Since the 1980s, Peter Zumthor's buil­dings have ex­er­ted a quiet and au­to­no­mous aut­ho­rity wi­t­hin the con­tem­porary ar­chi­tec­tu­ral land­scape. The crafts­manship of his buil­dings, their phy­si­cal pre­sence, sim­pli­city and sen­si­tive use of ma­te­ri­als leave a las­ting im­pres­sion. All of Peter Zumthor's projects pro­ceed from a pa­ti­ent se­arch for the basic com­po­si­tion. So-called struc­tu­ral pain­tings pro­vide first clues about the de­sign and, at the same time, evoke in them­sel­ves a me­di­ta­tive pic­to­rial at­mo­s­phere. The pu­bli­ca­tion presents this »world of pre-figurations« with the ex­am­ples of three new projects by the ar­chi­tect. Con­cep­tual and struc­tu­ral sket­ches and texts by Zum­t­hor re­count the ge­ne­sis of the ther­mal bath in the moun­tain vil­lage of Vals/Bünden (opened in 1996), of the art mu­seum in Bre­genz (opening in 1997) and the me­mo­rial and mu­seum buil­ding »Topography of Terror« in Ber­lin (plan­ned). A se­ries of plans and pho­to­graphs of the mo­dels or rea­li­zed buil­dings com­plete the do­cu­men­ta­tion.

The ca­ta­lo­gue will be re­leased on the oc­ca­sion of the ex­hi­bi­tion of the same title in the ar­chi­tec­tu­ral gal­lery in Lu­cerne in the au­tumn of 1997.