Contemporary

Architecture.

about Peter Zumthor and

one his finest work.
submitted by vignesh ramachandran
This is Zumthor…
 As a teenager, Zumthor's first job was as an apprentice
to a carpenter, and after studying architecture in his
native Basel and then in New York, he worked as a
conservation architect in Graubünden.

 Both of these early jobs gave him experience of craft

construction and a delicate understanding of materials,
and indeed in a 2001 profile in Vanity Fair, Paul
Goldberger describes how "all of his architecture has
the qualities a great cabinetmaker brings to his work: it
is precise, and its glory lies in the perfection of its
details and in the excellence of its materials.“

 Zumthor's style of architecture perhaps epitomizes the

principles of phenomenology, a belief in the primacy
of sensory and experiential qualities in architecture
that is inspired by the philosophy of Martin Heidegger.
As such, Zumthor believes that in order to truly
understand a building it must be experienced in
person, and therefore rarely courts media publicity for
his projects.
Bruder Klaus Field
Chapel
ARCHITECT : PETER ZUMTHOR
YEAR : 2007
LOCATION : MECHERNICH, EIFEL, GERMANY
Introduction :

 A small concrete chapel built by local farmers on the

edge of a field. Concrete is cast around a group of 120
tree trunks, cut at a local forest, and then slowly
burned.

 The meticulous arrangement of the trees teardrop or

leaf created the oculus that provides the only direct
light to the small dark space.

 The field chapel is dedicated to Swiss Saint Nicholas

von der Flue (1417-1487), known as Brother Klaus. It
was commissioned by farmer Hermann -Josef
Scheidtweiler and his wife Trudel and largely
constructed by them, with the help of friends and
craftsmen on one of their fields above the village.
Concept :
 In order to design buildings with a sensuous
connection to life, one must think in a way that goes
far beyond form and construction. This concept rings
true in the design of Peter Zumthor to the Bruder
Klaus Field Chapel, where a mystical and intimate
interior that invites reflection, is masked by a very
rigid rectangular outer.

 On a sunny day, the oculus resembles the eruption of a

star, a fact that can be attributed and refer to a vision
of Brother Klaus in utero.

 Very somber and reflective feelings that become

inevitable in one’s encounter with the chapel make it
one of the most remarkable pieces of religious
architecture to date. No plumbing, bathrooms, running
water or electricity and with its charred concrete and
cast metal floors, the seemingly uninviting chapel
remains an anticipated destination for many people.
Design and Spaces :
 The Bruder Klaus Field Chapel began as a sketch
that eventually evolved into a stylish point of
reference while essential in the natural landscape of
Germany. The design was done by local farmers
who wanted to honor their patron saint, Bruder
Klaus of the fifteenth century.

“… To me, buildings can have a beautiful silence

that I associate with attributes such as composure,
self- evidence, durability, presence and integrity,
and with warmth and sensuality, a building that is
being itself, being a building, that does not
represent anything, it’s just… “(Peter Zumthor )

 In his unique and intimate space inside a statue of

Brother Klaus, a bench and some candles are
located.
STRUCTURE :
PLAN AND SECTION :
Structure :
 The first step in building this Chapel is riding
trunks that shuttering will have to endure later
reinforced concrete.

 The concrete is poured, the formwork without

completely cover up the 12m high, interrupting the
spill a few meters before the top and leaving the
tips of free trunks, like a wigwam.

 Subsequently, for removing the inner formwork,

trunks that once consumed leaving a space that is
the exact negative of the same shape are burned.
Construction method :
The most interesting aspects of the church are in
construction methods from a wigwam made ​of 112 tree
trunks premises.

Once finished formwork, concrete layers were

tamped over the existing surface, each with about 50
cm thick and with 24 days of daily poured layer.

When 24 layers of concrete were poured and dried,

the wooden structure was burned, the slow burn lasted
3 weeks, leaving behind a hollow cavity blackened,
with a negative walls charred in which there were few
traces of logs original.

The only area not covered inside, the oculus, is

balanced by a floor mortar covered with lead and tin
concrete cast in situ using a crucible and manually
dumped by Miroslav Stransky and his wife own a
refined foundry area collaborated with construction.
Light :
OCULUS :
The obvious directionality of wall leads the eye
upward to the point where the roof is open to the sky
and night stars. This aperture controls the indoor
climate in the chapel. Both sunlight and air and rain
penetrate the opening and create a very specific
environment or experience based on time of day and
season.

PERFORATIONED WALLS :

In addition to the oculus, daylight enters the chapel

through small holes 350 located in the concrete walls.
These boreholes with steel pipes and used to pass the
elements that held the inner formwork abroad before
being burned, were later covered with small
hemispheres of blown glass that give a particular flavor
to the point where light enters and were essential due to
air currents that originated inside the chapel.
Materials :
 The Chapel is made of pine logs and reinforced
concrete. No plumbing, bathrooms, running water, no
electricity, just a triangular metal gate at the entrance
and the pavement obtained by recycling and smelting
4tn cans.

 Concrete is made ​by mixing river gravel, white

cement, water and reddish yellow sand, with technical
“rammed concrete”, use of natural raw materials.

 Small holes, made with chromed steel tubes, covering

the concrete wall were closed with glass blowing with
hemispherical Bohemia.

 The bronze relief figure in the chapel attached to the

sculptor Hans Josephsohn.
The small chapel of concrete was built on the edge of a
field in Mechernich on the way Rissdorfer Weg, in a low
slope of the Eifel (Naturpark Nordeife) Natural Park, 55
km from Cologne in the west of Germany.

A small concrete chapel built by local farmers on the

edge of a field. Concrete is cast around a group of 120
tree trunks, cut at a local forest, and then slowly burned.
The meticulous arrangement of the trees teardrop or leaf
created the oculus that provides the only direct light to
the small dark space.

The field chapel is dedicated to Swiss Saint Nicholas

von der Flue (1417-1487), known as Brother Klaus. It
was commissioned by farmer Hermann -Josef
Scheidtweiler and his wife Trudel and largely
constructed by them, with the help of friends and
craftsmen on one of their fields above the village.

Thank you…