Peter Zumthor Quotes (32 quotes)

Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„I can't be bought with money. If someone calls me and asks me to work for them for three or four years, and they'll pay me well to build their vacation home, I ask myself why I should work three or four years on something like that.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„When I concentrate on a specific site or place for which I am going to design a building, I try to plumb its depths, its form, its history and its sensuous qualities.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„Normally, architects render a service. They implement what other people want. This is not what I do. I like to develop the use of the building together with the client, in a process, so that as we go along we become more intelligent.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„In a society that celebrates the inessential, architecture can put up a resistance, counteract the waste of forms and meanings and speak its own language.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„My first buildings, when I was about 30, were rejected for aesthetic reasons.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„If I look at history, it seems that most wars and most cruel things have been done by men and not by women.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„I've built two wooden houses near Vals. I built them for my wife. Those were private projects.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„Architecture has its place in the concrete world. This is where it exists. This is where it makes its statement.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„I design for the use of a building and the place and for the people who use it... the reputation for arrogance comes because when work is offered to me, I look whether I can find a genuine interest in quality.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„Small museums are great. Big museums are a drag.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„If, early on, you know how things are put together, then you can build. The architect is in charge of making - he is not an artist.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„I work anywhere between three and 10 years on a project, depending on the size. My lifetime is finite. Therefore, I have to look carefully at how many projects I want to put into my lifetime.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„There is still a real need for good quality architecture, not paper architecture, but the real stuff.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„What I try to do is the art of building, and the art of building is the art of construction; it is not only about forms and shapes and images.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„I need a close contact to the client, whoever it is, and a commitment of the client to go out and do a process together. I want to do the best for him. I need his respect and his patience. I want to work with a sophisticated person who's interested in a good building and not in my name.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„Architecture to me is whole. I cannot say I only care about this 25% and the other 75% I let go... it's just I want to work the way I want to work. In my shop, you can order certain things and other things you cannot. They are not available.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„I'm not mainly interested in what buildings mean as symbols or vehicles for ideas.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„I think space, architectural space, is my thing. It's not about facade, elevation, making image, making money. My passion is creating space.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„The first 10 years of my professional life had only to do with running away from my father. He was a wonderful cabinet-maker, and me being the eldest son, I had to take over his shop, his profession and so on and so on. I tried to escape by going to art school and then going on to industrial design and then interior design.“
― Peter Zumthor ―
Picture of quotation author Peter Zumthor
„My relationship to plants becomes closer and closer. They make me quiet; I like to be in their company.“
― Peter Zumthor ―

Looking for more quote authors similar to Peter Zumthor?

Famous architects:

Zaha Hadid, Frank Lloyd Wright, Arthur Erickson, Richard Rogers, Arne Jacobsen, Stephen Gardiner, Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Philip Johnson, Hugh Hardy

Famous Swiss quote authors:

Henri Frederic Amiel, Alberto Giacometti, Carl Jung, Fritz Zwicky, Alexandre Vinet, Friedrich Durrenmatt, Alice Miller, Paracelsus, Hans Kung, Edmond H. Fischer

Popular Swiss architects:

Bernard Tschumi, Max Bill, Le Corbusier

Author information

Peter Zumthor
Author born: April 26, 1943
Nationality: Swiss
Author Profession: Architect

Popular topics

More topics

Popular Authors

More authors