Pritzker prize-winner Peter Zumthor’s stunning Brother Klaus Chapel juts like a giant haystack from the middle of a German field.  It redefines the way the outside affects the interior space of a building by drawing light in from the roof and the pyramid door.

As Zumthor puts it, “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 sensuousness as well; a building that is being itself, being a building, not representing anything, just being.”

The chapel Zumthor created for a group of farmers in honor of their patron saint was constructed with unusual techniques: packing concrete around timber, then setting it on fire to achieve the scorched look of the interior.  The floor is molten lead, and the roof is open to the elements, creating a different atmosphere throughout the year.  One word: brilliant.

Read more about the Field Chapel HERE.

Watch the slide show. Photos by Samuel Ludwig and Thomas Meyer

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