Peter Zumthor (born 1943) is a Swiss architect known for a small number of carefully made buildings; on his 80th birthday the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called him "the great magician of minimalism". The son of a Basel cabinet-maker, he trained as a carpenter and works from a small studio of about 30 people in Haldenstein near Chur. He won the Pritzker Prize in 2009 and the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 2013.
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The Saint Benedict Chapel in Sumvitg (1988) is among his early works in the mountains of Graubünden. Therme Vals (1996), a spa built over the only thermal springs in that canton, is often described as cave-like. The Kunsthaus Bregenz (1997) is a shimmering cube of glass, steel and cast concrete on the shore of Lake Constance; the two won the 1998 Carlsberg Architectural Prize. The Kolumba Museum in Cologne (2007) is the city's diocesan art museum, and the Bruder Klaus Field Chapel (2007) stands on a farm near Wachendorf. The Steilneset Memorial in Vardø (2011) remembers the victims of the witch trials there. Peter Zumthor's buildings are studied for material, light and the experience of being inside them.
Shelters for the Roman Ruins, Chur1986 · Chur
Haus Gugalun1994 · Versam
Kunsthaus Bregenz1997 · Bregenz
Kolumba Museum2007 · Cologne
Werkraum Haus2013 · Andelsbuch
Saint Benedict Chapel1988 · Sumvitg
Therme Vals1996 · Vals
Bruder Klaus Field Chapel2007 · Mechernich
Steilneset Memorial2011 · Vardø