ON CAPTURING 'THINGS' : IMAGES OF PETER ZUMTHOR �S THERMAL BATHS

Abstract

“There is no idea except in things.” Peter Zumthor's architectural oeuvre encompasses his desire in “developing an architecture that sets out from and returns to real things”. Inherent in his explorations of space and narrative writing is the expression of architecture to be composed of “real things”, a phrase that begs the question of authenticity in the saturated media of architectural production today. Though his work emphasizes a user’s direct experience, by virtue of physical or geographical constraint, we appreciate them primarily through photographs. This dissertation uses the photographic image as a point of origin to examine its effect on the architectural process and perception of Peter Zumthor’s Thermal Baths in Vals, Switzerland. It asserts that the existence of a pre-conceived or priori image carefully frames Zumthor’s thesis on “things”, such that his search for architectural effect originates from imagery. Photography is instrumentalized by nature of its contingency to legitimize Zumthor’s writing, yet it also reveals Zumthor’s narrative on “things” to be a construct, a means to disguise the pre-conceived image.