Archivo de la categoría: Peter Zumthor

Peter Zumthor Proposes $650 Million Overhaul for LACMA

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The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will soon be rolling out the red carpet to welcome Swiss legend Peter Zumthor to the Golden State. The prized architect’s debut will mark the opening of “The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA,” which will unveil the ambitious, $650 million plan to transform the LACMA’s “Byzantine maze of buildings and hallways” into an experience-based “village” of curvaceous modern glass structures that will produce more energy than it uses.

“The idea is to make it permeable by people,” LACMA CEO and director Michael Govan says, who has been working with Zumthor for over four years on the proposal.

“It’s a big step for LA,” commented Zumthor to BD after his RIBA Gold Medal speech. “It should be intimidating for me but it’s the same as doing a chair in my [cabinet maker] father’s shop. You have to do it well and then you start. I am not intimidated at all by its great size, but I am astonished that I am doing this museum.”

Because the plan calls for the demolition of several existing LACMA buildings – an idea that failed under a pre-Govan proposal by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas – it’s effectively an opening shot in what could turn into a highly public debate about the future of the art museum.

“The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA,” opening June 9 at LACMA’s Resnick Pavilion, will reveal a model of the proposal alongside a display of LACMA’s checkered architectural history and a small retrospective of Zumthor’s work. The exhibition will be preceded by a 7:30PM, June 3 lecture titled “The Director’s Series: Conversation with Michael Govan and Peter Zumthor.” More information can be found on the LACMA website here.

Reference: The Wall Street Journal, BDOnline  

Peter Zumthor Proposes $650 Million Overhaul for LACMA originally appeared on ArchDaily, the most visited architecture website on 06 May 2013.

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Friday Fun: Dogs Who Look Like Starchitects

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If you’re anything like, um, everyone else who uses the Internet, you spend a good chunk of your time online looking at animal photos. But while the World Wide Web abounds with images of writers and their dogs, or celebrities and their cats, or Salvador Dali and his lobsters, there are dismayingly few—if any—Architecture + Animal posts. (Believe us, we’ve Googled it. Lots.) So, inspired by our friends at Buzzfeed and their amazing Corgi roundups, we present: starchitects and dogs, specifically their doggy doppelgängers. Because, it’s Friday, and we—and you—deserve it. Click through to see them all!

Bjarke Ingels is a wide-eyed French Bulldog!

Happy 70th Birthday Peter Zumthor!

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Sharing a birthday with I.M. Pei, Peter Zumthor (April 26, 1943) turns 70 years old today. Known for his sensuous materiality and attention to place, the 2009 Pritzker Laureate is one the most revered architects of the 20th century.

Although Zumthor has completed far fewer projects than architects of comparable renown, his work has had a resounding impact on the world of architecture. His buildings are mysterious and enticing, but show no signs of style or formal preconceptions. His concern is with context, experience and materiality, not aesthetic. Perhaps this is his most significant contribution to architecture: a truly meaningful architecture of place and experience.

We invite you to explore Zumthor’s work, both past and present, after the break…

Zumthor’s Works on ArchDaily

The Therme Vals 
Kolumba Museum
Bruder Klaus Field Chapel 
Serpentine Pavilion 2011 
Kunsthaus Bregenz 
Stielneset Memorial

Happy 70th Birthday Peter Zumthor! originally appeared on ArchDaily, the most visited architecture website on 26 Apr 2013.

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Royal Gold Medal 2013 Lecture: Peter Zumthor

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Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s a rarity that the architecture community is presented a chance to indulge in a Peter Zumthor lecture. Often referred to a architecture’s reclusive “man of mystery”, the Swiss legend has produced a handful of projects so eloquently designed that they have captured the attention of the world. In honor of his mastery, RIBA awarded Zumthor with the institute’s prestigious Royal Gold Medal in February. In this video, he gives the 2013 Royal Gold Medal Lecture at the RIBA, focused on the theme of Presence in Architecture. 

Royal Gold Medal 2013 Lecture: Peter Zumthor originally appeared on ArchDaily, the most visited architecture website on 30 Mar 2013.

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Architecture Rendered Minimally: Illustrator Turns Iconic Buildings Into Minimalist Posters

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Yeah, we thought minimalist posters were done, too. Still, though they’re a little late to the game, these prints by Portuguese artist and illustrator André Chiote are intriguing in their own right. Chiote’s work delivers everything we’ve come to expect (and smugly sneer at) from the design meme: simple geometric lines and bold colors that consume the entirety of the composition. Here, the modern and contemporary structures Chiote takes as his subjects are, for the most part, reduced to a few building details or formal snapshots. Context doesn’t enter the equation, except in the case of Niemeyer’s Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, where the hills of Rio de Janeiro entice in the background.

Chiote’s cannon is vast, ranging from modernist icons like Breuer’s Whitney museum and a couple of Niemeyer works to newer landmarks like Gehry’s Vitra Design Museum, Zumthor’s Kolumba Museum, Piano’s LACMA. Inclusions like UNStudio’s Mercedes-Benz Studio and Eduoardo  Souto de Moura’s Casa das Histórias seemed to have made the cut for their easy transposition to the medium. Click through for more.

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The Mystical Peter Zumthor Designs Salt Shakers For Alessi

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Glassware by Peter Zumthor

Many architects have teamed up with product companies to create luxe objects for everyday life: Frank Gehry alone has designed boots for French shoemaker J.M. Weston, jewelry for Tiffany’s, and plastic chairs for Heller.

But Peter Zumthor, the reclusive Swiss architect who has achieved cult-like status, always seemed above this type of collaboration. His portfolio mainly consists of small-scale civic, religious, and cultural buildings in Europe—all exquisitely crafted using natural materials such as wood and stone. His singular work is intense, awe-inspiring, and at times, a bit creepy (anyone visited his “witch memorial” in Norway?). This man of mystery has earned innumerable honors, including the 2009 Pritzker Prize and, most recently, the 2013 RIBA Gold Medal.

But prestige does not always bring in the big bucks, and Zumthor might actually need cash. First came news that he was tapped to design a house for the movie star Tobey Maguire. Then we heard that he’s renting out his vacation home in Switzerland. And now we learn that he’s jumped on the products-by-architects bandwagon and designed condiment containers for the Italian brand Alessi. Made of frosted glass and stainless steel, the collection features various-sized salt and pepper shakers and cruets for oils and vinegars. Read more.

Glassware by Peter Zumthor

Photos: via Dezeen

It’s actually not the first time Zumthor has teamed up with Alessi. Years ago, he designed a wooden pepper mill and cast-aluminum candleholders for the company. In describing his inspiration for the current collection, Zumthor referred to a forgotten sketch of a salt shaker he had drawn years before while staying at a hotel. When he rediscovered the sketch, Zumthor was flooded with memories of his morning at the hotel and immediately headed to his workshop to create the series of condiment containers. Resembling members of a family, the collection features containers of various sizes: short, tall, slim, chubby. They all exhibit the organic, crafted quality that is so central to Zumthor’s work.

Time will tell if this kitchen decor signals a new line of exploration, and revenue generation, for the revered architect. We’d love to see what happens if Zumthor put his mind to designing shoes or accessories—or perhaps even dog houses.

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Therme Vals by Zumthor. Photo: Design-Milk

[via Dezeen]

A Very Merry Zumthor Christmas

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The Zumthor properties at Leis, Switzerland If you like your holidays steeped in nostalgia for times you never had and imbued with the irritant smell of pine  and the hue of sallow cedar wood, chances are you’ll be shopping around for a winter cabin to spend this Christmas vacation. Yes, it’s late in the game