Architect: Peter Zumthor

The world in the village

Peter Zumthor's two studio and residential buildings are located on the "Süesswinggel" in Haldenstein. The first is a testimony to a new beginning - Zumthor's studio house is a leading building of the new Graubünden architecture and contemporary timber construction.

His studio and residential building, built twenty years later, is a masterpiece. Mature and serene. Natural and informal. Sensual, meticulously controlled and of one piece. The two different buildings continue the grown, dispersed village in the same manner. And they leave their mark on the place - they lend it their own magic. The first studio building is constructed in wood like an ordinary rural farm building, as delicate as a cabinetmaker's work. The façade made of thin larch slats has a Japanese filigree appearance. The large window front with its projecting arbor faces a small grove of densely planted cherry trees.

The second studio and residential building surrounds a garden courtyard like a "u". One side is the two-storey residential part with a pitched roof, the other side is the single-storey office part with a flat roof. Peter Zumthor's personal workspace is located in the center of the residential building, at ground level facing the garden. The shimmering silver surface of the concrete walls has a soft, almost textile effect. The house embraces nature and captures the expansive landscape.

Source: Bauen in Graubünden, published by Hochparterre and Bündner Heimatschutz, Zurich 2006