You feel a certain way in a glass or concrete or limestone building. It has an effect on your skin - the same with plywood or veneer, or solid timber. Wood doesn't steal energy from your body the way glass and concrete steal heat. When it's hot, a wood house feels cooler than a concrete one, and when it's cold, the other way around.
Peter ZumthorI think the chance of finding beauty is higher if you don't work on it directly. Beauty in architecture is driven by practicality. This is what you learn from studying the old townscapes of the Swiss farmers.
Peter ZumthorMy relationship to plants becomes closer and closer. They make me quiet; I like to be in their company.
Peter ZumthorI think space, architectural space, is my thing. It's not about facade, elevation, making image, making money. My passion is creating space.
Peter ZumthorEvery time I imagine a garden in an architectural setting, it turns into a magical place. I think of gardens I have seen, that I believe I have seen, that I long to see, surrounded by simple walls, columns, arcades or the facades of buildings - sheltered places of great intimacy where I want to stay for a long time.
Peter ZumthorWhat I try to do is the art of building, and the art of building is the art of construction; it is not only about forms and shapes and images.
Peter ZumthorArchitecture has its own realm. It has a special physical relationship with life. I do not think of it primarily as either a message or symbol, but as an envelope and background for life which goes on in and around it, a sensitive container for the rhythm of footsteps on the floor, for the concentration of work, for the silence of sleep.
Peter Zumthor