Peter Zumthor 1985–2013: Buildings and Projects

“Few architects are as patient and exacting as Peter Zumthor, and this monograph captures the materiality and intangible spirit of his work in drawings, photographs, and his brief texts. It was an inspired idea to divide this rich concentration of work into five slim volumes, rather than cram it into one of the mega-publications that entomb other celebrated architects. Each is a delight to hold and page through, and a model of Swiss design from the gray silk covers to the crisp typography and spacious layouts.

Rarely has haptic architecture been better expressed in print.” Michael Webb, The Architects Newspaper, on the 2014 edition“With the same rigor and poetry of his architecture Zumthor offers us his opera omnia. But so laconic is he that who knows if this is the last.” Eduardo Prieto, ArcitecturaViva, on the 2014 editionPeter Zumthor, 2009 Pritzker laureate, is one of the best-known and most acclaimed architects of the present day. Widely admired for his precision and thoroughness, he creates buildings that are responsive to their location and function, and that are remarkable both for their materials and the atmospheric quality of the spaces they enclose.

This five-volume survey of his work until 2013 features 43 buildings and projects, including some that have never been published before. On 856 pages with more than 750 photographs, plans, sketches, drawings and watercolours, and with texts written by Peter Zumthor himself specially for this monograph, it documents a wide range of projects from several world-famous buildings to some that never left the drawing board. The first edition of 2014 won the 2014 Filaf d’argent (Festival International du Livre d’Art & du Film) and of the 2014 DAM Architectural Book Award.