[ Peter Zumthor ] Brother Claus Chapel

The chapel was built to honor Nicholas von Flüe, the patron saint of Switzerland also known as Bruder Klaus, and contains his statue along with a single bench and some candles.

The architect, Peter Zumthor of Switzerland has been chosen as the 2009 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Most recently critics have praised his Field Chapel to Saint Nikolaus von der Flüe near Cologne, Germany. The jury singled out not only those buildings, but also the Kolumba Museum in Cologne, calling the latter “a startling contemporary work, but also one that is completely at ease with its many layers of history.”

Zumthor believes that,”Architecture today needs to reflect on the tasks and possibilities which are inherently its own. Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol for things that do not belong to its essence. 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. I believe that the language of architecture is not a question of a specific style. Every building is built for a specific use in a specific place and for a specific society. My buildings try to answer the questions that emerge from these simple facts as precisely and critically as they can.”

Constructing Zumthor

from  designstories