Peter Zumthor Wins 2009 Pritzker Prize
Zumthor is the second Swiss architect to receive the honor.
Laurel Petriello -- Interior Design, 4/15/2009 12:00:00 AM
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor steps out of the snow and into the spotlight this April as the Pritzker family and the Hyatt Foundation announced his achievement as the 2009 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. The annual prize, which is known across the globe as the highest architectural honor, was established in 1978. Zumthor joins an elite list of 31 world-renowned, award-winning predecessors.
Celebrated for an extensive catalog of projects throughout Europe and the United States, the 65-year-old architect is perhaps best known for his Thermal Baths in Vals, Switzerland, a personal favorite holiday destination for Interior Design resident blogger, D.B. Kim. Recent Zumthor projects heralded by the Pritzker jury include his Field Chapel to Saint Nikolaus von der Flüe near Cologne, Germany, and 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.”
When notified that he had been named the 2009 laureate, Zumthor responded, “Being awarded the Pritzker Prize is a wonderful recognition of the architectural work we have done in the last 20 years. That a body of work as small as ours is recognized in the professional world makes us feel proud and should give much hope to young professionals that if they strive for quality in their work it might become visible without any special promotion.”
Zumthor is the second Swiss architect to be awarded the Pritzker Prize; he joins the team of Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron who were honored in 2001. Other laureate winners include I.M. Pei, Richard Meier, Gordon Bunshaft, Oscar Niemeyer, Jørn Utzon, Rem Koolhaas, and many more. The formal ceremony to honor Zumthor will be held on May 29 in Buenos Aires, Argentina; he will receive a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion.
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