Peter Zumthor Questions

1. How does Peter Zumthor talk about the "Magic of the Real" and explain how this compares, in terms of the subtleties, to Michael Benedikt's "Architecture for Reality"?

Zumthor talks writes about how to create certain atmospheres that affect ones mood and that can be affected by ones mood, but Benedikt only talks about the how ones moods can be affected by atmospheres.

2. Material Compatibility, Temperature of a Space and Levels of Intimacy are some conditions that both Peter Zumthor, and Richard Serra, in “Weight and Measure”, make a point of articulating when consider space. Where in their explanation of these overlapping conditions are they similar and where do they differ?

Both deal with the weights of certain structures and how it make people feel about that space and how they relate to it. Where both of these differ is the want of notice by the person experiencing the space.

3. Zumthor looks towards experiential conditions when creating architecture, what are other methods architects use when generating architecture and what is the corresponding building?

Other methods architects use when generating architecture is 3d modeling. Last year an architect from hks came and showed us his digital model of the new cowboys stadium that they built. This helped them in the design process and ended up being very close to the building that was built.

4. For Zumthor at the end of the day, after figuring use, sound, place, light and the other listed conditions, if the coherence isn’t beautiful the process is started again. Beauty is simultaneously subjective for the individual, as held “in the eye of the beholder”, and universally recognizable. Define your subjective understanding of what beautiful architecture is.

My understanding of what beautiful architecture is, is hard to define. I believe that it is also in the eye of who is looking and it or judging it. I think that if you are the architect of a building and you think its a beautiful piece then you have successfully built beautiful architecture. NO matter what you building it there is going to be someone that disagrees with at least one thing about it so thats what means to me that it is up to a certain individual to decide if that work is beautiful to decide. In my opinion something that is green and has less impact negatively on the environment the more beautiful it is. Also pleasing to the eye never hurts.