It's revealed the Peter Zumthor's design for LACMA in Los Angeles. The architect's preliminary design, an undulating building dubbed 'the Black Flower,' marks an ambitious step for director Michael Govan and L.A. architecture.

The design — which the museum will unveil in an exhibition opening June 9 called "The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA" — arrives at a crucial time for the city. Los Angeles has produced so few important buildings in the last seven or eight years that it is in real danger of losing its reputation as a center for innovative architecture.

As part of the Getty’s initiative, Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., LACMA features The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA, an exhibition about the proposed future of the museum's campus. Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has been commissioned to rethink the east campus, providing new insight into the meaning and function of an encyclopedic museum and the relationship of architecture to its site. The exhibition begins with a detailed examination of the museum's buildings within the complicated history of Hancock Park. It then focuses on Zumthor’s preliminary plans for a new building to house the permanent collection, with several large models built by the architect’s studio.

The exhibition will also present key projects in Zumthor’s career that are most relevant to his vision for LACMA: the Therme Vals in Switzerland, Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, and the Kolumba Art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese in Germany. These projects have resulted in Zumthor winning the highest accolades in the field of architecture, including The Pritzker Prize (2009) and the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal (2013). Together, these examples elucidate key aspects of Zumthor’s practice – his interest in the geologic history of the site; his passion for materials, craftsmanship, and sensory experience; and his commitment to an architecture of total integration.

Dates.- 09th June - 15TH September 2013.
Venue.- LACMA. 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036. USA.

Read more
Read less

Peter Zumthor was born on April 26, 1943, the son of a cabinet maker, Oscar Zumthor, in Basel, Switzerland. He trained as a cabinet maker from 1958 to 1962. From 1963-67, he studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Vorkurs and Fachklasse with further studies in design at Pratt Institute in New York.

In 1967, he was employed by the Canton of Graubünden (Switzerland) in the Department for the Preservation of Monuments working as a building and planning consultant and architectural analyst of historical villages, in addition to realizing some restorations. He established his own practice in 1979 in Haldenstein, Switzerland where he still works with a small staff of fifteen. Zumthor is married to Annalisa Zumthor-Cuorad. They have three children, all adults, Anna Katharina, Peter Conradin, and Jon Paulin, and two grandchildren.

Since 1996, he has been a professor at the Academy of Architecture, Universitá della Svizzera Italiana, Mendrisio. He has also been a visiting professor at the University of Southern California Institute of Architecture and SCI-ARC in Los Angeles in 1988; at the Technische Universität, Munich in 1989; and at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University in 1999.

His many awards include the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association in 2008 as well as the Carlsberg Architecture Prize in Denmark in 1998, and the Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture in 1999. In 2006, he received the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia. The American Academy of Arts and Letters bestowed the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture in 2008.

In the recent book published by Barrons Educational Series, Inc. titled, Architectura, Elements of Architectural Style, with the distinguished architectural historian from Australia, Professor Miles Lewis, as general editor, the Zumthor’s Thermal Bath building at Vals is described as “a superb example of simple detailing that is used to create highly atmospheric spaces. The design contrasts cool, gray stone walls with the warmth of bronze railings, and light and water are employed to sculpt the spaces. The horizontal joints of the stonework mimic the horizontal lines of the water, and there is a subtle change in the texture of the stone at the waterline. Skylights inserted into narrow slots in the ceiling create a dramatic line of light that accentuates the fluidity of the water. Every detail of the building thus reinforces the importance of the bath on a variety of levels.”

In the book titled Thinking Architecture, first published by Birkhauser in 1998, Zumthor set down in his own words a philosophy of architecture. One sample of his thoughts is as follows: “I believe 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.”

Read more
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...