Monuments of architecture and creators of the transcendence: Peter Zumthor (part 1)

(Gothic Church of St. Columba.  Germany, Cologne Zumthor. Images collated from the public domain)

Is it possible to smooth out Brutalist architecture, define its lines? Concrete is notoriously a rigid material to build with, so are bricks. Both have a temperament, that can be unyielding. It has, by its design, a harshness imprint to its application.  We've seen this at the beginning of statement architecture, whether aspects of Modernist or Brutalist, it is by definition the encasement of concrete, setting its self down as base. Protective, reinforced and brooding.  As discussed earlier in this series; built for longevity. From Le Corbusier, seen as one of the founders of the Béton brut style, he was also known for rounding its design – harnessing the rigidity and recalibrating it with textured stylizations. It was only when the 1950s architects such as Marcel Breuer, considered one of the true masters of concrete – sharpened the temperaments of the material reinforcing into a predominate landmark.  This is a post World War Two dynamics, but also a sensibility of creating structure that outlasts.  Like the great Pyramids of Giza as we discussed earlier.  Later into the modernist periods of Architectural design we see Tadao Ando's take on Japanese traditionalism – ensuring, as he was also inspired by the architects of the 1950 and 1960s, which he also imprinted a brutalist style habitué, as once again, in my opinion these hold a survival instinct that is specifically humanist.  Not built for a future as such, but created for the now, to invigorate its base.  A stalwart shelter, firmly planted into the ground. To live as an eternity within a day and in respect to Ando's creation's - maintain survival within and against the natural elements, but also the destructive aggression of man. 

If I view these modern cities and the pace of development, as discussed in earlier observations, is unprecedented in its synchronized boom.  Yet, it holds a cheap appeal within the postmodern styles. A vacancy, beneath the prefabrication – in its emptiness. It appears, as it is being built, defeated.  Glass, steel, patched together, glossed and developed into rapid production pieces.  There is no real design apart from a glimmer of past concepts.  A plagiarized wasteland. But, in this creative destruction there is a wait, an idea of what a city may evolve into or devolve from.  It all depends on the finance and its availability.  Still, that shouldn't force creativity into its corner, rather, the clever designer and architects can rework the new and build for the purposeful.  I personally do not believe that the past glory of Brutalism will return nor modernists aspects and the paint is peeling, literally on the postmodern prefabrication of this excessive boom.  Something maybe evolving, at this point we can only wonder at the possibility.  In the meantime the setting in of urban decay could point closer in that direction.

The Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, born April 26th 1943, similar to Marcel Bruer, his background also came from carpentry – as his father also was cabinet maker.  To which Zumthor also became an apprentice to the family business.  Later as a young man in 1963 he studied at the Kunstgewerbeshule in Basel, his birth place, three years later in 1966, as a exchange student he studied Industrial Design and Architecture at the Pratt Institute in New York.  Which, on its retrospection, would have been an incredible time for a young design student studying architecture to witness.  New York City was amidst an absolute decline. A city that was, after the postwar boom, now in a rapid decay. With industry collapsing in competition with New Jersey, the antiwar (Vietnam) and civil right moments all beginning in earnest – corresponding against the backdrop of economic upheaval of a city in turmoil.  Union strikes, racial tensions all at a boiling point, as in 1968 when Zumthor was giving the job as a conservationist architect for the city, it was the same year that the infamous nine day sanitation strike, as mounds of garbage piled up in the streets.  This, before a digitalized and virtual world which one can view, although illusionary, destruction and creation from a distance, to see it first hand.  Is to be there, know it – for the creative, it serves to remind that the world is constantly unhinged. Moments of clarity are focused within turmoil.  But, it has to be experienced. Absorbed and utilized.  Zumthor, who to this day, is humbled, living in a Swiss town where he manages a small architectural firm. Resounds degrees of humility.  Yet at the same time holds a intransigent compassion, as he melds the design into the natural world. However there is conflict here, between the natural and unnatural world. A term, astronomers used to describe what is seen when viewing the Cosmos of natural light from the stars and unnatural light from the cities. Also decreed in our vain, although necessary, search for other lifeforms.  What is natural and unnatural?  Are we inheritly dualist? Or do we struggle, as human beings, rare in the Universe to define the duality of exsistance. Living within the natural construct, which doesn't even know we exist.  Nor care. 

Zumthor projects something unworldly in his designs, yet uniquely human, it is as though he attempts to heal the past, ensuring that it is also shown respect. Gently remodeling its foundations, if he is considered uncompromising within his techniques.  It is that he refuses to allow both the natural and unnatural temperaments to dictate a path.  We, as human beings, beyond our ego, have to be contended with our moments in time.  The choices that are made.  We live, what is defined in a fleeting world and as discussed, it is only build for a day. That is our endurance. And I feel Zumthor represents this as an architect and designer.