Pritzker Prize 2009 for Peter Zumthor

Photo: Gary Ebner

Peter Zumthor is not the type of person who seeks excessive media attention or desperately pursues prestigious projects around the world. Compared to other architects, he has not built much in his thirty-year career. On the contrary, he has had the luxury of dedicating many years, and in some cases even decades, to each project. The buildings that Zumthor has not built near Chur could be counted on the fingers of one hand, where he has worked in a small village at the foot of the Alps since the 1970s and where he raised three children with his wife Annalisa Cuorad-Zumthor. Haldenstein is an inspiration, a refuge, and a beautiful prison for Zumthor that helps him concentrate. His not very large team of collaborators is also sheltered from the hustle and bustle of the big city. The tranquil village atmosphere and ample time for each project is further enhanced by the fact that Zumthor's main engineer, Jürg Buchli, is also his long-time neighbor, whom he helped finish building his house. By ensuring that the team never grew beyond twenty members, Zumthor has been able to maintain an overview so that he can be considered the sole author of the project. Zumthor adds: “I am not a creator of images. I am a person who, when accepting a commission, carries it out down to the last detail, everything myself only with my team.”
      The nine jurors awarding this year's Pritzker Prize praised his lifelong approach to work in their statement, noting that “he approaches it as meticulously as he does each of his projects. He creates buildings with tremendous integrity – untouched by fashion trends or fading over time. He declines numerous commissions that come his way and only accepts those projects with which he feels a deep internal connection to their program. From the moment he accepts the commission, he fully dedicates himself to the project and oversees even the smallest details during its realization. Zumthor's skilled hands, much like those of a skilled craftsman, use materials from cedar wood to sandblasted glass in such a way that they exalt their own qualities, all in the service of architectural permanence. He brings architecture to its bare essence and emphasizes its indispensable place in today's fragile world.”
      The sixty-five-year-old 33rd laureate of the Pritzker Prize feels satisfaction that the way he works has earned attention and recognition in today's fast-paced times. Zumthor acknowledges that he partly works as a sculptor. “When I begin working on a project, my first idea is related to the material. I believe that this is what architecture is about. It is not about paper or forms, but about space and mass.”
      The official presentation of the bronze medal associated with the award of 100,000 dollars and the celebratory lecture of the awarded architect will take place on May 29, 2009, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.