58 Quotes by Peter Zumthor

In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings and speak its own language.

I think space, architectural space, is my thing. It's not about facade, elevation, making image, making money. My passion is creating space.

My buildings should have an emotional core - a space which, in itself, has an emotional nice feeling.

Architecture has its place in the concrete world. This is where it exists. This is where it makes its statement.

I work a little bit like a sculptor. When I start, my first idea for a building is with the material. I believe architecture is about that. It's not about paper, it's not about forms. It's about space and material.

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 is what you learn from studying the old townscapes of the Swiss farmers.

There is still a real need for good quality architecture, not paper architecture, but the real stuff.

When I concentrate on a specific site or place for which I am going to design a building, I try to plumb its depths, its form, its history and its sensuous qualities.

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.