house was designed for a family with six children.1 It is a reinterpretation
of a traditional building method from this region called: ‘Strickbau’. (Eng.
log cabin). This is a method of constructing buildings out of wooden beams,
which are knitted with each other, forming expressive corner joints, sometimes
including projecting beams.2 Peter Zumhor has known this method well, as he
studied these wooden structures when was working for the historic preservation
authority in the very same region in the seventies.3 When family Luzi asked him
to design a two-family house for them he decided to rediscover the Strickbau. He
listed restrictions and opportunities of this method and on this basis worked out
new rules for construction and design of a series of wooden houses. (apart from
Luzi Haus, he built three houses in Leis) 4

The first limitation of the traditional Strickbau is the size of the windows. The
old structures size depended on the length of the tree trunks. As the windows
were cut in those beams, they became the weakest point in the structure of a
wall, therefore their size was relatively small. This was the starting point for the
design of the Luzi house, as the family wanted to benefit from the beautiful views
across the valley. It was enabled by placing the windows not inside a structure of
the building block but between two of them in a form of towers. Five towers are
the spatial principle of the floor plan with the vast glazing between four of them.
The fifth tower located in the center of the house, forms a concrete core of the
structure. The towers are a space for facilities: bathroom in the middle one and
staircases in the corner towers. The living rooms are located in the glazed spaces
in between. In this way the floorpan is very fluent. The bedrooms are located on
the top floor and each of them has a separate staircase leading to the living room
located on the first floor. The ground floor is intended as a flat for parents to
move to when they are retired. 5
1,2,4-7 Zumthor (2006), p.8,16
3 Zumthor (2004), p.123
 62

63

pEtEr zumthor 110 | 111 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 64 Haus Luzi, entrance
fig. 65 Haus Luzi, facade with
loggias
fig. 66 Haus Luzi, floor plan
fig. 67 Haus Luzi, section

64

65
 66

67

pEtEr zumthor 112 | 113 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

fig. 68 Haus Luzi, loggia from the
outside
fig. 69 Haus Luzi, loggia from the
inside

The corner joints were also reinterpreted as the half-lap joints in the exterior walls
with beams overlapping at the corners are no longer used but were replaced by
dovetail joints with abutting and projecting wall. This walls create window bays
and loggias, protected from wind. The interior walls serve as homogenous wall
slabs, contacted with each other with finger joints and braced with steel dowels. 6

Another significant restriction of this old construction technique was the uneven
settling of the structure caused by the shrinking wood. This problem was also
solved by Zumthor by placing the whole building on the same horizontal level
and hanging the concrete floor into the adjoining walls of wooden towers, so that
the whole structure sinks evenly. 7
The material used for the building is 300 cubic meters of spruce for the structural
parts and larch for floors, windows, stairs and doors. It came from the local
forrest and was processed in the local sawmill, so that the transport routes became
very small. Together with the fact that the parents already thought about a place
for their future so that they do not have to build another house, it makes the
building a very sustainable unit.8 Another modern quality of the design is the use
of digital software for cutting out the lumber pieces with a 2D milling machine.9

This building is a successful example of conscious working with the tradition. It

takes advantage of its opportunities and finds solutions for its limitations. Peter
Zumthor often repeats that we live in modern times so we have to build modern
buildings.10 For him traditional does not have to mean old-fashioned. He proved
this point in this design, by respecting the historical tissue but not by copying it
but by adjusting it to modern lifestyle and technical standards.

Although all the formal issues of this building method were skillfully reinvented
8 Hönig (2004)
and adopted, one aspect seems to be omitted. It is the scale, which by means
9 Zumthor (2014), p.124
10 Zumthor (1991) of multiplication of the primary log cabin unit, lost the connection with the
 68

69

pEtEr zumthor 114 | 115 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

70
 fig. 71

fig. 70 Haus Luzi, detail drawing by

Peter Zumthor
fig. 71 Photo of the model of Haus
Luzi interior by Katarzyna Gołuszka
fig. 72 Photo of the real
interior of Haus Luzi

neighboring buildings. The abundance of staircases seems to result from the rigid
conceptual foundations not an actual need. It is definitely a luxury, which makes
the huge volume of the house. The generous size of the house and the windows
combined with very thin sections of walls and roof create a disturbing contrast.
The glazed entrance to the house is in complete opposition to very intimate and
indifferent entrances of other housing units. The basic concept for he house was
to multiply the old log cabin house, somehow a five times bigger structure does
not fit in the surroundings neither from the typological nor economical point of
view.

pEtEr zumthor 116 | 117 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

71
 72

pEtEr zumthor 118 | 119 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 stone

Traditional building material

Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland, next to the Italian border. It is

a mountainous region, with narrow and steep valleys flanked by high mountains.
The ground level varies from 196 to 3000m above sea level. Monte Ceneri (554
m) is a significant cultural and natural boundary. The greater part of the canton
is located north, called Sopraceneri, and to the south is the Sottoceneri, where
in contrast to the crystalline rocks of the North (gneiss and granite) we can
find sedimentary deposits of lime.The construction of rural houses was mainly
determined by the availability and accessibility of the material. In the Northern
Ticino widespread use of blockbau structure may be observed due to the existing
of large areas of coniferous forests. However the predominant building material
in the whole Ticino region is stone. The numerous quarries offered granite and
gneiss, which make for excellent building blocks: durable and easy to divide
(especially gneiss). In this way they are very suitable for constructing the walls
and covering the roofs. In southern Ticino no gneiss can be found - only lime
and pebbles of moraines and river valleys.1
 73

pEtEr zumthor 120 | 121 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 73 Traditional stone building in
Giornico, Switzerland

Dry wall structure

Stone in Ticino has been used for constructing buildings as well as retaining
walls. Walls were primary constructed in a form of dry walls, without
connecting mortar. The carefully matched bricks were stacked together and
held by their mutual support. This required a certain thickness of a wall, which
for the dry wall was at least 50cm. The height of the walls was limited. They
were also prone to verim and penetration of water and wind. This is why the
joints started to be sealed with a mixture of clay and sand. Inside the living
rooms man used whitewash and subsequently lime for that purpose. These
different techniques allow a relative dating of the buildings. The dry stone wall
had been used for centuries until 19th century, when it entirely ceased to be
practiced.
There was a special attention paid to the corners of buildings, where the stones
were placed alternately: once with the stone head at the eaves wall side another
on the gable wall side. Sometimes the door were placed next to the corners, so
that the whole thickness of a drywall was visible.2

Mortar masonry

With the mortar masonry the wall thickness and the construction of building
corners stayed the same. The common recipe for the mortar was 16 parts of
white lime+ 84 parts of sand. In southern Ticino the irregular lime and
river pebbles required mortar or wall anchors. Only later the mortar started
to cover the stone blocks, as if they were swimming in the mortar mixture.
(Fig.?) In Graubünden whitewashed houses were very popular. However in
the southern Ticino only the representative houses were plastered and painted
colourfully in an Italian manner.

1,2 Gschwend (1976), p.11,35,

 Vaults

In areas where the dry walls were erected the technique of making the false
vaults was practiced. In southern Ticino especially the rotunda structures
with corbelled domes. In this technique the following layers of blocks are
stacked so that the above one in part lies on the bottom one and the other
part is cantilevered toward the middle of the vault. In this way the layers come
closer from all sides and stick together on top. However the top stone must be
covered with a larger plate-like stone not to fall inside. This technique requires
a relatively thick wall in order to obtain sufficient strength. They were usually
used in ice cellars or small mountain huts, which protected shepherd from bad
weather. One can find gabled roof or slightly domed ceilings, where the stones
are vertically positioned in a hard layer of mortar. Cross vault with plaster can
be found in the kitchens and corridors as well as great arcades in the cities of
Ticino. Vaults are also common at doors and gates, passages and staircases and
the arcades on the ground floor of many houses.

Relieving arch

An relieving arch is built over a lintel or architrave to take off the super
incumbent weight. These structures are visible in Ticino above door and
windows. The simplest discharge arc or rather a triangle is made out of two
roof-shaped plates that transfer the load from above the lintel to the walls on
sides of the opening. There are also rare examples of vaoussior vault, made of
wedge-shaped stones stuck vertically into mortar to shape an arch or a vault.
When using a wooden lintel there is no need of using a relieving arch.

pEtEr zumthor 122 | 123 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 II.

MIROSLAV ŠIK

mirosLav sik 124 | 125 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 miroslav Šik

PROFILE

M iroslav Sik is a Professor of Architecture and Design at ETH, where he has run his own design studio since 1999.
He was born in 1953 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. In 1968 he emigrated to Switzerland together with his family.
Between 1972 and 78 he studied architecture at ETH Zurich under Rossi, Campi and Consolascio. He completed his
practical studies under Helmut Jahn in Chicago. Between 1980 and 83 he worked as a researcher for the Institute for
History and Theory of Architecture (gta) at ETH, studying modern Swiss architecture after World War II. In 1983 he
became the senior Assistant of the chair of Professor Fabio Reinhart. The studio was known as Analoge Architektur, a
movement in architecture initiated by Sik. The results of the studio teaching together with a manifesto were presented in
1987 on an Exhibition in Zurich and other european cities. In 1987 Sik founded his own architecture firm in Zurich.1 He
completed two designs for catholic centres, residential buildings and few conversions in Switzerland.2 In 2012 he was an
author of the exhibition for the Swiss Pavilion at Biennale in Venice called ‘And Now the Ensemble !!!’, which he created
in collaboration with two other Swiss architectural offices.3
 74

mirosLav sik 126 | 127 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 Miroslav Šik

Analoge Architektur

A naloge Architektur was a studio ran by Fabio Reinhart at ETH between 1983 and
91. Reinhart was an assistant of Aldo Rossi in the Typological Studio at ETH in
the 70’s.4 Being under a strong influence of his past teacher he named his own studio
after Rossi’s ‘analogous architecture’ described in the book ‘Citta Analogà’ from 1966.5
However Reinhart’s studio was a critical response to the teachings of his master as the
new Analogue Architecture favoured poetic sensivity in working with analogies over
purely typological approach of Rossi.6 It was also a criticism of Post-Modernism and
orthodoxies of Ticinese School, which one of members was Mario Botta.7 The studio
became a school within a school in a spirit of a Beaux Arts School atelier. 8,9 Reinhart’s
asssitants were Luca Ortelli, Santiago Calatrava and Miroslav Sik.10 It was Sik, who
later became the driving force and the movement’s spokesman. He presented the work
of the Analoge studio in Architekturforum Zurich in 1987 and explained it with an
accompanying manifesto.11 The designs were presented in a form of large perspectivical
drawings in a realistic manner. Among the ‘Analoge students’ we could find Valerio
Olgiati, Andreas Deplazes, Quintus Miller and Paola Maranta.12 Although the studio
ceased to exist, in the work of the last two, who became professional partners, Sik
himself and his present teachings we can still find the qualities of Analoge Architektur.
(Fig.x)
 75

76

mirosLav sik 128 | 129 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 74 Miroslav Sik in Swiss
Pavilion at Biennale di Venezia 2012
fig. 75 A design from Analoge
Architektur exhibition for a
restaurant by Christoph Matys,
1987
fig. 76 St. Gotthard Hospice, North
View. Miller&Maranta http://ead.
nb.admin.ch/web/euk/index.htm

Analoge Architektur manifesto.

Miroslav Sik, Zurich 1987

Analogous architecture is a criticism of: Modernism and its tabula rasa approach to
architecture, neo-modern tendencies, new orthodoxies in Switzerland including Post-
Modernism and Ticinese School and last but not least Internationalism. In opposition,
Analogue Architecture works with the context of the site, trying to demosnstrae its
atmosphere in the architectonic form. It believs that every setting should provoke a
different response.11 There are three constituents of the Analoge Movement: Alienation
of the Classics, Regionalism and Concrete Architecture.

Alienation of the Classics

Classics are ‘living architecture’, that relegates the present to the position of the
background noise. They have many facets so that they can proudly withstand the
passing of time. Their poetic serves to express with greater intensity and refinement
certain characteristics of urban reality. Classicism has the power to syntheticise the
peculiarities of the city with greater picturesqueness and universality than an exact
reproduction of the surroundings. Alienation does not mean copying but improvising.
Classical improvisation is based on stylistic knowledge which, as a kind of resistance
when it comes to drawing up a project, forces one to realize a creative interpretation.

Regionalism
Regionalism creates a new poetics based on what is local, burlesque and secondary.
Therefore the sources of inspiration are: the province, the anonymous architecture 1 arch.ethz.ch
2 Wirz (2012)
of builders and amateurs and also the architecture of secondary buildings.
3 Mascheroni (2012)
Regionalism defends the existence of an architectural microcosm. It is against
4,6,8,10,12 Davidovici (2013)
museums and conservation of relics at the same time against restoration in the 5,7,11 Turnbull (1987)
name of international culture. It is a genuine popular culture and not a culture of 9,11 Peters (1988)
the elite. 13 Sik (1987)
 Concrete Architecture
Words castrates meaning, ideology enslaves aesthetics, the art of tendencies
trivializes poetry. Do not reproduce reality with images of totality, use abstract,
partial forms, do not quote, limit yourself to reproducing a given atmosphere,
be careful with collages, Relate European forms to other exotic and archaic
forms. In concrete art, urban places are reproduced poetically through the
aesthetic value of colors, surfaces and lightning effects. Abstraction can lead
to the disappearance of all traces of meaning. Concrete art has the capacity to
transmit meaning directly, by means of conventional, comprehensible forms.
Defend and protect the new realism. Study all the moderns, analyse the periphery
and take an interest in the world of concrete art. Plan classical, regional and
concrete art. Become an analogous architect!13

mirosLav sik 130 | 131 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 Miroslav Šik

‘And now the Ensemble !!!’

In 2012 Miroslav Sik together with two other Swiss architectural offices,
Knapkiewicz&Fickert and Miller&Maranta, designed the exhibition for the Swiss
Pavilion at the Biennale in Venice called ‘And now the Ensemble!!!’. The installation
is formed by a big photo-collage of buildings designed by aforementioned architects,
photographed by Michael Zim. It criticizes iconic buildings made by starchitects and
encourages a dialogue-based design, concerned with the charactersitics of the site and
its surroundings.14

“What is called for and challenged today is our ability to collectively shape the city and its
architecture into a colorful yet coherent whole, into an ensemble in which all inhabitants
and designers play a dedicated and creative part.” 15

Sik encourages architects not to design solitary buildings but ensembles by seeing a single
building as a part of a bigger whole. We should design with tradition of the place and its
history to help it keep its identity for next generations. Sik is fond of working with buildings
of a smaller scale and secondary functions, because he believes that they form the local, every
day atmospehere of the place.16
 77

mirosLav sik 132 | 133 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 Designing an ensemble

According to Miroslav Sik every new building is capable of starting a dialogue

with its surrounding, even if the tissue it is being placed in looks very fragmented
and incoherent. It is because “The ensemble… is neither a contrasting nor holistic
form. It refers back to its own history, but also reflects aspects of the spirit of the
current times. It has contextual roots while also integrating architectures foreign to
it. It is multi-layered, yet equipped with its own singular identity.” The historic
ensembles were designed ina very coherent way, this is why we enjoy the space
and atmosphere they create. Today we face a challange of finding an identity
within variety, marrying adjacent buildings. At the same time we should respect
solitary buildings, which tend to be dominant. 16

The ensemble as a design

Designing an ensemble has to be based on enetring a dialogue with adjacent

buildings. It may be achieved byrelating to their color schemes, detials, volumes or
distinctive features. The most often reasons for ignorant spectacular architecture
is unexciting context. However we should find beauty in small things, that may
not be outstanding but are inevitable for creating the atmosphere of the place.
Because “No setting exists more than once.” Time and nature help integrating the
building into its surroundings by adding patina, vegetation and traces of human
existence.17
 fig. 77 Collage from ‘And now the
Ensemble !!!’ exhibition in Swiss
Pavilion at Biennale di Venezia 2012
fig. 78 St. Antonius Rectory
conversion by Miroslav Sik, 1997-
2002
fig. 79 St. Antonius Rectory
situation plan (the ensamble)
fig. 80 St. Antonius Roman Catholic
Parish Centre in Egg, Switzerland by
Miroslav Sik, 1988-1997
fig. 81 Drawing of an initial design
How to design an ensemble?
for community centre at St.
Antonius Rectory by Miroslav Sik
Designing an ensemble means choosing from variety of a setting a few fig. 82 Executed design of
characteristic allusions, emulating them, and at the same time mixing them community centre at St. Antonius
with other architectures that may be alien to the particular setting. Rectory by Miroslav Sik
fig. 83 Floor plan of community
An additional alienation of the images through unexpected- indeed odd- centre at St. Antonius Rectory by
Miroslav Sik
looking- details ensures that, in lieu of blatant collage-like hybrid, an analogy
comes about in which the mixed references fuse to create new unity.

The appropriateness of the selected architecture is dictated not by a fashionable

style, but by the milieu of its use, images and functions.

It should be clear here that the setting and the building brief always leave
room for an abundance of suitable references. They are the stuff that the poetic
ensemble is made of.

The unique features and the organic history of the setting demand of the
building artist an empathy and an ongoing engagement with the region, until
he or she is able to grasp the particular qualities of living and residing in the
inherited world there.18

14 Mascheroni (2012)
15,16 Sik (2012)
17 Sik (2012)

mirosLav sik 134 | 135 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

78
 79

80

mirosLav sik 136 | 137 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

81

82
 83

mirosLav sik 138

138 || 139
139 BUILDING IN CONTEXT
 III.

COURTYARD BUILDING

courtyard BuiLdinG 140 | 141 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 courtyard building

THE ENCLOSED GARDEN

A n enclosed garden in a courtyard building is a place where architecture meets the landscape. It has an ambiguous
nature as it can be perceived at the same time as an outdoor and indoor space. It has a long history, which started
with an idea of a paradise, translated by many cultures to different architectural forms. However the main objective if an
enclosed garden was for a human to reconnect with nature.1

This picture of Peter Zumthor sitting at the table in his atelier, in my opinion, depicts a perfect ambient for working and
studying. Peter is facing a window, which is filled with a view of the green courtyard next to his atelier and home. The
plants cast soft shadows onto fine curtains. The atmosphere is serene and inspiring. I believe that in today’s fast pace of life,
we should work in spaces of a high quality, which facilitate focusing and musing.
 84

courtyard BuiLdinG 142 | 143 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 84 Peter Zumthor in his atelier
fig. 85 A scheme of an oasis
fig. 86 Oasis in Toconao, Chile
fig. 87 House of the Silver Wedding
fig. 88 A scheme of a Roman house

Oase

An oasis is an area on a desert, with vegetation usually concentrated around a

water spring. It gives a shelter for human and animals from a relentless heat. It
has always been a symbol of a salvation or a relief. Later on it has been connected
with a sacred notion of Paradise, a place of eternal harvest. It has been central to
many cultures for centuries. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam it was called a
Garden of Eden. A place, were people ofter death are in direct contact with God.
It is a symbol of human aspirations: a place of eternal happines. In Medieval
europe Garden of Eden was believed to be a tangible space on earth, to be
eventually founded.2

Roman house

The enclosed garden was an integral part of the Roman house. A most popular
form of a house was filling the whole plot, so that the light could only get
from above. This is why two types of top-lit spaces evolved: the atrium at the
front of the house, and the peristyle garden at the rear. Because of the fact that
both courtyards were located on an axis, it was possible to see right throught
them from the street, what created a spatial continuity inside the house. The
first space, galled atrium, has a water tank in the middle, called impluvium for
collecting the rain water. The other space, peristyle, was a garden at the back
of the house, surrounded with a covered colonnade. In the garden one could
find trees, plants, food and herbs. Sometimes there was also a fountain. Rooms
were carefully arranged around those open spaces, so that it made a theatre of a
family life.3

1-3 Baker (2012), p.75,76

 85

86

87

88

courtyard BuiLdinG 144 | 145 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 89

90

91 92
fig. 89 The Little Garden of
Paradise. Upper Rheinish Master
c.1410.
fig. 90 A scheme of a hortus
conclusus
fig. 91 Court of Lions in Nazrid
Palace
fig. 92 A scheme of an Islamic
palace

Hortus Conclusus

After the fall of the Roman empire the garden was gaining a big religious
significance. It was seen as a closed and seperated world. In Christianity it was
presented as hortus conlcusus with Virgin Mary sitting in a garden enclosed
by stone walls, full of symbolic plants. The walled garden symbolises Mary’s
virginity. The flowers: lilies - represent her purity, violets - her humility.
Paintings of the annunciation present Mary in a colonnaded space, between the
garden and the house. The colonnade give her a safe location for the encounter
with the Angel Gabriel.4

Islamic palace

In the Islamic religion garden wasan expression of an Earthly Paradise. The

layout of such garden is based on geometry of a square, and its division into
four. There is a fountaint in the middle and the water flows from it into four
channels, dividing the floor into four even squares. The fountain repreents God
and the channels four rivers, which divide the world into four continents. This
type of garden is called Chahar Bagh. This garden is usually enclosed and there
is a collonade around it, which frame the view of the garden and symbolize
trees. A great example of a Chahar Bagh garden is the Nazrid Palace of the
Alhambra complex in Spain. There are three interconnected palaces, each with
its own courtyard. There is no visual connexiton between courtyards or exterior
world. Although every patio is based on the same scheme of a simple cuboid
geometry, through different architectural expressions each of them received a
unique character.5

4,5 Baker (2012), p.79, 82-91

courtyard BuiLdinG 146 | 147 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

fig. 93 House Riad
fig. 94 A scheme of a riad house
fig. 95 A scheme of a Casa Patio
fig. 96 A view through a reja into
the courtyard of casa patio in
Cordoba

Arab house (Riad)

An enclosed garden was also included into a design of an Islamic House. It

was not only because of the symbolism of the Earthly Paradise, but also due
to the climate and social conditions. In Maghreb, North Africa a typical town
house is very introverted and turns back to the street. The life of an Arab
family concentrates around a courtyard in the middle of a house. It has no
visual connection with the street, as it is the main place, where the woman
can experience the outside world. It has an imposed square geometry, has high
walls and colonnade providing shade. In Marocco there is a particula type of
this house called riad. It literally means a house around a garden. There is a big
contrast between the peaceful and open courtyard in riad and the noisy and dark
street outside the house. Walls are usually painted white, there is some greenery
and sometimes a pool.6

Casa Patio

In Cordoba, Southern Spain a courtyard house, casa patio, has survied hundreads
of years. The terraced houses in the Cordoba look very modest from the side of
the street. However, there are big wooden doors, which are usually open, that
allows to have a glimpse of the brautiful garden placed in the middle of the
house. These patios are usually very bright and contain abundance of potted
plants. Sometimes there is also a grilled gate, called reja, which allows the passer-
by to have a look into the courtyard but keep him from enetring it. In the bigger
units there sometimes are two courtyards and the second is usually completly
private, located away from the street.7

6,7 Baker (2012), p.92-95, 99-101

 93 94

95 96

courtyard BuiLdinG 148 | 149 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 97

98

99

100
 fig. 97 Gothic cloister of Sant Joan
de les Abadesses monastery
fig. 98 A scheme of a monastery
fig. 99 A dry garden in Ryoan-ji Zen
temple in Kyoto, Japan
fig. 100 A scheme of a Zen temple

Monastery

In the late Middle Ages the growth of Christianity favored the expansion of
monasteries throughout Europe. The archtectural design had to express the
practice and beliefs of the order. There ere two main spaces in a monastery:
the church and the cloister garden. The church was a place of worship, and the
cloister garden a place for meditaion, representing the Garden of Eden. All of the
other spaces as rooms for eating, sleeping and working were placed around the
garden and connected by a cloister walk.
Usually the cloister garden was simply grassed, but sometimes there were symbolic
plants and herbs placed in it. Sometimes, like in Le Thoronet, there was a place
for a ritual cleansing and everydau cleaning called lavabo. It was the only physical
intrusion into the space of the courtyard.8

Zen temple

For Zen monks, the way to reach the enlightment was through ‘the meditation
of natural phenomena’. That meant for them reducing the nature to its essence,
but preserving its expression. They achieved it through the construction of the
dry gardens, were there are only rocks or bushes placed on gravel carefully raked.
They symbolize islands and mountains surrounded by the sea. The only person
who is allowed to access the garden is the monked responsible for raking the
gravel, what is at the same time a form of contemplation for him. All the other
visitors are allowed to stay on the wooden veranda. The garden is places in the
corner, enclosed with stone wall from two sides, which serves as a background for
visitors looking at the garden from the verand in the opposite corner. Eveything
is carefully placed: the bigger and darker stones framing the area of the garden,
the overhangs of the veranda framing the view and protecting from sun and the
rain. The composition of the architecture and nature are in a perfect harmony.9 8,9 Baker (2012), p.106, 117-120

courtyard BuiLdinG 150 | 151 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 a courtyard building

Serpentine Gallery

architect: Peter Zumthor

year of construction : 2010-11
location: London, England

type: pavilion
material: wood
type of construction: frame structure
typology: courtyard building
 101

102

courtyard BuiLdinG 152 | 153 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 101 Courtyard in Serpentine
Pavilion in London from 2011 by
Peter Zumthor
fig. 102 Exterior skin of the pavilion
fig. 103 Situation plan
fig. 104 Longitudinal section
fig. 105 Floor plan

Every year a diffrent architect is inviteed to design a temporary architectural

installation, called Serpentine Pavilion in the London’s Hyde Park. In 2011 it
was Peter Zumthor who proposed a Hortus Conclusus an enclosed garden. The
building was an enlongated rectangle with a narrow courtyard inside. Around the
garden there was a cantilevered roof, under which seats were placed for visitors
to relax and look onto the plants. Peter Zumthor invited Piet Oudolf to create
the garden in a way that different plants were blossoming at a different time, so
that the composition would be ever changing. Peter Zumthor explains the fact
that this garden is located inside a green park, with an aim to create a garden
within a garden, a sanctuary, where the whole building will act like a maginfying
glass and all attention will be focused on the plants. Black impersonal walls and
lack of detail in the building serves this purpose very well. 1

Analysis

The building has 6 entrances: 3 from the north-west side an three opposite
on the south-east wall. The entrances are very inconspicuous- simple holes in
the wall. There is a dark corridor running along the exterior wall. From this
corridor 4 entrances lead to the courtyard. In this way the visitors experience a
big contrast between the dark inside and very bright courtyard space. A bench
runs along the inner wall. You can not cross the courtyard, you can only go
around it under a cantilevered roof. The roof gives the space an intermediate
feel between the outside and the inside of the building. The courtyard in total
(from a wall to wall) is 31m long and 9 meters wide, which makes a proportion
of around 1 to 3. The belt of vegetation inside has a proportion of almost 1 to
10. The proportion of the height to the eaves to the courtyards width is 1 to 3.
This makes the space feel more like a room than an outdoor garden.

1 Zumthor (2014) vol.5

 0 5m
103

104

105

courtyard BuiLdinG 154 | 155 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 106 Spatial organization of the
building: red- uncovered courtyard,
brown - cloister, beige - interior
corridor
fig. 107 Entrances: brown- to the
building, red- to the courtyard space
fig. 108 Picture from the model
showing the space of the courtyard -
‘hortus conlusus’
fig. 109 Picture from the model
showing a section through the
courtyard

106

107
 108

109

courtyard BuiLdinG 156 | 157 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 courtyard

Le Thoronet

architect: master mason

year of construction : late XIIth century
location: Le Thoronet, France

type: Cisterian Abbey Cloister

material: stone
type of construction: masonry
typology: courtyard
 110

111

courtyard BuiLdinG 158 | 159 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 110 Courtyard bird’s eye view
of the Le Thoronet courtyard
fig. 111 Cloister in Le Thoronet
fig. 112 Entrances to the courtyard
fig. 113 Spatial organization of the
building: red- uncovered courtyard,
brown - cloister, beige - interior
rooms
fig. 114 A picture from the model
showing the courtyard with the
lavatorium
fig. 115 A picture of the model
showing the section through the
courtyard
fig. 116 A picture from the model
showing the view from the highest
point of the cloister corridor
fig. 117 A picture from the model
showing the view from the lowest
point of the cloister corridor

Le Thoronet is a XIIIth century Cisterian Monastery located in southern France

in the middle of a forest on a small slope. The building seems to grow out of
the landscape. Its layout is untypical for medieval monasteries as the cloister
is located north of the church instead of south, so that the church is in the
highest point. Another exception is the irregular plan of the courtyard, which is
a trapezoid instead of a rectangle. The whole complex is following the slope and
the height difference between the southern and northern part is around 3m.1
This is why the cloister includes series of steps, what makes it a remarkable space.
The line of arched windows connecting the inside with the courtyard are carved
in an extremely thick stone wall. That results in a magnificent play of light
and shadow, which together with the stairs, perpendicular corridors going up
and down and vaulted ceilings create a fascinating, dynamic spatial experience.
The arcades niches are perfect for contemplating the nature of the cortyard,
while being sheletered from the rain, wind and sun. The trapezoidal space of
the courtyard is intrded by a hexagonal lavatorium, which in monasteries is
commonly used for everyday and ritual washing. Spatailly it becomes a focus of
the space and gives the courtyard a direction.

1 Baker (2012) p.110

 112

113

courtyard BuiLdinG 160 | 161 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

114

115
 116

117

courtyard BuiLdinG 162 | 163 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 courtyard

Palazzo Turconi

architect: Luigi Fontana

year of construction : mid 1800’s
location: Mendrisio, Switzerland

type: originally hospital, now university

material: stone
type of construction: masonry
typology: courtyard building
 118

119

courtyard BuiLdinG 164 | 165 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

120

121
fig. 118 A view of the courtyard in
Palazzo Turconi, Mendrisio
fig. 119 A historic picture of the
Palazzo Turconi serving as a hospital,
with the cloister opened to the
courtyard
fig. 120 An enclosed corridor
around the courtyard in Palazzo
Turconi
fig. 121 A picture from the model
recreating the same view, before the
cloister was closed off with windows
fig. 122 A picture from the model
showing rhe space of the courtyard
of Palazzo Turconi
fig. 123 Entrances: brown- to the
building, red- to the courtyard.
fig. 124 Spatial organization of the
building: red- uncovered courtyard,
brown - interior cloister, beige -
interior rooms
fig. 125 Picture of the model
showing the section through the
courtyard of Palazzo Turconi

courtyard BuiLdinG 166 | 167 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 122

123
 124

125

courtyard BuiLdinG 168 | 169 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 IV.

DESIGN

dEsiGn 170 | 171 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 context

MENDRISIO AND AAM CAMPUS

T he location of the project is in the city of Mendrisio in southern Switzerland, in a canton of Ticino. Mendiriso is
located in a valley very near to the Italian border, 358m above sea level. It has a dual character on one hand side of an
Alpine region because of the snowy, cold winters and on the other - Mediterranean, with hot summer and lush vegetation.
In recent years the city has gained recognition thanks to the foundation of USI Università della Svizzera italiana, in 1996.
The faculty of Architecture is located in Mendrisio and was founded by a well-known ticinese architect Mario Botta. The
school today has a worldwide renown, thanks to many respected architects from around the Europe who are teaching
there. The campus in Mendrisio consists of 4 main buildings: Palazzo Canave, where bachelor students atelier as well as
the workshop is located, Villa Argentina, where there is a Dean’s office, Palazzo Turconi with graduate students ateliers
and soon with the library, and finally the newest one by Mario Botta: Teatro della Archittetura comprising exhibition and
conference spaces. The site of the project is located in the proximity of the last two.
 126

design 172 | 173 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 126 AAM students working in
Palazzo Turconi
fig. 127 Palazzo Turconi front
elevation
fig. 128 Palazzo Turconi back
elevation
fig. 129 Villa Argentina front
elevation
fig. 130 Villa Argentina back
elevation

127

128
 129

130

design 174 | 175 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

PALAZZO CANAVÉE

131

132
fig. 131 Palazzo Canavée main
entrance
fig. 132 Palazzo Canavée back
entrance

design 176 | 177 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 context

The plot and urban situation

The plot is located next to the north-west boundary of the campus in its lower level
as the height of the terrain lowers towards the north. On the plot itself the height
difference is 4m. The whole campus is divided in to by a main communication
route, via Turconi. Students enter the site either from the side of this road as
there is a bus stop there or from the north were there is a pedestrian route leading
from the railway station. There are also secondary entrances to the site behind the
church and thorugh Turconi building. As there is no main route throughout the
whole campus, but many small ones around the buildings, many of them have
more than one entrance, from different sides. Also if we look at the position of the
buildings’ fronts we can observe that Turconi, church and Teatro della Architettura
have their backs oriented towards the site. All of the above observations have led
me to the conlcusion that the designed buidling, should react to the fact that an
imporant communication route drom the railway station is leading through it,
does not have to have a clear front and should have more than one entrance.
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design 178 | 179 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 133 Bird’s eye view of the
Mendrisio
fig. 134 Morphology of the terrain
fig. 135 Public transport
fig. 136 Fronts of the buildings
fig. 137 Site accesses

134

135
 136

137

design 180 | 181 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

138

139
fig. 138 Western view of the site
fig. 139 Northern view of the site
fig. 140 Southern view of the site
fig. 141 South-eastern view of the
site

140

141

design 182 | 183 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 context

Atmosphere and details

There are many elements comprising the identity and atmosphere of the campus.
One of them is many different styles of the campus buildings from the XIXth century
villa and palazzo, through a minimal modern XXI st century Canavee and Teatro
della Architettura. Between these buildings, next to the Villa Argentina, there is a
beautiful park complex, with abandoned romantic ruins with spiral staircases, arcades
and even a small tower. As the campus is located on a significant slope there are many
retaining walls in a form of overgrown stone walls everywhere. Inside these walls are
big wooden or grill gates, usually open, providing an access to different areas. Because
of the strong sun in the summer period, almost all of the surrounding residential
units are equipped with wooden window shutters. The only ornament on the
plastered elevation to be found are these shutters, which are sometimes very colourful
or projecting optically decreasing the height of the buildings. All of this creates an
atmosphere of a small village, with many secret passages between the buildings and
through the buildings. There are many different ways to get from A to B. I would like
to continue this theme with my design.
 142

design 184 | 185 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 143

144

145
 fig. 142 Spiral staircase at AAM
campus
fig. 143 Stone fence at AAM
campus
fig. 144 Stone retaining wall at
AAM campus
fig. 145 Abandoned arcades at AAM
campus
fig. 146 A passage in the church wall
next to the site
fig. 147 A wooden gate leading to
the site area

146

147

design 186 | 187 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

148

149

150
fig. 148 Arcades in Villa Argentina
fig. 149 Framed landscape north of
the site
fig. 150 Framed landscape east from
the site
fig. 151 Big retaining limestone wall
at the northern border of the site
fig. 152 A stone floor in Villa
Argentina

151

152

design 188 | 189 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 153 Simple stone cornices on a
building next to the plot
fig. 154 Ornamentale stone cornices
on a building in AAM campus area
fig. 155 Window shutters from a
building at AAM campus
fig. 156 Window shutters from a
building at AAM campus

153

154
 155

156

design 190 | 191 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 design concept

Collages

When we have visited Miroslav Sik’s studio at ETH during the trip in November 2015,
we have decided to talk to students from his atelier. Next to the working place of one of
them we noticed very fascinating images that were hanging on the walls, which looked
familiar to us. The student explained that it is an design exercise, where students have
to come up with their design concept by combining elements from existing buildings.
The first collage that I have made combines work by Peter Zumthor and Rudolf
Olgiati. It expresses my fascination about different tectonic characteristics of wood
and masonry structures. The wood skeleton structure comes from the Zinc Museum
design by Zumthor and the solid walls are elements of one of Olgiati’s houses in
Graubünden, Switzerland. I have combined those two materials of different nature
in my final design. The second collage shows a concept of a school located around
a courtyard. I used elements from Peter Zumthor Serpentine Gallery in London,
wooden structure from a House for elderly people in Chur, a view from around his
house and atelier in Haldenstein and a student atelier from Academy of Architecture
in Mendrisio. This image represents the atmosphere of tranquility that I wanted to
recreate in my design, but also a route that will lead through the building next to the
garden.
 157

158 159

design 192 | 193 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

160

161

162
 fig. 157 A collage showing an
abstract stone and wood hybrid
structure
fig. 158 House designed by Rudolf
Olgiati
fig. 159 Zinc Mine Museum in
Norway by Peter Zumthor
fig. 160 Hortus Conclusus by Peter
Zumthor
fig. 161 Peter Zumthor Atelier new
building in Haldenstein
fig. 162 Elderly people housing in
Chur by Peter Zumthor
fig. 163 A collage presenting a
school with a courtard

163

design 194 | 195 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 design concept

Courtyard and atelier

As mentioned in the personal research a courtyard is a special fascination of mine. In

my design for an architecture school I wanted to recreate the atmosphere from the
picture, where Peter Zumthor sits in his atelier looking into the enclosed garden. In
Japanese Zen temples the gardens play a symbolic role and are a place of meditation.
The images of the lush garden emerging from behind shojis are very appealing to me.
I believe that in an architecture school a green courtyard can serve many functions:
provide a green and peaceful view from inside the ateliers that will help students to
focus and relax, help navigate around the building on a micro scale and campus on
a macro scale and last but not least will be a meeting place and recreation area for
students, teachers and visitors. The graphic by Eva le Roi made me realize that not
only windows but the buildings themselves can frame the view. The size of the plot
restricted the size of the courtyard to similar proportions of the Serpentine Pavilion
in London designed in 2011 by Zumthor. The narrow green belt serves there rather
aesthetic than functional purposes. In case of my school, the pedestrian traffic takes
place on the pathway around the garden, however there will be a possibility to enter
on the lawn, sit and look into the mountains, framed by the roof.
 164

165

166

167

design 196 | 197 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

170
fig. 164 Peter Zumthor working in
his atelier
fig. 165 Courtyard in Serpentine
Pavilion by Peter Zumthor
fig. 166 View into a courtyard from
a zen temple
fig. 167 ‘verschaffel’ a graphic by
Eva Le Roi
fig. 168 Design: the courtyard
fig. 169 Design: the atelier
fig. 170 Design: a picture from the
model presenting a corridor adjacent
to the exterior wall of the building
and students’ ateliers
fig. 171 Design: part of the building
housing students ateliers and
workshop presented on a model 171
fig. 172 Design: space of the
courtyard
fig. 173 Design: a view through the
atelier

172

173

design 198 | 199 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 design concept

Urban Planning

On the morphological level the building follows the shape and the slope of the plot.
Its shape can be described as a bended rectangle with chamfered edges and a cut
out middle. The neighboring buildings are a collection of different typologies and
shapes. This is why the new building for graduate students by not resembling any
other form from the context, paradoxically fits perfectly to the surroundings. It
transforms this random composition of buildings into an ensemble, as defined by
Miroslav Sik. However it takes more than a shape to create an ensemble - it is also
about the contribution to the urban situation, materials and details. As a response
to the campus urban situation, the new building for the graduates will serve as an
entrance gate from the northern side of the campus on the ground floor level. On the
lower level it will be a connector between Palazzo Turconi and Teatro dell’architettura,
as there are underground passages between those buildings. The new building has
two entrances: from the street and from the piazza in front of Turconi. There is an
outdoor route leading between them, through the building, along the courtyard. It is
an analogy to other buildings of the campus, which also tend to have many entrances
and one can walk through them.
 Graduate school of architecture

Teatro dell’architettura

Palazzo Turconi 20m

174

design 200 | 201 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 design

Floor plans

The building has three levels: ground floor, a mezzanine and an underground level.
Ground floor is organized around the courtyard: all of the rooms are facing the enclosed
garden and are accessible from the cloister around it. The main route connecting the
campus with the pedestrian path from the railway station goes through the ground
floor, next to the courtyard. This is why this part of the walkway is slightly wider and
is made out of ramps to make it usable for the handicapped. The student ateliers are
located in the eastern part of the building, also on the mezzanine floor above. All of
the ateliers are directly connected with the workshop area underground by staircases.
There is a secondary route going along the exterior wall of the building. The part,
where the teachers offices are located is in the opposite half of the building and is only
one floor high to let the sun into the courtyard. In the south-western part, next to
Turconi and the piazza there is a foyer. The glazed facade opens to the courtyard and
in this way the space can be used for exhibitions and presentations. In the foyer there
is an elevator and a staircase leading to the workshop.ws a workshop with students
working places in the eastern side and machines, materials shop and storage in the
western side with the access for the supply car from the north-west elevation. There
is a big storage space next to the corridor leading to Turconi.
 175

176

177

design 202 | 203 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

2m

178
 2m

179

design 204 | 205 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

2m

180
fig. 174 Design: situation plan
fig. 175 A floor plan of the
community centre in Egg by
Miroslav Sik
fig. 176 An overview of the
community centre in Egg by
Miroslav Sik
fig. 177 A floor plan of the
Serpentine Gallery by Peter
Zumthor
fig. 178 Design: ground floor plan
of the school
fig. 179 Design: mezzanine floor
plan of the school
fig. 180 Design: underground floor
plan of the school
fig. 181 Design: groundfloor plan
of the school (original image scale
1:100)

design 206 | 207 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 design

Sections

In the cross section of the school there is a strong resemblance in proportions to the
section of Zumthor’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. This makes the courtyard feel like
another room in the building, full of greenery and light. We can also see different
natures of the exterior and interior wall. The exterior one is made out of concrete
and limestone blocks, therefore it has to have a certain thickness and it is a solid
volume. Meanwhile the wall next to the courtyard is made entirely out of wood
and glass that fills wooden window frames. It is much thinner and has rhythmical
structure based on 1,2m module. (Deriving from 0,12m module that Zumthor used
in Luzi Haus). The slope of the roof is slight, on one hand to reduce the height of
the courtyard facade, and on the other to provide sufficient height of the mezzanine
floor. In the longitudinal section we can see the building following the slope. Within
its boundaries there is a total of 3m height difference, and one more meter just before
the bottom entrance gate. In this way almost all of the ateliers are situated on a
different levels. Because of the solid stone structural walls this variety of height can
be only visible in the corridor part of the underground level, that goes directly under
the cloister above. This makes the rooms oriented only towards the garden, and the
impressions of the sloping building is reserved for the courtyard space.
 182

183

184

design 208 | 209 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

2m

185
fig. 182 Residential estate in Biel-
Banken by Peter Zumthor
fig. 183 Le Thoronet monastery
fig. 184 Section through Serpentine
Pavilion by Peter Zumthor
fig. 185 Design: cross section
through the school
fig. 186 Design: longitudinal section
through the school
fig. 187 Design: physical model of
the section through the school

design 210 | 211 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 design

Elevations

A building with a courtyard usually has twice as many elevations than a standard
one. In the case of this architecture school the environment surrounding the outer
elevations is very different to the one inside the courtyard. This difference is presented
with contrasting natures of these two skins. The exterior facade is made out of solid
concrete and limestone bricks. It is a reference to the traditional buildings in Ticino,
which were originally made out of limestone. To fit the surrounding neat, plastered
buildings, the very rough character of the stones was broken with refined details
of the window frames out of brass. The entrance elevation facing the piazza is very
modest and the dominant element is a big gate, similar to the ones that can be find
in many places around the site. The most of the windows are square no to suggest
any new direction than the one made by the sloping stone wall. Only the eastern
elevation with the ateliers has a line of clerestory windows, similar to ones from
a chapel in Sumvitg by Zumthor. The inner elevation has a completely different
nature. It is made out of wood, has a strong rhythm and big glazings. As in this part
of the world sun gets intensive there is a system of wooden sliding shutters, which in
a more archetypal version can be found in the surroundings. To hide the change of
floor levels between the rooms, the blends have been transformed to the seats facing
the garden.
 188

189

190

design 212 | 213 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

2m

191
fig. 188 St. Benedict Chapel in
Sumvitg by Peter Zumthor
fig. 189 Residential estate in Biel-
Banken by Zumthor
fig. 190 A wooden gate nearby the
plot
fig. 191 Design: South-eastern (top
entrance) elevation
fig. 192 Design: North-western
(bottom entrance) elevation
fig. 193 Design: North-eastern
elevation
fig. 194 Design: Courtyard elevation

2m

192

design 214 | 215 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 design

Materials

For the materials I have chosen the ones occurring in Ticino region, that have been
traditionally used for building purposes: limestone and larch wood. Limestone in
form of bricks is used to clad the exterior wall, and in form of tiles on the ground
floor and in the cloister. The stone will overgrown with plants over the time, making
it unite with the surrounding nature. All the wooden elements are made out of larch
wood. It originally has a orangeish colour, however after weathering processes it
becomes grayish. All the exterior walls from the inside are covered in off-white stucco
on the ground floor and on the underground level the bare structural concrete is
exposed. The floors on the mezzanine are made out of wooden larch wood planks,
and in the workshop there is a polished concrete screed. Concrete is an often used
material in modern Swiss architecture due to limited resources of other building
materials. For the roof covering, because of the insignificant slope, metal is the most
suitable material. However so that the building does not look like a very serious thing,
were everything is perfect and expensive, roof is cladded in ordinary corrugated metal
sheets, the ones that are used in big warehouses. This has also something to do with
the motion of analogous architecture of Miroslav Sik, who drew inspirations from
industrial architecture.
 195

196

197

design 216 | 217 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 fig. 195 Gneiss stone and brass
railings in Therme Vals by Peter
Zumthor
fig. 196 Traditional limestone
buildings from Ticino
fig. 197 Tufa stone wall and larch
wood windows in Elderly people
housing in Chur by Peter Zumthor
fig. 198 Design: Collage of all used
materials
fig. 199 Design: Lime stone
elevation

198
 199

limestone travertine corrugated metal sheet polished concrete

larch wood metal sheet stucco concrete

design 218 | 219 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

1m
200
fig. 200 Design: courtyard elevation,
with signs of weathering
fig. 201 Design: North-eastern
elevation with signs of weathering

1m
201

design 220 | 221 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 design

Structure

The general concept of the building structure is similar to the one in Upper Lawn
Pavilion by Alison and Peter Smithson from 1962. The wooden structure of the
inside part of the buildings is supported by the exterior stone walls and the stone
cores throughout the building with the staircases. The glazed atelier walls with the
wooden windows are curtain walls as the floor of the mezzanine level is supported
from one side on the exterior stone wall and from the other side on a purlin that goes
between two stone staircases. In this way the high columns going along the courtyard
are not structural, as the roof in this part is cantilevered. The exterior wall is made
out of reinforced concrete, covered with thick insulation and a layer of limestone
brick. Above all the windows there is a concrete lintel. The roof is supported from
the courtyards side on the purlin spanned between stone walls and on the other side
on a stone wall. An exception is the eastern facade, where because of the line of
clerestory windows the rafters are resting on the purlin supported by a row of wooden
posts. A detail of these windows was inspired by the detail of Sumvitg chapel by Peter
Zumthor, however in the school it lacks the eaves and there is a brass gutter.
 202

203

204

design 222 | 223 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

1m

205
1 5
- corrugated steel plates 40mm - limestone tiles 30mm
- wooden battens 40x30mm - tile adhesive 5mm
- wooden counter battens 40x30mm - cement screed 60mm
- moisture diffusing roof sheeting - thermal insulation 100mm
- waterproof plywood 25mm - concrete slab 200mm
- cellulose-fibre thermal insulation 150mm between 80/240mm
timber rafters 6
- polythene sheet vapour barrier - limestone tiles (600x600mm) 30mm
- wooden boards (120x108mm) 25mm - tile adhesive 5mm
- floating screed with underfloor heating 60mm
2 - separating layer (plastic sheet) 1mm
- wooden boards (120x1200mm) 20mm - thermal insulation with ventilation ducts 60mm
- underfloor heating system 40mm - concrete slab 240mm
- larchwood dreischichtplatte 40mm
- larchwood joists 100x270mm 7
- mortar coat (waterproof ) 3mm
3 - peripheral insulation with drainage grooves 80mm
- plaster 20mm - waterproofing (bitumen paint) 2mm
- reinforced concrete 200mm - in situ concrete wall 200mm
- thermal insulation 135mm
- waterproof wood fibre board 25mm 8
- ventilation gap 40mm polished concrete floor 20mm
- limestone 160mm floating screed with underfloor heating 80mm
separating layer (plastic sheets) 1mm
4 thermal insulation with ventilation ducts 80mm
- larch wood panels 40mm damp-proof membrane
- wooden posts 120mm concrete slab 200mm
- waterproof wooden fibre board 20mm lean concrete 50mm
- thermal insulation between wooden posts 200mm
- OSB plate
- wooden battens 45mm
- larch wood panels 40mm

design 224 | 225 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

wooden roof structure

wooden floor beams

stone walls

concrete base
fig. 202 Structure of the Upper
Lawn Pavilion by Alison and Peter
Smithson: wooden structure based
on stone walls
fig. 203 Wooden louvers from
shelters for Roman archaeological
site in Chur by Peter Zumthor
fig. 204 Detail of the clerestorey
windows from St. Benedict chapel
in Sumvitg by Peter Zumthor
fig. 205 Design: detailed section
through the building
fig. 206 Design: diagram explaining
structure of the building

design 226 | 227 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 bibliography

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Phleps, H. (1989). Holzbaukunft. Der Blockbau. Karlsruhe: Fachblatt Verlag

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Šik, M. (1987). Analogous Architecture. Quaderns. 175

Šik, M. (2012). And now the ensemble!!!. Zürich: Lars Müller.

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Zumthor, P. (2006). Atmospheres : architectural environments, surrounding objects. Basel Boston: Birkhäuser.

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228 | 229 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

 figure list

fig. 1 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). A road to Vals [Photograph]

fig. 2 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Bonaduz [Photograph]
fig. 3 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Bonaduz [Photograph]
fig. 4 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Vals [Photograph]
fig. 5 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Gugalun House in Versam by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]
fig. 7 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). Cloister Stable Block in Distentis by Gion A. Caminada [Photograph]
fig. 8 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). School in Churwalden by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]
fig. 9 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). School gym in Churwalden, by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]
fig. 10 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Haus Luzi by Peter Zumthor, Jenaz [Photograph]
fig. 11 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Haus Luzi by Peter Zumthor, Jenaz [Photograph]
fig. 12 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). House by Rudolf Olgiati in Flims [Photograph]
fig. 13 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). House by Rudolf Olgiati in Flims [Photograph]
fig. 14 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). House by Rudolf Olgiati in Laax [Photograph]
fig. 15 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). Das Gelbe house by Valerio Olgiati [Photograph]
fig. 16 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). House by Rudolf Olgiati in Laax [Photograph]
fig. 17 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). Centro Scolaristico by Aurelio Galfetti in Riva San Vitale [Photograph]
fig. 18 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). Centro Scolaristico by Aurelio Galfetti in Riva San Vitale [Photograph]
fig. 19 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). Centro Scolaristico by Aurelio Galfetti in Riva San Vitale [Photograph]
fig. 20 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). La Congiunta by Peter Märkli in Giornico [Photograph]
fig. 21 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]
fig. 22 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]
fig. 23 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2015). Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]
fig. 24 Ebner, G. (Photographer). Peter Zumthor portrait [Photograph], Retrieved from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/
culturemonster/2009/04/swiss-architect-peter-zumthor-65-is-2009-pritzker-laureate.html
fig. 25 Wasser, R. (Photographer). Peter Zumthor, Ustria Cafe de Mont in Vella 1971 [Photograph], Retrieved from
http://texnh.tumblr.com/post/66079809760/peter-zumthor-ustria-caffe-de-mont-vella
fig. 26 Zumthor, P. (Architect). (1976). Peter Zumthor - Haus Dierauer 1976, groundfloor plan [Drawing], Retrieved from
http://plansofarchitecture.tumblr.com/post/89776788928/peter-zumthor-haus-dierauer-haldenstein
fig. 27 Gołuszka, K.A. (Photographer). (2015). Peter Zumthor Atelier in Haldenstein [Photograph]
fig. 28 Ortalli&Verrier (Photographer). Interior of Atelier Zumthor, Haldenstein [Photograph]
fig. 29 Haus Gugalun in Versam by Peter Zumthor (1990-94). [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://caruso.arch.ethz.ch/
archive/references/project/114
fig. 30 Zumthor P. (Architect). Peter Zumthor Concept Therme Vals [Drawing]. Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-
ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ee/c2/e5/eec2e514fce095bec639b4a48ef5dd73.jpg
fig. 31 Verrier, G. (Architect). Museum in Chiasso, student work from design studio with Peter Zumthor by Gaelle Verrier 2004-2006
fig. 32 Żurawski, K. (Archtiect). Educational pavilion in Golędzinów, design and model by Karol Żurawski
fig. 33 Gaelle Verrier and Giacomo Ortalli with Peter Zumthor in Atelier [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://
neueroadmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Peter-Zumthor-at-Work-6.png
fig. 34 Valentin Bearth [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://bearth-deplazes.ch/en/about-us/valentin-bearth-2/
fig. 35 Valentin Bearth and Peter Zumthor [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/15/
fa/47/15fa4783d867306f7602eabddb7e1320.jpg
fig. 36 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Peter Zumthor Sumvitg Chapel [Photograph]
fig. 37 Neue Monte Rosa-Hütte by Bearth & Deplazes Architekten [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.zermatt.ch/
en/Media/Attractions/Monte-Rosa-hut-Swiss-Alpine-Club
fig. 38 Giacometti, A. [Painter]. Mountains at Bergell with Mount Disgrazia [Painting]. Retrieved from http://www.
mutualart.com/Artwork/BERGELLER-BERGE-MIT-MONTE-DISGRAZIA-MOUN/CF5209EE7BD51AE6
fig. 39 Kerstens, V. (Photographer). (2015). Jing, Kasia and Michał with Valentin Bearth at Academy of Architecture in
Mendrisio [Photograph]
fig. 40 Garcés, P. R. ufnau. (Photographer). Atmospheric model of a summer restaurant, with floating roof, on the island of
Ufnau, Zurich by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://afasiaarchzine.com/2015/10/peter-zumthor-21/
fig. 41 Various models by Werkstatt [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.werkstatt.nu
fig. 42 Atmospheric model by Werkstatt [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.werkstatt.nu
fig. 43 Russell C. (Photographer) Construction detail model of Shelters for Roman Archaeological Site by Peter Zumthor
[Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.arcspace.com/features/atelier-peter-zumthor/shelters-for-roman-archaeological-site/
fig. 44 Spatial model 1:33 by Werkstatt [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.werkstatt.nu
fig. 45 Wooden model by Werkstatt [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.werkstatt.nu
fig. 46 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Drying wood logs in Graubünden, Switzerland [Photograph]
fig. 47 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Gneiss rock, Vals, Switzerland [Photograph]
fig. 48 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Bonaduz [Photograph]
fig. 49 Deplazes, A. (2008) Horizontal section of a tree trunk [Drawing] Retrieved from Constructing Architecture

230 | 231 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

fig. 50 Deplazes, A. (2008) Conversion options for squared sections and battens [Drawing] Retrieved from Deplazes, A.
(2008). Constructing Architecture. Basel: Birkhäuser
fig. 51 Deplazes, A. (2008) Conversion options for boards [Drawing] Retrieved from Deplazes, A. (2008). Constructing
Architecture. Basel: Birkhäuser
fig. 52 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Drying wood logs in Graubünden, Switzerland [Photograph]
fig. 53 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Strickbau buildings in Jenaz, Switzerland [Photograph]
fig. 54 Gołuszka, K.A. (2015). Wood joints [Drawing]
fig. 55 Projecting beams of a family house in Zillertal [Photograph]. Retrieved from Phleps, H. (1989). Holzbaukunft. Der
Blockbau. Karlsruhe: Fachblatt Verlag
fig. 56 Connetion of a partition wall with exterior wall [Photograph]. Retrieved from Phleps, H. (1989). Holzbaukunft.
Der Blockbau. Karlsruhe: Fachblatt Verlag
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Blockbau. Karlsruhe: Fachblatt Verlag
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Karlsruhe: Fachblatt Verlag
fig. 60 A barn with stone roof from Wallis [Photograph]. Retrieved from Phleps, H. (1989). Holzbaukunft. Der Blockbau.
Karlsruhe: Fachblatt Verlag
fig. 61 Gołuszka, K. A. (Photographer). (2016). Haus Luzi, view from the village [Photograph]
fig. 62 Gołuszka, K.A. (2015). Towers diagram [Drawing]
fig. 63 Gołuszka, K.A. (2015). Structure axonometry [Drawing]
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fig. 67 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Haus Luzi, section. [Drawing]. Based on Haus Luzi section by Zumthor, P.
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M.,Toivanen E. (2006). Zumthor: Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award 2006. Rakennustieto Publishing
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fig. 71 Gołuszka, K.A. (2015). Photo of the model of Haus Luzi interior by Katarzyna Gołuszka [Photograph].
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M.,Toivanen E. (2006). Zumthor: Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award 2006. Rakennustieto Publishing
fig. 73 Gołuszka, K.A. (Photographer). (2015). Traditional stone building in Giornico, Switzerland [Photograph]
fig. 74 Seidel, T. (Photographer). (2012). Miroslav Sik in Swiss Pavilion at Biennale di Venezia 2012 [Photograph]
fig. 75 Matys, C. (Architect). (1987). A design from Analoge Architektur exhibition for a restaurant by Christoph Matys,
1987 [Drawing]. Retrieved from Šik, M. (1988) Analoge Architektur. Edition Boga
fig. 76 St. Gotthard Hospice, North View. Miller&Maranta [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://ead.nb.admin.ch/web/
euk/index.htm
fig. 77 Collage from ‘And now the Ensemble !!!’ exhibition in Swiss Pavilion at Biennale di Venezia 2012 [Photograph].
Retrieved from Šik, M. (2012). And now the ensemble!!!. Zürich: Lars Müller.
fig. 78 Šik, M. (Architect). St. Antonius Rectory situation plan (the ensemble) [Drawing]. Retrieved from Wirz, H. (2012).
Miroslav Sik.: Architecture 1988-2012. Luzern: Quart Verlag für Architektur.
fig. 79 St. Antonius Rectory conversion by Miroslav Sik, 1997-2002 [Photograph]. Retrieved from Wirz, H. (2012).
Miroslav Sik.: Architecture 1988-2012. Luzern: Quart Verlag für Architektur.
fig. 80 St. Antonius Roman Catholic Parish Centre in Egg, Switzerland by Miroslav Sik, 1988-1997 [Photograph]. Retrieved
from Wirz, H. (2012). Miroslav Sik.: Architecture 1988-2012. Luzern: Quart Verlag für Architektur.
fig. 81 Šik, M. (Architect). Drawing of an initial design for community centre at St. Antonius Rectory [Drawing]. Retrieved
from www.designandstyle.blogosfere.it/post/411682/biennale-venezia-2012-architettura-miroslav-sik-per-il-padiglione-
della-svizzera
fig. 82 Executed design of community centre at St. Antonius Rectory by Miroslav Sik [Photograph]. Retrieved from Wirz, H.
(2012). Miroslav Sik.: Architecture 1988-2012. Luzern: Quart Verlag für Architektur.
fig. 83 Šik, M. (Architect). Floor plan of community centre at St. Antonius Rectory by Miroslav Sik [Drawing]. Retrieved
from Wirz, H. (2012). Miroslav Sik.: Architecture 1988-2012. Luzern: Quart Verlag für Architektur.
fig. 84 O’Toole, P. (Photographer). Peter Zumthor working in his atelier
fig. 85 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A scheme of an oasis [Drawing]. based on Baker, K. (2012). Captured landscape: The
paradox of the enclosed garden. London: Routledge.
fig. 86 Oasis in Toconao, Chile [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.panoramio.com/photo/469146
fig. 87 House of the Silver Wedding, Pompeii [Photograph].Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.
com/736x/69/bc/
fig. 88 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A scheme of a Roman house [Drawing] based on Baker, K. (2012). Captured landscape:
The paradox of the enclosed garden. London: Routledge.
fig. 89 Upper Rhenish Master. (Painter) (c.1410). The Little Garden of Paradise. Upper Rheinish Master. [Painting].
Retrieved from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Meister_des_Frankfurter_Paradiesgärtleins_001.
jpg
fig. 90 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A scheme of a hortus conclusus [Drawing] based on Baker, K. (2012). Captured landscape:
The paradox of the enclosed garden. London: Routledge.
fig. 91 Court of Lions in Nazrid Palace [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.reallyrisa.com/wp-content/
uploads/2012/10/nasrid-palace-courtyard.jpg
fig. 92 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A scheme of an Islamic palace [Drawing] based on Baker, K. (2012). Captured landscape:
The paradox of the enclosed garden. London: Routledge.
fig. 93 Riad House [Photograph]. Retrieved from https-//s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/19/
b5/7d/19b57d017e26525ec34d16e4a7327782.jpg
fig. 94 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A scheme of a riad house [Drawing] based on Baker, K. (2012). Captured landscape: The
paradox of the enclosed garden. London: Routledge.
fig. 95 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A scheme of a Casa Patio [Drawing] based on Baker, K. (2012). Captured landscape: The
paradox of the enclosed garden. London: Routledge.
fig. 96 Chuty, Celima (Authors). (2010). A view through a reja into the courtyard of casa patio in Cordoba [Photograph].
Retrieved from http://www.viajados.com/web/viajes/28cordoba/fotogrande/foto006.jpg authors:

232 | 233 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

fig. 97 Frank. (2011).Gothic cloister of Sant Joan de les Abadesses monastery [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://fjalonso.
blogspot.nl/2011/06/catalunya-sant-joan-de-les-abadesses.html?m=1. author: Frank, 2011
fig. 98 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A scheme of a monastery [Drawing] based on Baker, K. (2012). Captured landscape: The
paradox of the enclosed garden. London: Routledge.
fig. 99 A dry garden in Ryoan-ji Zen temple in Kyoto, Japan [Photograph]. Retrieved from http-//www.japanesesearch.
com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ryoanji.jpg
fig. 100 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A scheme of a Zen temple [Drawing] based on Baker, K. (2012). Captured landscape: The
paradox of the enclosed garden. London: Routledge.
fig. 101 Herfest, W. (2011). Courtyard in Serpentine Pavilion in London from 2011 by Peter Zumthor. [Photograph].
Retreived from https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/06/dezeen_Serpentine-Gallery-Pavilion-2011-by-Peter-
Zumthor_03.jpg
fig. 102 McEwan, C. (Photographer). (2011). Exterior skin of the pavilion [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://
cameronmcewan.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/mcewan-c-2011-zumthor-serpentine-pavilion-photograph-vertical-
articulation-of-hessian-fabric-an-detail.jpg
fig. 103 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Situation plan [Drawing] based on Zumthor, P., Durisch, T., & Hargraves, J. (n.d.). Peter
Zumthor 1985-1989. Buildings and Projects. Volume 5. Zurich: Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG
fig. 104 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Longitudinal section [Drawing] based on Zumthor, P., Durisch, T., & Hargraves, J.
(n.d.). Peter Zumthor 1985-1989. Buildings and Projects. Volume 5. Zurich: Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG
fig. 105 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Floor plan [Drawing] based on Zumthor, P., Durisch, T., & Hargraves, J. (n.d.). Peter
Zumthor 1985-1989. Buildings and Projects. Volume 5. Zurich: Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG
fig. 106 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Spatial organization of the building [Drawing]
fig. 107 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Entrances [Drawing]
fig. 108 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Picture from the model showing the space of the courtyard - ‘hortus conlusus’ [Photograph]
fig. 109 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Picture from the model showing a section through the courtyard [Photograph]
fig. 110 Koerner, A. (Photographer). Courtyard bird’s eye view of the Le Thoronet courtyard [Photograph]. Retrieved from
http://andrekoerner.e-monsite.com/pages/archi/abbaye-de-veselay.html
fig. 111 Sketchley, J. (2010) Cloister in Le Thoronet [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.ipernity.com/
doc/676239/31207347
fig. 112 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Entrances to the courtyard [Drawing]. based on a floor plan retrieved from http://
voussoirs.blogspot.nl/2012/05/corbusier-renaissance-man.html
fig. 113 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Spatial organization of the building [Drawing]. based on a floor plan retrieved from
http://voussoirs.blogspot.nl/2012/05/corbusier-renaissance-man.html
fig. 114 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A picture from the model showing the courtyard with the lavatorium [Photograph]
fig. 115 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A picture of the model showing the section through the courtyard [Photograph]
fig. 116 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A picture from the model showing the view from the highest point of the cloister corridor
[Photograph]
fig. 117 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A picture from the model showing the view from the lowest point of the cloister corridor
[Photograph]
fig. 118 Załuski, M.A. (2015). A view of the courtyard in Palazzo Turconi, Mendrisio [Photograph]
fig. 119 A historic picture of the Palazzo Turconi serving as a hospital, with the cloister opened to the courtyard [Photograph]
Retrieved from collezione Giuseppe Haug
fig. 120 Załuski, M.A. (2015). An enclosed corridor around the courtyard in Palazzo Turconi [Photograph]
fig. 121 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A picture from the model recreating the same view, before the cloister was closed off with
windows [Photograph]
fig. 122 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A picture from the model showing rhe space of the courtyard of Palazzo Turconi
[Photograph]
fig. 123 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Entrances [Drawing]
fig. 124 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Spatial organization of the building [Drawing]
fig. 125 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Picture of the model showing the section through the courtyard of Palazzo Turconi
[Photograph]
fig. 126 AAM students working in Palazzo Turconi [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.arc.usi.ch/en/
node/14#img_10
fig. 127 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Palazzo Turconi front elevation [Photograph]
fig. 128 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Palazzo Turconi back elevation [Photograph]
fig. 129 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Villa Argentina front elevation [Photograph]
fig. 130 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Villa Argentina back elevation [Photograph]
fig. 131 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Palazzo Canavée main entrance [Photograph]
fig. 132 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Palazzo Canavée back entrance [Photograph]
fig. 133 Ommar, R. (Photographer). (2015). Bird’s eye view of the Mendrisio [Photograph]
fig. 134 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Morphology of the terrain [Drawing]
fig. 135 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Public transport [Drawing]
fig. 136 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Fronts of the buildings [Drawing]
fig. 137 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Site accesses [Drawing]
fig. 138 Załuski, M.A. (2015). Western view of the site [Photograph]
fig. 139 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Northern view of the site [Photograph]
fig. 140 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Southern view of the site [Photograph]
fig. 141 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). South-eastern view of the site [Photograph]
fig. 142 Spiral staircase at AAM campus [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 143 Stone fence at AAM campus [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 144 Stone retaining wall at AAM campus [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 145 Abandoned arcades at AAM campus [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 146 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). A passage in the church wall next to the site [Photograph]
fig. 147 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). A wooden gate leading to the site area [Photograph]
fig. 148 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Arcades in Villa Argentina [Photograph]
fig. 149 Framed landscape north of the site [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 150 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Framed landscape east from the site [Photograph]
fig. 151 Big retaining limestone wall at the northern border of the site [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 152 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). A stone floor in Villa Argentina [Photograph]

234 | 235 BUILDING IN CONTEXT

fig. 153 Simple stone cornices on a building next to the plot [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 154 Ornamental stone cornices on a building in AAM campus area [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 155 Window shutters from a building at AAM campus [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 156 Window shutters from a building at AAM campus [Photograph]. (2015).
fig. 157 Goluszka, K.A. (2016). A collage showing an abstract stone and wood hybrid structure [Image]
fig. 158 Schevers, J.P.A. (2012). Model of a house designed by Rudolf Olgiati [Photograph]
fig. 159 Espeland, A. (Photographer). Zinc Mine Museum in Norway by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]. Retrieved
from http://www.designboom.com/architecture/peter-zumthor-zinc-mine-museum-allmannajuvet-norway-
ryfylke-02-10-2015/
fig. 160 Offenbach, J. (Photographer). (2011). Hortus Conclusus by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]. Retreived from http://
bustler.net/news/2276/peter-zumthor-s-serpentine-gallery-pavilion-opens-this-friday
fig. 161 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). Peter Zumthor Atelier new building in Haldenstein [Photograph]
fig. 162 Elderly people housing in Chur by Peter Zumthor [Photograph] Retrieved from Zumthor, P., Durisch, T., &
Hargraves, J. (n.d.). Peter Zumthor 1985-1989. Buildings and Projects. Volume 1. Zurich: Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG
fig. 163 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). A collage presenting a school with a courtyard [Image]
fig. 164 O’Toole, P. (Photographer). Peter Zumthor working in his atelier
fig. 165 Herfest, W. (2011). Courtyard in Serpentine Pavilion in London from 2011 by Peter Zumthor. [Photograph].
Retreived from https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2011/06/dezeen_Serpentine-Gallery-Pavilion-2011-by-Peter-
Zumthor_03.jpg
fig. 166 Apodaca, S. (Photographer). View into a courtyard from a zen temple [Photograph]. Retreived from http://kotaku.
com/the-secret-garden-arashiyama-kyoto-japan-by-sean-ap-1755140097
fig. 167 Le Roi, E. (Author). (2013). verschaffel [Graphic]. Retrieved from http://www.eva-le-roi.com
fig. 168 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: the courtyard
fig. 169 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: the atelier
fig. 170 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: a picture from the model presenting a corridor adjacent to the exterior wall of the
building and students’ ateliers
fig. 171 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: part of the building housing students ateliers and workshop presented on a model
fig. 172 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: space of the courtyard
fig. 173 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: a view through the atelier
fig. 174 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: situation plan
fig. 175 Šik, M. (Architect). Floor plan of community centre at St. Antonius Rectory by Miroslav Sik [Drawing]. Retrieved
from Wirz, H. (2012). Miroslav Sik.: Architecture 1988-2012. Luzern: Quart Verlag für Architektur.
fig. 176 Šik, M. (Architect). An overview of the community centre in Egg by Miroslav Sik [Photograph]. Retrieved from
Wirz, H. (2012). Miroslav Sik.: Architecture 1988-2012. Luzern: Quart Verlag für Architektur.
fig. 177 Zumthor, P. (Architect). A floor plan of the Serpentine Gallery by Peter Zumthor. [Drawing]. Retrieved from
Zumthor, P., Durisch, T., & Hargraves, J. (n.d.). Peter Zumthor 1985-1989. Buildings and Projects. Volume 5. Zurich:
Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG
fig. 178 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: ground floor plan of the school
fig. 179 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: mezzanine floor plan of the school
fig. 180 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: underground floor plan of the school
fig. 181 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: groundfloor plan of the school (original image scale 1:100)
fig. 182 Residential estate in Biel-Banken by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]. Retrieved from Zumthor, P., Durisch, T., &
Hargraves, J. (n.d.). Peter Zumthor 1985-1989. Buildings and Projects. Volume 1. Zurich: Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG
fig. 183 Le Thoronet monastery [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://ekladata.com/tkzNJlMH9CWjAlcet1x5V49GGfc.jpg
fig. 184 Zumthor P., Section through Serpentine Pavilion by Peter Zumthor [Drawing]. Retrieved from Zumthor, P.,
Durisch, T., & Hargraves, J. (n.d.). Peter Zumthor 1985-1989. Buildings and Projects. Volume 5. Zurich: Verlag
Scheidegger & Spiess AG
fig. 185 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: cross section through the school
fig. 186 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: longitudinal section through the school
fig. 187 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: physical model of the section through the school
fig. 188 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). St. Benedict Chapel in Sumvitg by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]
fig. 189 Residential estate in Biel-Banken by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]. Retrieved from Zumthor, P., Durisch, T., &
Hargraves, J. (n.d.). Peter Zumthor 1985-1989. Buildings and Projects. Volume 1. Zurich: Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG
fig. 190 Załuski, M.A. (Photographer). (2015). A wooden gate nearby the plot [Photograph]
fig. 191 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: South-eastern (top entrance) elevation
fig. 192 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: North-western (bottom entrance) elevation
fig. 193 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: North-eastern elevation
fig. 194 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: Courtyard elevation
fig. 195 Gołuszka, K.A. (Photographer). (2016). Gneiss stone and brass railings in Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor
[Photograph]
fig. 196 Traditional limestone buildings from Ticino [Photograph]. Retrieved from pd4pic.com
fig. 197 Tufa stone wall and larch wood windows in Elderly people housing in Chur by Peter Zumthor [Photograph].
Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4c/18/b2/4c18b24b42440da3597ddaf7941f2d65.jpg
fig. 198 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: Collage of all used materials
fig. 199 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: Lime stone elevation
fig. 200 Structure of the Upper Lawn Pavilion by Alison and Peter Smithson: wooden structure based on stone walls
[Photograph]. Retrieved from http://archivesma.epfl.ch/2015/045/gjermstad_enonce/150112_Gjermstad%20Ingrid_
Enoncé_web.pdf
fig. 201 Wooden louvers from shelters for Roman archaeological site in Chur by Peter Zumthor [Photograph]. Retrieved from
http://mjobrien.com/ARCH606S09/zumthor_roman_ruins_enclosure_chur_swi_1986.pdf
fig. 202 Zumthor, P. (Architect). Detail of the clerestorey windows from St. Benedict chapel in Sumvitg by Peter Zumthor
[Drawing]. Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/65/7d/ff/657dffac1840e028dbd57fabe4d45cff.jpg
fig. 203 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: detailed section through the building
fig. 204 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: courtyard elevation
fig. 205 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: North-eastern elevation
fig. 206 Gołuszka, K.A. (2016). Design: diagram explaining structure of the building

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