CASE STUDY . THERMAL BATHS .

PETER
ZUMTHOR
My buildings are declarations of love for their sites...
- PETER ZUMTHOR

Determinants of
Form
Mountain, stone, water – building in the stone, building with stone, into the mountain, building out of the mountain, being inside the mountain – how
can the implications and the sensuality in the association of these words be interpreted, architecturally? The whole concept was designed by following
up these questions; so that it all took form step by step - Peter Zumthor
Material
The design of the project arose from a restriction
which prevented the construction of a building height
that would damage the guests' views of the valley.
This led to one of the main design features of the
building, with a facade and half of the building buried
in the hill blending with the topography of the valley,
and a flat green roof that combines with the sloping
hill to create a continuous lawn.

Environment
The cavernous structure seemingly sculpted from the
mountain itself emphasizes a relationship with nature,
while de-emphasizing the sense of sight in favour of
the other senses.

Mountain, water, stone: Material relationships from which form emerges

The space within the spa is organized around two large
pools, one outdoor and one indoor, surrounded by high
stone walls. The building's main access is via a tunnel
from the hotel, serving as a transition that prepares the
visitor to experience the architecture imagined by Zumthor.
Internally, you can move through the various spaces freely,
without a preordained path, with views to the landscape
highlighted and blocked masterfully through the building's
external openings.
The facade, with a striking alternation between
solid and void, clearly shows the construction
technique. The volume of the building consists
of 15 subsidiary volumes, all distinct from each
other. These fragments are assembled as a
large three-dimensional puzzle, thus the roof
coverage is not continuous but broken at each
of the connections between these blocks. These
subtle gaps of just 8 centimeters allow the
entry of a sliver of natural light. Despite its
appearance as a massive, monolithic volume,
the building is a composition of slightly spaced
apart structures that make up the whole. The
project addresses these contrasts masterfully;
between the straight lines of the architecture
and the movement of water, or between the
gray of the rocks and the play of light and
colors.