Peter Zumthor Therme Vals

175 Pages·2007·45.93 MB·English

by  Sigrid Hauser

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PETER ZUMTHOR THERME VALS

Essays

Sigrid Hauser
Peter Zumthor

Photographs

Helene Binet

Scheidegger & Spiess
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Hélène Binet Sigrid Hauser Peter Zumthor

Photographs I 6
Vals and the History oft he Bath 15

Alphabet 15
Artemis / Diana 17
Asklepios / Asclepius 21
First Images 22
Augengneis / Augen Gneiss 28
Aussenbad / Outdoor Pool 30
Baukörper / Structure 31
Bewegungsfugen / Expansion Joints 32
Blütenbad / Flower Bath 34
Eingang / Entrance 35
Block Studies 36
The Section Grows:
Stone Tables and Caverns 42
Photographs II 48
Entwurf / Design 56
Feuerbad / Fire Bath 61
The Floor Plan Grows:
Geometries 62
The Joints 66
Grasdach / Grass Roof 72
Heilbad / Therapeutic Bath 73
Hypokausten / Hypocausts 74
Innenbad / Indoor Pool 75
Kaltbad / Ice Bath 77
The Floor Plan Grows:
The Meander 78
The Bathing 86
Klangbad / Sound Bath 92
Klangstein / Sounding Stone 94
Konstruktion / Construction 95
The Construction 98
Photographs III 114
Laconicum 122
Mikwe / Mikvah 126
Quelle / Spring 129
Reinigung / Cleaning 133
The building materials 136
Ressourcen / Resources 144
Schwarzpulver / Black Powder 145
Schwitzstein / Sweat Stone 148
Spa 149
Staudamm / Dam 150
Therme / Thermal Bath 153
Trinkstein / Drinking Stone 155
Photographs IV 156
Valser 166
Verbundmauerwerk / Compound Masonry 168
Vitruv / Vitruvius 171
Vorgeschichte / Historical Background 172
Wallfahrt / Pilgrimage 173
Wasseraufbereitung / Water Treatment 174
Wasserkultstatte / Cultic Water Site 176
Zugang / Access 177
Reality 178
Photographs V 182
Appendix 190
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VALS AND THE HISTORY OF THE BATH
Sigrid Hauser

In the beginning there is already the question as to the ends, i.e. the question of presentation and how this will
adequately handle the different levels of concept and reality. Each level should elucidate a particular area: the
development of the design, the architecture of the building, the biography of the materials, the history of the site, and
the cultural history of bathing. The paths of approach are circuitous, the method seeks to trace these winding threads
and make them visible. It is a method of taking apart and putting back together, the complexity of the subject matter is
separated into themes and rearranged in a different order. In the never ending task of compiling their German
dictionary, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm referred to alphabetical order as a healthy order, perhaps because the system of
presentation is ostensibly democratic, for all terms are given equal recognition and the sequence is not governed by
hierarchical preferences. There is, however, interpretation involved in the selection, and it is certainly artificial in its
construction. In European languages the order of the letters can be traced back to the oldest Semitic ALPHABET,
the invention, to the Phoenicians, who more than 4,000 years ago were the dominant maritime trading culture across
the entire Mediterranean for centuries. Using only two dozen characters it was finally possible to record all human
thoughts and memories. In the eleventh century BC this system of characters is allegedly adopted by the Greeks, the
names of the letters remain the same: aleph or alpha means ox, beth or beta means house. The first letters of the
Hebrew alphabet alef and bet have the same origin. After that, the sequence varies in the different languages. Thus
the Romans adopted the Greek alphabet, replacing some of the sounds with their own or adding new ones - after the
conquest of Greece the zeta, which had been dropped, had to be readopted because more and more foreign Greek
words were being written with Latin letters.