--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The bottom line may be that my inventing…" description: "\"The bottom line may be that my inventing buildings is, indeed, a very private kind of activity. But it's done to be shared. It is comforting and consol..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/762/peter-zumthor-15714_activity_the-bottom-line-may-be-that-my-inventing_3066301.jpg" --- # The bottom line may be that my inventing buildings is… ![“The bottom line may be that my inventing buildings is, indeed, a very private kind of activity. But it's done to be shared. It is comforting and consoling. From the reactions I get I can see I'm not doing something strange.” quote by Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/762/peter-zumthor-15714_activity_the-bottom-line-may-be-that-my-inventing_3066301.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/762/peter-zumthor-15714_activity_the-bottom-line-may-be-that-my-inventing_3066301.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/762/peter-zumthor-15714_activity_the-bottom-line-may-be-that-my-inventing_3066301.jpg) > “The bottom line may be that my inventing buildings is, indeed, a very private kind of activity. But it's done to be shared. It is comforting and consoling. From the reactions I get I can see I'm not doing something strange.” [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Design is a private act meant for communal sharing, offering comfort through shared reactions. **In simple terms:** Building is private yet meant to be shared. Key Takeaway Create spaces that invite communal response. Themes architecture privacy community Mood contemplative warm Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - public buildings - residential projects - exhibition design Key Concepts shared experience emotional design human scale Questions to Reflect On - How does feedback shape your work? - What aspects of a building foster comfort? A Different Perspective Personal style may not resonate universally. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bottom line](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bottom-line/) [Buildings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/buildings/) [Comforting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/comforting/) [Consoling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consoling/) [Engineering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/engineering/) [Innovation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innovation/) [Inventing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inventing/) ## Related quotes > [Los Angeles is a city of few hard targets. Its iconic buildings are private spaces, mostly residential, visible by invitation only or in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-goodyear/los-angeles-is-a-city-of-few-hard-targets-its-iconic-buildings-are/) [Dana Goodyear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-goodyear/) > [For me, that's always been one of the great charms of the first person: we gain access to a very personal, private kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chang-rae-lee/for-me-that-s-always-been-one-of-the-great-charms-of-the-first-person/) [Chang-Rae Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chang-rae-lee/) > [“He flushed, hard. A golden wrist cuff had only one meaning: use, and submission, of the most private kind. He”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-pacat/he-flushed-hard-a-golden-wrist-cuff-had-only-one-meaning-use-and/) [C.S. Pacat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-pacat/) > [I'm a private kind of person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josh-holloway/i-m-a-private-kind-of-person/) [Josh Holloway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josh-holloway/) > [It can be consoling to think your children are in heaven. You have got to understand that that doesn't make it true. Many people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/it-can-be-consoling-to-think-your-children-are-in-heaven-you-have-got/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [False beliefs can be every bit as consoling as true ones, right up until the moment of disillusionment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/false-beliefs-can-be-every-bit-as-consoling-as-true-ones-right-up/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“. . . In all parts of our globe, fanatics have cut each other's throats, publicly burnt each other, committed without a scruple and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/baron-d-holbach/in-all-parts-of-our-globe-fanatics-have-cut-each-other-s-throats/) [Baron D'Holbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/baron-d-holbach/) > [When it comes to spiritual teachers, there are those safe, gentle, consoling, soothing, caring; and there are the outlaws, the living terrors, the Rude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-wilber/when-it-comes-to-spiritual-teachers-there-are-those-safe-gentle/) [Ken Wilber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-wilber/) > [Talking about your feeling with someone who is willing to listen can be enormously consoling, especially if that person has experienced a death similar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/candy-lightner/talking-about-your-feeling-with-someone-who-is-willing-to-listen-can/) [Candy Lightner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/candy-lightner/) > [I think there is something very consoling in feeling lost in space but also feeling grounded, and seeing that all of this is part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wolfgang-tillmans/i-think-there-is-something-very-consoling-in-feeling-lost-in-space/) [Wolfgang Tillmans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wolfgang-tillmans/) > [At every moment in our lives we need compassion, but what more urgent moment could there be than when we are dying? What more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sogyal-rinpoche/at-every-moment-in-our-lives-we-need-compassion-but-what-more-urgent/) [Sogyal Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sogyal-rinpoche/) > [She had always been a reader… but now she was obsessed. Since her discovery of the book hoard downstairs from her job, she’d been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-erdrich/she-had-always-been-a-reader-but-now-she-was-obsessed-since-her/) [Louise Erdrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-erdrich/) > [And Christ, through His own salvific suffering, is very much present in every human suffering, and can act from within that suffering by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-john-paul-ii/and-christ-through-his-own-salvific-suffering-is-very-much-present-in/) [Pope John Paul II](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-john-paul-ii/) > [Perhapsthemost sublimeinsights oftheJewishprophets and the Christian gospel is the knowledge that since perfection is love, the apprehension of perfection is at once the means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/perhapsthemost-sublimeinsights-ofthejewishprophets-and-the-christian/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [ What are you for? It may be, to a degree, consoling that white brothers and sisters did not vote for \[Donald\] Trump, and do… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-eric-dyson/what-are-you-for-it-may-be-to-a-degree-consoling-that-white-brothers/) [Michael Eric Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-eric-dyson/) ## More by Peter Zumthor > [I think space, architectural space, is my thing. It's not about facade, elevation, making image, making money. My passion is creating space.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/i-think-space-architectural-space-is-my-thing-it-s-not-about-facade/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [I grew up in a craftsman's home, where things were done with our own hands. I did cabinetmaking for four years and I hated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/i-grew-up-in-a-craftsman-s-home-where-things-were-done-with-our-own/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [Architecture has its place in the concrete world. This is where it exists. This is where it makes its statement.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/architecture-has-its-place-in-the-concrete-world-this-is-where-it/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [When I concentrate on a specific site or place for which I am going to design a building, I try to plumb its depths,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/when-i-concentrate-on-a-specific-site-or-place-for-which-i-am-going/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [I’m a passionate architect... I do not work for money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/i-m-a-passionate-architect-i-do-not-work-for-money/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [My relationship to plants becomes closer and closer. They make me quiet; I like to be in their company.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/my-relationship-to-plants-becomes-closer-and-closer-they-make-me/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [If you look at the Earth without architecture, its sometimes a little bit unpleasant. So there is this basic human need to do shelter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/if-you-look-at-the-earth-without-architecture-its-sometimes-a-little/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [The first 10 years of my professional life had only to do with running away from my father. He was a wonderful cabinet-maker, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/the-first-10-years-of-my-professional-life-had-only-to-do-with/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [I've said goodbye to the overworked notion that architecture has to save the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/i-ve-said-goodbye-to-the-overworked-notion-that-architecture-has-to/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [My buildings should have an emotional core –a space which, in itself, has an emotional nice feeling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/my-buildings-should-have-an-emotional-core-a-space-which-in-itself/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [I think the chance of finding beauty is higher if you don't work on it directly. Beauty in architecture is driven by practicality. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/i-think-the-chance-of-finding-beauty-is-higher-if-you-don-t-work-on/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [I work anywhere between three and 10 years on a project, depending on the size. My lifetime is finite. Therefore, I have to look…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/i-work-anywhere-between-three-and-10-years-on-a-project-depending-on/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [If you're lucky, and a building succeeds, the real product has many more dimensions than you can ever imagine. You have the sun, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/if-you-re-lucky-and-a-building-succeeds-the-real-product-has-many/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [In a fragment of a second you can understand: Things you know, things you don’t know, things you don’t know that you don’t know,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/in-a-fragment-of-a-second-you-can-understand-things-you-know-things/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) > [If I look at history, it seems that most wars and most cruel things have been done by men and not by women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-zumthor/if-i-look-at-history-it-seems-that-most-wars-and-most-cruel-things/) [Peter Zumthor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) [Explore all 42 Peter Zumthor quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-zumthor/) ## More Activity quotes > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-leo-xiii/it-must-be-assumed-and-established-as-a-principle-that-the-right-of/) [Pope Leo XIII](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-leo-xiii/) > [Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [And also I think the rise of other, you could say, destinations for international jihadis mean that Pakistan isn't necessarily the place where people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/and-also-i-think-the-rise-of-other-you-could-say-destinations-for/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/to-evoke-in-oneself-a-feeling-one-has-once-experienced-and-having/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [Fighting's fun, man. It's a great activity, it's a great sport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-mitrione/fighting-s-fun-man-it-s-a-great-activity-it-s-a-great-sport/) [Matt Mitrione](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-mitrione/) > [There were books everywhere in my house. Books were very present. I just loved books. I never understood reading as anything but a pleasurable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-lucas/there-were-books-everywhere-in-my-house-books-were-very-present-i/) [Lisa Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-lucas/) > [For war to man, like childbirth to women, is simplifying in its emotions and activities. All the real problems of life can be put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearl-s-buck/for-war-to-man-like-childbirth-to-women-is-simplifying-in-its/) [Pearl S. 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