Peter Zumthor

There is still a real need for good quality architecture, not paper architecture, but the real stuff.

— Peter Zumthor

I'm not mainly interested in what buildings mean as symbols or vehicles for ideas.

— Peter Zumthor

“There was a time when I experienced architecture without thinking about it. Sometimes I can almost feel a particular door handle in…

— Peter Zumthor

I've built two wooden houses near Vals. I built them for my wife. Those were private projects.

— Peter Zumthor

What I try to do is the art of building, and the art of building is the art of construction; it is…

— Peter Zumthor

Presence is like a gap in the flow of history, where all of [a] sudden it is not past and not future.

— Peter Zumthor

Architecture is exposed to life. If its body is sensitive enough, it can assume a quality that bears witness to past life.

— Peter Zumthor

Every time I imagine a garden in an architectural setting, it turns into a magical place. I think of gardens I have…

— Peter Zumthor

Architecture to me is whole. I cannot say I only care about this 25% and the other 75% I let go... it's…

— Peter Zumthor

In order to design buildings with a sensuous connection to life, one must think in a way that goes far beyond form…

— Peter Zumthor

When I start, my first idea for a building is with the material. I believe architecture is about that. It's not about…

— Peter Zumthor

I need a close contact to the client, whoever it is, and a commitment of the client to go out and do…

— Peter Zumthor

The bottom line may be that my inventing buildings is, indeed, a very private kind of activity. But it's done to be…

— Peter Zumthor

Architecture is not about form

— Peter Zumthor

Architecture has its own realm. It has a special physical relationship with life. I do not think of it primarily as either…

— Peter Zumthor

Normally, architects render a service. They implement what other people want. This is not what I do. I like to develop the…

— Peter Zumthor

I am convinced that a good building must be capable of absorbing the traces of human life and taking on a specific…

— Peter Zumthor