A weekend in Switzerland: A Tour of Peter Zumthor

This is the Chinese beer garden inside the English Garden where the locals gather in a crtical mass to enjoy liters of beer and watch the World Cup. This was the opening match between Mexico and South Africa. This place can probably accommodate at least 4000 people. We spent the day here before our trip to Switzerland to experience Zumthor-palooza.




Our first Zumthor stop was the Kunsthaus in Bregens, Austria. This Museum has an all frosted glass facade that diffuses direct sunlight to disperse the light evenly throughout the galleries. He also uses a frosted glass suspended ceilings inside the galleries that are lit with artificial light that mimic a natural daylighting effect. The gradient of light in this museum was very powerful.


The treatment of daylight stairwells in this Museum were phenomenal.



All the gallery spaces had the same floor plan and details but the artwork in each gallery had the ability to affect the ambiance of the room. The artwork are the thin poles leaning on the walls and each one had a different poetic phrase. The brighter edges of the room is where the natural daylight is penetrating the space and the frosted suspended ceiling is diffusing and dispersing the light in conjunction with the artificial lights above the frosted glass suspended ceiling.
Its a badass lighting effect.



A close-up of the suspended glass ceiling


This gallery was a lot of fun to photograph because of how these dense glass sculptures are affected by the light and also the reflections in the floor.


I was trying to compose an image where the elements of art and architecture begin a dialogue with each other so they are seen as one subject matter and not isolated objects sitting in a gallery space.



Another interesting aspect of this building was the reflections created within the polished concrete floor. This image is capturing the daylight entering from the end of the hall and displaying its reflection in the floor


When we exited the museum the clouds started to break up so I was able to get this shot with some sky in the background to provide some contrast to the frosted glass panels.

This is the Oskar von Miller forum which is the headquarters for our study aboard group. This is a student housing project for students of the Technical University of Munich and this place is the bomb!!! I have never seen a student housing project with such amazing design and attention to detail. I love hanging out here!!


Oskar von Miller forum sawtooth double skin facade which is used to diffuse daylight as well as for natural ventilation.


This project is called Wagness III and its known as a Co-Housing project where the tenants of the building invest money before the project is designed and built. The initial invest is used as start-up funds to get the project of the ground and started. There are lots of families that live here and there is a very strong sense of community, something you don't see in the U.S.


Wagness III


After we visited Wagness, we walked to the Olympic Park which was very amazing. The Olympic stadium was design for the 1972 Olympic Games by Günter Behnisch. This structure is just as amazing now as it was back then.




All of us checking out the tensile structure which is made of thousands of acrylic panels







The Olympic Tower. It is about 300 meters tall or 984 feet.

6-9-2010

We attended the Inter-Solar trade fair in the new mixed use development in Rheim. This was the largest Solar Trade fair in the world and contained every and any solar product you could think of such as PV Panels,Solar thermal collectors, etc. And there where six more convention halls just like this one packed with vendors and businesses. It was information overload.




This is the entry hall where visitors would register and pick up tickets.


This was the clock tower adjacent to a very modern catholic church


This is a modern interpretation of a stained glass inside of the catholic church. It was impressive.


This image is looking back at the shopping center and church clock tower in Rheim. Rheim used to be the site of an old airport and has been redeveloped into a mixed use community with a large shopping area, convention center, and lots of multifamily house units.


This is one of the many housing projects.


An elementary school in Rheim. It redefines how elementary schools are designed and perceived.


Later that day we went to a organic food dispensary where they fulfill orders from customers and deliver fresh organic produce to their door step. Organic farming is subsidized by the city government to provide high quality produce to its citizens.


Fresh Organic produce. In Munich they call 'organic' food as 'biological' food. I like the terminology.


Spargel, also known as asparagus in english. And the spargel in Munich tastes amazing.


Mooooooooooooo. Where's the beef?


After a long day, I decided to relax in the English Garden.


This fountain is located on Ludwigstrasse, near a university complex.

Tuesday 6-8-2010

This is the U-Bahn station at the Technical University of Munich northern satellite campus in Garching. We visited the Center for Applied Research where they develop and experiment with different types of building systems such as hot water storage systems, solar thermal vacuum tubes, and geothermal heating systems.


This is the back side of the U-Bahn station and it transitions into an urban landscape where people can inhabit this green space.


This is inside the Center for Applied Research. I completely geeked out on the lecture and tour that was provided to our group. They are researching some awesome sustainable technologies that are renewable and safe for the environment.


This building known as the 'Mensa' is similar to a student union building because it contains the student cafeteria and public space for students but it also has classroom space.


The facade of the Mensa building has a really awesome glass louver system that diffuses direct sunlight to reduce glare which mitigates solar heat gain.


Interior of the Mensa


This building was awesome because it has a four story slide built within the central atrium.


Here is the four story slide.


Here's me exiting the four story slide, it was badass!!!!


This building is the computer science building and holds the largest computer within the EU which contains 100,000 processors. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the room, which was more like a warehouse, where the computer was located.


This 2 foot thick concrete wall protects the computer mainframe and the metal grid is used as lighting protection.


Our next stop was the Swiss RE. Can you spot it in the distant. The Swiss RE is one of the largest insurance corporations in the world that reinsures other insurance companies that insure high risks investments such as buildings and large developments. Swiss RE also is the world leader in researching global climate change because the companies they insure tend to be affected by natural disasters, and they set their insurance premiums by forecasting global climate change and weather patterns and areas that are at risk for natural disasters. So if insurance premiums change around the world it is because of Swiss RE and the type of research they are doing, which is directly related to global warming. The definition of their business can get confusing. Here is the link to their site if you want to know more. http://www.swissre.com


The exterior of the Swiss RE building.


The Swiss RE building has an elevated green screen which enclosed the whole complex in a shroud of wisteria





The Swiss Re is such a lucrative company that they have a collection of Andy Warhol's original artwork.


Staring into the courtyard. This building was awesome!!