Stone and Water

Peter Zumthor on the stone that loves water.

And the water loves the stone - more than any other material. Because the stone holds the water. Light penetrates in selected places, and the stone lights up, the water begins to sparkle and there is already this iridescent atmosphere there...

Peter Zumthor on Valser gneiss and the bodies of humans

Topography and countryside are the role models of the Therme. It looks as if it has always been there. The rooms, which are made of stone, should caress the body and not compete against it but rather, give it room. Room to be. Quiet forms, high material presence, stone and water and a pinch of gold...
Only the chairs anticipate some of the softness of the human body with their anatomical momentum. The more we trusted in stone and let it play its main role, the more it began to show its subtleties, patterns and structures - its beauty.

Peter Zumthor on the material that demands its rights.

Rooms may owe their existence to an idea, but in the end, they consist of substance, of material that often does not obey any idea but rather, wants to come into its own.