Atelier Peter Zumthor

Models of various size and scale, as well as material studies, are an essential working tool for celebrated Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. They serve to examine spatial ideas, shapes, materialisation, and artisanal aspects of the buildings on which the architect with his collaborators in the studio are working. These architectural models are always sophisticated, some are spectacular, many are very detailed while others are deliberately rough. They have been on display in exhibitions internationally and have fascinated a wide audience.

This first ever book focusing on Atelier Zumthor’s architectural models features some 350 colour and black-and-white photographs. They show models made of a wide variety of materials for 47 of Zumthor’s buildings and unrealised projects, ranging from the Therme Vals Thermal Spa and the Kunsthaus Bregenz to the recently completed new building for the LACMA in Los Angeles and the extension for the Fondation Beyeler near Basel, currently under construction. The models exude a strong sensual presence and reflect the search for the logic of construction and joining. They also illustrate Peter Zumthor’s pursuit of an architecture in which construction and material create an intense atmosphere.