On the 14th January 2010, the Velux Stiftung presented the second Daylight-Award at the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel. The presentation was realized in collaboration with the Department of Architecture of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (DARDEN ETH), Zürich and the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum.

Winner of the Daylight-Award 2010 is the Therme Vals of Peter Zumthor in Vals, Switzerland. Two honorary awards go to James Turrell for his Skyspace Piz Uter in Zuoz and to Isa Stürm Urs Wolf Architects for the Kunst(Zeug)Haus in Rapperswil, both in Switzerland. An additional honorary award for her important contribution to a better understanding of the effects of daylight to the human organism and its health goes to Prof. Anna Wirz-Justice, a chronobiologist of the University Basel, Switzerland. The Daylight-Award aims to encourage developers, planners and specialists to systematically use daylight in order to increase quality of life and energy efficiency.

VernissageTV realized three short documentaries for Velux Stiftung about the awarded works. The videos are already available at the Velux Stiftung website and will be published on VernissageTV within the next days.

In this video we have a look at the project that was awarded the first prize, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals. In his studio in Haldenstein / Switzerland, the architect speaks about this work, focusing on the aspect of daylight. The Jury states: “The building is exceptional, already a ‘classic’. It is still perceived as the most accomplished project in terms of daylight due to an archaic, minimalistic layout and an outstanding interplay with light and darkness. The architecture controls the light in a wonderful way, it is judged as a magnificent project.” According to the jury the architect Peter Zumthor became an artist dealing with daylight.

Peter Zumthor is one of the most famous contemporary architects. In 2009 he won the Pritzker Prize. Among his most known works are Therme Vals, Art Museum Bregenz, and Kolumba Museum in Cologne.

The Velux Stiftung was established in 1980 and promotes projects investigating the effect and better utilization of daylight. The Velux Stiftung is interested in the effect of daylight on the well-being of humans and on the recovery process from both physical and psychological illness, but also its impact on nature, and in technologies for the utilization of daylight in buildings for energy efficiency and illumination.

Peter Zumthor: Therme Vals / Interview. Vals and Haldenstein / Switzerland, December 15, 2009.

PS: A video of the Award Ceremony is available after the jump.

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• Kunst(Zeug)Haus Rapperswil Jona / Stürm Wolf Architects
• James Turrell: Skyspace Piz Uter

Kolumba is the art museum of the Archbishopric Cologne: a triad of place, building and collection. Two thousand years of occidental culture – architecture, arts and crafts and fine art – can be experienced together at one place. Kolumba wants to recall: A museum is a place of slowness, of concentration, of playful-creative analysis, of becoming curious about a universe of things that one did not yet see in this way. It is a cornucopia of unspent, amazing, surprisingly new and likewise surprisingly unfamiliar old views of the human understanding of the world in individual pictures. Kolumba wants to open up a panorama for that “which our eyes think” (Paul Cézanne), which our vision feels, which our feeling hears, which our listening says, which our words conceal. (excerpts from the museum flyer). The museum’s collection contains works (among others) Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois, John Cage, Otto Dix, Roni Horn, Jannis Kounellis, Wolfgang Laib, Agnes Martin, Richard Serra, Paul Thek, and Andy Warhol. By Thom de Bock. PS: For a statement by Kolumba architect Peter Zumthor see Peter Zumthor speaks about Museum Kolumba / Cologne / part 1/2.

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• Peter Zumthor speaks about Museum Kolumba / Cologne / part 1/2

The distinguished Swiss architect Peter Zumthor (*1943) speaks about his experiences and the difficulties in planning and constructing the Museum Kolumba in the centre of Cologne. After Zumthor won the architecture prize in 1997 it continued up to now to realize this extraordinary project in which the ruins of the late Gothic church “St. Kolumba”, the chapel “Madonna in the Ruins” and the unique archaeological excavation are embedded. He reports on the long continuance to find a common agreement with the building owner, the see of Cologne. In the interview Peter Zumthor is also explaining the sharp distinction of the Museum Kolumba to what he calls: “Bilbao-Syndrome“. By Thom de Bock. PS: Very special thanks to Johannes Weuthen for the translation.

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• Museum Kolumba / Cologne / part 2/2