Thermal Baths

There are relatively few examples in the world when a single architect's philosophies, experiences, and sentiments on materials, light, and logic can be manifested in one location. This unstated harmony appears to be achieved by Peter Zumthor in practically every work he creates, and it is sensed most powerfully in his masterwork, the Thermal Baths at Vals.

The baths were created to augment the industry of a tiny community and were buried into the slope of a magnificently picturesque mountain range. Zumthor plunged his building into the soil, utilizing stacks of precisely cut and polished stone to create a labyrinth of tiny, almost holy, cavelike pools spotlit by well positioned lamps, using native stone, gneiss, excavated from the mountain, and a concrete structure.

An open-air pool overlooks the surrounding scenery. The experience is visceral, but not at the expense of elegance, since each area is meticulously orchestrated. Although it appears gloomy and underground, the main pool shines with linear shafts of daylight carved from the ceiling above. Indeed, there is no indication that the structure exists from the outside; it barely intrudes on the mountain and blends in.

The project was finished in 1998 after taking more than six years to complete. Vals offers both luxurious luxury and a very basic sense of architecture at its best: not in the background or foreground, but somewhere in between, sculpting spaces and quietly orchestrating a very deliberate, primal experience.

Location: Poststrasse 35, Vals