This research concerns Peter Zumthor and his architectural work, and is constituted by two parts. The first part concerns the ad loc recording of impressions from my personal visits tocertain of his buildings, while second dives in his work through analyses and correlations in theoretical level.
Reason for this research, stood my travel in central Europethat took place inMarch 2002 and included quite a few visits in buildings of Zumthor.
Therefore the first part is a calendar type recording of personal experiences that I had, having found myself around and in these specific buildings.
The second part of research, began in October 2005, and was constituted by the systematic study of bibliography that concerned immediately or indirectly Peter Zumthor and his work. Through these texts, I returned at some way in the buildings where already I had found myself, in a different kind of way.This time, in this mental journey, resembled to me they were revealed again, presenting to me new sides of them that were concerning their past, their origin, and the images of memory that have embodied, and their hidden elements thatI had only fleetingly felt, in their silent breathing, in the hours where I was surrounded by their own presence.
Considering, that the architectural work (and perhaps especially that of Zumthor)is not determinedonly through the systematic analysis of the plans or the exhaustive description of spaces and their facilities, the researchwas formed as an approachingeffortof theknowledge, the memory, and the senses that coexist insidethe concrete body of the buildings.
So substantially, the whole essayis turned round Zumthor’s architecture, and both parts are constituted as two attempts to imprint recollection, to enclose senses and to look for descents, following some how two paths of return, to the images of memory.