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48-683: Commissioned by the State of Vorarlberg and designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor , the Kunsthaus Bregenz was built between 1990 and 1997. The KUB opened in July 1997 with an exhibition by the American artist James Turrell . Edelbert Köb, founding director (1997–2000) of the Kunsthaus Bregenz, was succeeded by Eckhard Schneider (2000–2008) and Yilmaz Dziewior (2009–2015). Rudolf Sagmeister

96-674: A minimalist feel. It has been said that "Zumthor’s key building material is light." Zumthor founded his own firm in 1979. His practice grew quickly and he accepted more international projects. Zumthor has taught at University of Southern California Institute of Architecture and SCI-ARC in Los Angeles (1988), the Technical University of Munich (1989), Tulane University (1992), and the Harvard Graduate School of Design (1999). Since 1996, he has been

144-446: A building, not representing anything, just being. The sense that I try to instil into materials is beyond all rules of composition, and their tangibility, smell, and acoustic qualities are merely elements of the language we are obliged to use. Sense emerges when I succeed in bringing out the specific meanings of certain materials in my buildings, meanings that can only be perceived in just this way in this one building. When I concentrate on

192-578: A computer to propagate many rays. When applied to problems of electromagnetic radiation , ray tracing often relies on approximate solutions to Maxwell's equations such as geometric optics , that are valid as long as the light waves propagate through and around objects whose dimensions are much greater than the light's wavelength . Ray theory can describe interference by accumulating the phase during ray tracing (e.g., complex-valued Fresnel coefficients and Jones calculus ). It can also be extended to describe edge diffraction , with modifications such as

240-504: A film about Zumthor. Zumthor and his wife, Annalisa Zumthor-Cuorad, have three children. See the German Misplaced Pages for details. Incident light In optics , a ray is an idealized geometrical model of light or other electromagnetic radiation , obtained by choosing a curve that is perpendicular to the wavefronts of the actual light, and that points in the direction of energy flow . Rays are used to model

288-515: A milestone event of twentieth-century architectural photography, Danuser photographed, at Zumthor's invitation, two buildings: the protective structure built for archaeological excavations in Chur and St Benedict's Chapel in Sumvitg . When first shown in exhibition, those photos ignited a lively debate that has been revived with a recent exhibition of Danuser's photographs of Zumthor's most famous work,

336-402: A modern art gallery from the art exhibiting building, the latter can devote itself to its primary purpose. The Kunsthaus Bregenz has its own collection. One of the largest groups of works in the collection consists of architectural models by Peter Zumthor. Some of these exhibits have been archived since the architect's solo exhibition in 2007. Further models have been and are still being added to

384-469: A powerful and unmistakable presence and personality. It is illustrated throughout with color photographs by Laura J. Padgett of Zumthor's new home and studio in Haldenstein. To me, buildings can have a beautiful silence that I associate with attributes such as composure, self-evidence, durability, presence, and integrity, and with warmth and sensuousness as well; a building that is being itself, being

432-919: A professor at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio . His best known projects are the Kunsthaus Bregenz (1997), a shimmering glass and concrete cube that overlooks Lake Constance (Bodensee) in Austria; the cave-like thermal baths in Vals, Switzerland (1999); the Swiss Pavilion for Expo 2000 in Hannover, an all-timber structure intended to be recycled after the event; the Kolumba Diocesan Museum (2007), in Cologne; and

480-739: A relatively small firm, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize and 2013 RIBA Royal Gold Medal . Zumthor was born in Basel, Switzerland . His father was a cabinet-maker, which exposed him to design from an early age and led him to become an apprentice for a carpenter later in 1958. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (arts and crafts school) in his native city starting in 1963. In 1966, Zumthor studied industrial design and architecture as an exchange student at Pratt Institute in New York. In 1968, he became conservationist architect for

528-679: A rest area/museum on the site of the abandoned Allmannajuvet zinc mines, in operation from 1882 to 1898, in Norway (2016). In November 2009, it was revealed that Zumthor is working on a major redesign for the campus of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art . Recently, he turned down an opportunity to consider a new library for Magdalen College , Oxford. He was selected to design the Serpentine Gallery 's annual summer pavilion with designer Piet Oudolf in 2011. In 2023,

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576-448: A specific site or place for which I am going to design a building, when I try to plumb its depths, its form, its history, and its sensuous qualities, images of other places start to invade this process of precise observation: images of places I know and that once impressed me, images of ordinary or special places places that I carry with me as inner visions of specific moods and qualities; images of architectural situations, which emanate from

624-466: A unity with great potential for art installations . Two subterranean levels complete the spatial program. The first, supplied with daylight by a light pit, accommodates a lecture room, the museum educational center, and sanitary rooms, separated from the non public areas (stock, maintenance, personnel rooms) by translucent glass brick walls. The second subterranean level is closed to the public. It accommodates an originals archive and storage space as well as

672-571: Is perpendicular to the light's wavefronts ; its tangent is collinear with the wave vector . Light rays in homogeneous media are straight. They bend at the interface between two dissimilar media and may be curved in a medium in which the refractive index changes. Geometric optics describes how rays propagate through an optical system. Objects to be imaged are treated as collections of independent point sources, each producing spherical wavefronts and corresponding outward rays. Rays from each object point can be mathematically propagated to locate

720-464: Is a fine example of architectural minimalism . Distinguished by its imposing external form and unwavering spatial concept, the building was conceived as a daylight museum. Swiss architect Peter Zumthor's design, in his own words, aimed at fulfilling an art gallery ’s chief function: to be a place for art and a place where people can peacefully encounter art. For artists exhibiting at the KUB, the architecture

768-502: Is a measure and conceptual stimulus for their projects, especially when entire new series of works are being produced. The architecture is an indispensable platform for the KUB's international exhibition program. The KUB is a prominent solitary construction in downtown Bregenz near the vorarlberg museum and Vorarlberger Landestheater and not far from the lakefront. Together with the Landestheater it frames an open square between

816-686: Is a model of optics that describes light propagation in terms of rays . The ray in geometrical optics is an abstraction useful for approximating the paths along which light propagates under certain circumstances. The simplifying assumptions of geometrical optics include that light rays: In physics, ray tracing is a method for calculating the path of waves or particles through a system with regions of varying propagation velocity , absorption characteristics, and reflecting surfaces. Under these circumstances, wavefronts may bend, change direction, or reflect off surfaces, complicating analysis. Historically, ray tracing involved analytic solutions to

864-479: Is the only book-length study of this singular building. It features the architect's original sketches and plans for its design as well as Hélène Binet ’s striking photographs of the structure. Architectural scholar Sigrid Hauser contributes essays on such topics as "Artemis/Diana," "Baptism," "Mikvah," and "Spring"—drawing out the connections between the elemental nature of the spa and mythology, bathing, and purity. Annotations by Peter Zumthor on his design concept and

912-816: The Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). In 1998, Zumthor received the Carlsberg Architectural Prize for his designs of the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Bregenz, Austria and the Thermal Baths at Vals, Switzerland (see below). He won the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1999. Recently, he was awarded Praemium Imperiale in (2008) and the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2009). In 2012, he

960-694: The Silvretta dam, the American artist Jenny Holzer ’s “Truth Before Power” (2004), involving the projection of large-format texts onto architectural and natural monuments in Vorarlberg, from August 2010 through April 2012, the British sculptor Antony Gormley ’s landscape project “Horizon Field”, or, in Winter of 2019, the large-scale facade project "KUNSTHAUS" by artist Anne Marie Jehle. Apart from extensive and prestigious shows in its main exhibition spaces,

1008-421: The light waves propagate through and around objects whose dimensions are much greater than the light's wavelength . Ray optics or geometrical optics does not describe phenomena such as diffraction , which require wave optics theory. Some wave phenomena such as interference can be modeled in limited circumstances by adding phase to the ray model. A light ray is a line ( straight or curved ) that

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1056-399: The propagation of light through an optical system, by dividing the real light field up into discrete rays that can be computationally propagated through the system by the techniques of ray tracing . This allows even very complex optical systems to be analyzed mathematically or simulated by computer. Ray tracing uses approximate solutions to Maxwell's equations that are valid as long as

1104-608: The Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, on a farm near Wachendorf. In 1993, Zumthor won the competition for a museum and documentation center on the horrors of Nazism to be built on the site of Gestapo headquarters in Berlin. Zumthor's submission called for an extended three-story building with a framework consisting of concrete rods. The project, called the Topography of Terror , was partly built and then abandoned when

1152-582: The Department for the Preservation of Monuments of the canton of Graubünden . This work on historic restoration projects gave him a further understanding of construction and the qualities of different rustic building materials. As his practice developed, Zumthor was able to incorporate his knowledge of materials into Modernist construction and detailing. His buildings explore the tactile and sensory qualities of spaces and materials while retaining

1200-667: The KUB also ran projects with a processual and interdisciplinary bias in the KUB Arena on the ground floor, or projects at the KUB Basement. Alongside its exhibitions, the Kunsthaus offers an extensive educational program and a vast variety of events.The Kunsthaus Bregenz publishes work-relevant books, collections of essays, and catalogues, often in close collaboration with exhibiting artists and designers such as Walter Nikkels or Stefan Sagmeister . Exclusive special editions for

1248-458: The Kunsthaus Bregenz are an outcome of the close collaboration between artists and their exhibition production. 47°30′17″N 9°44′52″E  /  47.50472°N 9.74778°E  / 47.50472; 9.74778 Peter Zumthor Peter Zumthor ( German pronunciation: [ˈpeːtɐ ˈtsuːmtoːɐ̯] ; born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing

1296-464: The Kunsthaus. The KUB also has its own collection with two core areas: “Archive Art Architecture” and “Contemporary Austrian Art.” Select works of exhibiting artists have been expanding the latter part of the collection since 2009. The KUB not only addresses international concerns with its exhibitions and projects, but also helps shape the cultural identity of Vorarlberg with regional projects. Noteworthy examples are Gottfried Bechtold's “Signatur 02” at

1344-640: The Werkraum Haus – designed 10 years earlier by Zumthor – showed 40 of his architectural models, including some that have never been shown to the public before. Currently, Zumthor works out of his small studio with around 30 employees, in Haldenstein , near the city of Chur , in Switzerland . In 1994, he was elected to the Academy of Arts, Berlin . In 1996, he was made an honorary member of

1392-559: The building process elucidate the structure's symbiotic relationship to its natural surroundings, revealing, for example, why he insisted on using locally quarried stone. Therme Vals's scenic design elements, and Zumthor's contributions to this book, reflect the architect's commitment to the essential and his disdain for needless architectural flourishes. Seeing Zumthor represents a unique collaboration between Zumthor and Swiss photographer Hans Danuser , containing Danuser's images of buildings created by Zumthor. More than twenty years ago, in

1440-624: The collection as permanent loans. Buildings and projects that were realized as well as those that remained in the design stage are on show. The variety displayed in the exhibition demonstrates the outstanding role that working with models and materials such as wood, metal, or clay plays in Peter Zumthor's studio. The Kunsthaus Bregenz is one of Europe’s leading galleries for contemporary art both architecturally and in terms of its program. The Kunsthaus exhibits works by international contemporary artists who generally create art work specifically for

1488-514: The composition and "presence" of the materials to the handling of proportions and the effect of light, this poetics of architecture enables the reader to recapitulate what really matters in the process of house design. In conclusion, Peter Zumthor has described what really constitutes an architectural atmosphere as "this singular density and mood, this feeling of presence, well-being, harmony, beauty...under whose spell I experience what I otherwise would not experience in precisely this way." Therme Vals

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1536-476: The corresponding point on the image. A slightly more rigorous definition of a light ray follows from Fermat's principle , which states that the path taken between two points by a ray of light is the path that can be traversed in the least time. There are many special rays that are used in optical modelling to analyze an optical system. These are defined and described below, grouped by the type of system they are used to model. Geometrical optics , or ray optics,

1584-589: The electrical, heating, and climate controls . The KUB administration building is set a short way off from the town side of the Kunsthaus, its black façade directed at the front of the Kunsthaus and its entrance. It acts as a transitional structure to the smaller and low buildings of the old part of the town. In addition to administration offices, the ground floor houses the KUB café. Peter Zumthor has displayed his uncompromising architectural vision here again, café, bar area, and kitchen being faced with black exposed concrete. In separating these amenities indispensable to

1632-448: The exhibition space on all three upper stories and dividing it from the main stairways, emergency exits , and passenger and freight elevators . Uniformly positioned entrances and exits structure a route through ground floor and upper stories. The latter differ only in ceiling height; each can be used as one large space or scaled down by means of mobile partitions, depending on the project. All three upper stories are top-lit. The ceilings of

1680-447: The exhibition spaces are of loosely joined glass panels. Incident light enters the building on all four sides through light bands and is distributed through the interior volume of each story by the glass ceiling panels. Artificial lighting in the cavity above the glass ceilings complements or replaces daylight as required. These light sources are not visible. The ground and three upper stories and their material and formal aesthetic make up

1728-691: The government decided not to go ahead for financial reasons. The unfinished building was demolished in 2004. In 1999, Zumthor was selected as the only foreign architect to participate in Norway's National Tourist Routes Project, with two projects, the Memorial in Memory of the Victims of the Witch Trials in Varanger, a collaboration with Louise Bourgeois (completed in 2010), and a rest area/museum on

1776-402: The interior of the building with texture and spatial composition . From the outside, the building looks like a lamp. It absorbs the changing light of the sky, the haze of the lake, it reflects light and color and gives an intimation of its inner life according to the angle of vision, the daylight, and the weather. Majestically impervious to the external gaze, the glass-sheathed cube standing on

1824-407: The interior shines through inner light bands and outer skin to show the building's interior life. The gap between light skin and building accommodates servicing equipment. Artists exhibiting at the KUB have sometimes made use of the façade in their installations. Materials distinguish the interior, with exposed unpainted concrete visibly dominating. The floors and stairways are of polished terrazzo ,

1872-419: The old town and the lake. The façade consists of 912 finely etched equally sized glass panels weighing some 250 kg each, secured by clips to a steel framework. These panels form a free-standing, light-diffusing skin, independent of the actual building, that serves to initially refract the incident daylight and conduct it to the light ceilings in the exhibition halls . At dark, the artificial lighting from

1920-950: The program were conversations with philosophers, curators, historians, composers, writers, photographers, collectors, and craftsmen that Zumthor had invited to contribute to the exhibition. His dialogues with them offer insights into the thoughts and practice of fascinating personalities. Together with his counterparts, he explores artistic preferences and practices, reasonings, as well as practical knowledge from artisanal experience. In Dear to Me , Zumthor's equally serious and serene conversations with Anita Albus, Aleida Assmann , Marcel Beyer , Hélène Binet, Hannes Böhringer, Renate Breuss, Claudia Comte , Bice Curiger , Esther Kinsky , Ralf Konersmann, Walter Lietha, Olga Neuwirth, Rebecca Saunders, Karl Schlögel , Martin Seel, Rudolf Walli, and Wim Wenders are collected in seventeen booklets held together in an exquisitely manufactured box. Wim Wenders will also make

1968-475: The ray's trajectories. In modern applied physics and engineering physics , the term also encompasses numerical solutions to the Eikonal equation . For example, ray-marching involves repeatedly advancing idealized narrow beams called rays through the medium by discrete amounts. Simple problems can be analyzed by propagating a few rays using simple mathematics. More detailed analysis can be performed by using

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2016-421: The shore of Lake Constance has been an aesthetic presence in Vorarlberg for ten years . The Kunsthaus Bregenz was designed by the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor , 2009 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, and winner of the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1998. The KUB has since received numerous distinctions for its method of construction. One of the major modern art galleries worldwide, it

2064-601: The site of an abandoned zinc mine. For the Dia Art Foundation in Beacon, New York , Zumthor designed a gallery that was to house the 360° I Ching sculpture by Walter de Maria ; though the project was never completed. Zumthor is the only foreign architect to participate, with two projects, the Memorial in Memory of the Victims of the Witch Trials in Varanger , a collaboration with Louise Bourgeois (2011), and

2112-427: The spa at Therme Vals. Seeing Zumthor collects these three important series of Danuser's pictures and includes essays by leading art historians exploring the relationship between the two seemingly different disciplines or architecture and photography. In summer 2017, Peter Zumthor curated the exhibition Dear to Me at the Kunsthaus Bregenz, marking the twentieth anniversary of one of his most famous designs. Part of

2160-430: The walls and ceilings of exposed unpolished concrete. The ground floor accommodates foyer, checkroom, cashier's desk, and catalogue sales, although most of its almost 500 m2 is used as a multifunctional exhibiting space for KUB Arena projects. Aside from its etched glass outer walls, three differently positioned concrete wall-slabs are visible on the ground floor. These support the Kunsthaus floors and ceilings, structuring

2208-468: The world of art, or films, theater or literature. Atmospheres is a poetics of architecture and a window into Zumthor's personal sources of inspiration. In nine short, illustrated chapters framed as a process of self-observation, Zumthor describes what he has on his mind as he sets about creating the atmosphere of his houses: images of spaces and buildings that affect him are every bit as important as particular pieces of music or books that inspire him. From

2256-570: Was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal . On the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2023, the F.A.Z. called Zumthor "the great magician of minimalism." Zumthor's work is largely unpublished in part because of his philosophical belief that architecture must be experienced first hand. His published written work is mostly narrative and phenomenological . In Thinking Architecture Peter Zumthor expresses his motivation in designing buildings that have an emotional connection and possess

2304-515: Was the curator for 30 years (1992–2022). Thomas D. Trummer has been director of the Kunsthaus Bregenz since May 1, 2015. For the celebration of its 25th anniversary, the KUB organised an exhibition at the Biennale in Venice from April 20 to July 4, 2022. The art museum stands in the light of Lake Constance . It is made of glass and steel and a cast concrete stone mass which endows

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