The Werkraum House, in the small village of Andelsbuch, is the latest addition to Swiss Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor's carefully composed portfolio of work; and, with his known love of crafts, it will come as no surprise.
Zumthor has a long-standing relationship with Werkraum, the crafts and trade association in Austria's leafy Bregenzwald region. The association counts 80 makers, builders and artisans - from brick-workers, upholsterers and painters, to cabinet-makers, metal workers, cobblers, carpenters and floor-layers - in its membership register.
Zumthor's contact with Werkraum started in the early 1990s, while he was working on the Kunsthaus in nearby Bregenz. 'Ever since that, he kept in touch with our craftspeople', recalls Werkraum CEO Renate Breuss. 'As a trained cabinet maker himself he was so moved by the passion and ideas behind our association that he offered to design the building in 2008.'
Now completed, the timber and concrete building combines a contemporary, minimalist design with the area's centuries-old local traditions. The relatively modestly-shaped low structure features a striking, large wooden roof and generous, glass-enclosed exhibition spaces. Equipped with offices, seminar and meeting rooms and display areas, it was designed in painstaking detail to provide a much needed space for the association's activities and also to act as a platform for promoting the work and value of local crafts.
'The building was conceived as a showcase and a meeting point for the crafts', says Breuss. 'The result reflects our values and suits our purpose very well - to be a meeting point for the people of the valley and for people from abroad, for crafts and culture. Zumthor brings together the rural context with the world, the local qualities and spirits with the international.'
The recently opened Werkraum House has also launched its first exhibition – which runs until 5 October – where its 80 members will each present one piece that highlights their approach.
Equipped with offices, seminar and meeting rooms and display areas, Werkraum was designed in painstaking detail to provide much a needed space for the association's activities and also to act as a platform for promoting the work and value of local crafts.
'Zumthor brings together the rural context with the world, the local qualities and spirits with the international', says Werkraum CEO Renate Breuss
The timber and concrete building combines a contemporary, minimalist design with the area's centuries-old local traditions.
Werkraum Bregenzerwald is now hosting its first exhibition, where its 80 members will each present one piece that highlights their approach.
ADDRESS
Werkraum Bregenzerwald
Hof 800
A-6866 Andelsbuch
Austria
-
Bali welcomes Tri Hita Karana Tower, a hybrid sound and vision centrepieceTri Hita Karana Tower is launching at Bali's Nuanu City; designed by Arthur Mamou-Mani, it’s a new hybrid art-AI architectural landmark for the island
-
Lego opens its first Superpower Studios at Paris’ La Gaîté LyriqueIn collaboration with Lego’s new Global Play Ambassadors, artists Aurélia Durand, Chen Fenwan and Ekow Nimako, and overseen by Colette co-founder Sarah Andelman, Paris is the site of the first Lego Superpower Studios
-
‘If kids grew up going to London Design Festival they would learn so much’: architect Shawn AdamsIn the first of our interviews with key figures lighting up the London Design Festival 2024, Shawn Adams, founder of POoR Collective, discusses the power of such events to encourage social change
-
We tour the construction site of Peter Zumthor’s De Meelfabriek in AmsterdamPeter Zumthor, Studio Akkerhuis, LOLA and Piet Oudolf come together to breathe new life into the listed monument of the De Meelfabriek in the Netherlands, at the same time revitilising a whole neighbourhood through architecture in Leiden
-
Peter Zumthor’s Devon villa shortlisted for RIBA House of the YearInspired by Andrea Palladio, the ‘Secular Retreat’ by Atelier Peter Zumthor with Mole Architects is a modern holiday home described by the RIBA House of the Year judges as a ‘powerful object in the landscape’
-
Touching the void: Peter Zumthor’s tribute to Norway’s mining past -
Inside architect Peter Zumthor’s wooden holiday home in the Swiss Alps -
Dark arts: Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois’ brooding Steilneset memorial
