Peter Zumthor, fascinated by the qualities of a world of stone in the mountains, by the interest in light and shadow and the games that generate with reflections in water or steam, by the pleasure in the acoustics of water in a stone environment and the bath ritual, came to the existing design of the Thermal Baths in Vals. These elements were put into practice in a conscious way, giving them a form. It is thus that it creates a place of enlightenment that revere the shadow, a space of stone that does not compete with the human being, but flatters the human form and provides it a space.
The Vals Thermal Resort is situated in a valley on the only thermal springs of the Swiss Canton of Graubündens, Switzerland, between mountains of rock formations and alpine meadows. Inspired by this natural environment, Zumthor decides to create a complex with a cave structure or integrated quarry, as it is located under a semi-buried green rooftop on the hillside.
To achieve the design, the thermal baths are constructed from the placement of slabs of the local quarry of Valser Quarzite one on top of the other, being evident the inspiration of this stone to develop the design, using it with a great respect and dignity.
The Vals Thermal Resort is situated in a valley on the only thermal springs of the Swiss Canton of Graubündens, Switzerland, between mountains of rock formations and alpine meadows. Inspired by this natural environment, Zumthor decides to create a complex with a cave structure or integrated quarry, as it is located under a semi-buried green rooftop on the hillside.
To achieve the design, the thermal baths are constructed from the placement of slabs of the local quarry of Valser Quarzite one on top of the other, being evident the inspiration of this stone to develop the design, using it with a great respect and dignity.
In the project is reflected the study made by the architect of the bath ritual "...working this architectural design has meant always thinking about the bath rituals. The architecture we have developed step by step inspired us to see the experience of bathing in a new light, to find new options and ways, to leave aside some things, to rediscover the original forms. On the contrary, the study of the art of bathing has influenced our architecture."
One of the main elements with which Zumthor designed this project was the light and its combinations. Through the light and the shade, the open and closed spaces create environments in which visitors enjoy and rediscover the benefits of the waters. This is achieved by creating narrow slits that cut the network of lights from the ceiling of the baths that show the bathers an extension of the rooms next door, giving the feeling of continuous space.
The building has 15 spaces arranged in a grid and with 5 meters of high. To connect these environments, an underlying informal design is carried out through a path that leads the bathers to certain points, so that from there, then they will continue. In all these routes the perspective is always controlled allowing or eliminating views.
Apart from the interior path, it is designed an exterior circulation in the "meander", the negative space designed between the blocks, that connects the whole building and flows through it. This tour is characterized for being a procession of atemporal sensory stimuli, with a series of allowed or blocked views in a premeditated way. As it is located on the flank of the valley, from the building visitors can observe an idyllic landscape outside or through the large windows and small window rows.
The design of the bathrooms is intended to give the feeling of being a kind of cave or quarry existing before the hotel. Through the construction of the green rooftop of the complex, the appearance of the foundations of an archaeological site half buried in the hillside is created. The use of local quartzite slabs as the main material of the walls, and their placement in a stacked form, alludes to natural geology.
The project consists among other spaces, of indoor and outdoor swimming pools, stone water fountain, ferric spring water, various baths, massage and relaxation rooms. The rooms have in the ceilings fine windows with reference to the slabs of stone and that outline the external form like an interior cave. These light inputs create a strong contrast that emphasizes the linear nature of the materials used in the construction, and the long horizontal lines allow to emphasize the peaceful horizon of the water.
The roof is supported by the aforementioned 15 volumes of stone between 3 and 5 meters wide and 6 to 8 meters long. These are distributed following a strict grid of perpendicular lines, fitting like a giant puzzle. The 15 units of height 5 meters, have a ceiling of cantilevered concrete supported by joists. The nature of the construction with non-bonded roofs and hollows covered with glass, provide a dichotomy since the concrete makes the ceilings look heavy, but the holes creat at the same time the sensation that the roof floats.
The structure of the project is formed from load supports formed by solid concrete walls and thin slabs of Vals gneiss, a stone from the local Quarzite Valser quarry. The volume is designed resting partially inside the hillside, as if it was a stone from nature. Due to the monolithic nature of the bathroom houses, the building is heated by thermal mass.
Zumthor had planned to hollow giant blocks of stone for the thermal baths, but due to technical difficulties, finally to create the monolithic effect, resorted to a kind of "textile stone". This allowed him to design a model for the joints that allowed to join the stones in a wall in a homogeneous way. The pattern that was followed is based on thin layers of stone that appear to be placed at random, but they really follow a regular order. Thus, with three different heights 31, 47 and 63 mm, they cover the spaces of the bathrooms from top to bottom.
