"Thinking about daylight and artificial light I have to admit that daylight, the light on things, is so moving to me that I feel it almost as a spiritual quality. When the sun comes up in the morning -- which I always find so marvelous, absolutely fantastic the way it comes back every morning -- and casts its light on things, it doesn't feel as if it quite belongs in this world. I don't understand light. It gives me the feeling there's something beyond me, something beyond all understanding. And I am very glad, very grateful that there is such a thing. And I have that feeling here too; I'll have it later when we go outside. For an architect that light is a thousand times better than artificial light."
- Peter Zumthor, from
Atmospheres (2006). The book is a transcript of a lecture Zumthor gave at Wendlinghausen Castle in East-Westphalia-Lippe, Germany in 2003.
Can anyone else hear "come to my window" playing in the background or is it just me? I have to say I really think in many ways that Zumthor is the Melissa Etheridge of the architecture world.
ReplyDeletethat's strange i was hearing 'enter the sandman' .
ReplyDeleteThank you Hilltown.
ReplyDeleteIt is great to hear someone so gifted saying something so profound of which contains him saying he does not understand light. very humble statement to some extent. refreshing as well that an architect is not claiming to own or to have mastered...very Zen