This is one of two papers examining why contemporary Swiss architecture is often of international quality (the other being,'Lighting the Blue Touchpaper and Building Well'.) and particularly what Swiss architects do in their practice to influence this.
Peter Zumthor writes about “developing an architecture which sets out from and returns to real things” referring to both his own design process and the qualities he wishes his architecture to convey. In an architecture culture long accustomed to media saturation and the image, the phrase “real things” is provocative and potentially archaic. This paper examines what Zumthor means by that term by investigating how he establishes the core ideas or principles that come to inform design development; namely, by his approach to a brief, a site and a context. The paper draws on his writings as well as our own experience of being in his buildings, particularly through a rare interview we conducted with him in his new house and atelier in Haldenstein.