Peter Zumthor's Inspiration as a Builder

Many people are influenced by past experiences and memories, including Peter Zumthor. His life as a child growing up in Switzerland has had a very big impact on the way Zumthor creates and designs his building projects. In some of his books Zumthor mentions how he can still feel the shape of his aunt's doorhandle into the house, and how it led to a wonderfully farmiliar world of the kitchen, an image still circulating in Zumthor's mind. This permanent image of the old kitchen still has Peter in a trance at times, and when he comes out of that trance, new, fresh ideas rush to mind for a whole new project.

Another affect of Zumthor's style was growing up with a carpenter father and learning the trade as well. Before Zumthor settled as an architect, he apprenticed as a cabinetmaker, like his father, then a designer, then finally an architect at Kunstergawerbeschule Basel and Pratt Institute , New York. As a student at Pratt, Peter and his classmates took architectural history, and reguarded it as part of their general education, but Zumthor said the class didn't really affect how he creates as a designer. I believe that Zumthor learned the basics of architecture while at school, but he really taught himself how to design once he got into the real buisness.

Many of Zumthor's memories come from subjective expereinces and or childhood moments. In one of his books, Zumthor wonders that if he had stayed living in Basel, would his style be different from how it is today, but eventually comes to the conclusion that yes his surroundings have an influence on his designs, but its more memories and past experiences than anything else.