Peter Zumthor Quotes

Architecture is a result of a process of asking questions and testing them and re-interrogating and changing in a repetitive way.

Architecture begins when you place two bricks carefully together.

Architects are not clients. We can't build without something to built.

Building is just skilled labor, I suppose. It's a lot of work. I don't mind other people building them, but the way things go together and are made is interesting to me; I like that a lot.

I loved logic, math, computer programming. I loved systems and logic approaches. And so I just figured architecture is this perfect combination.

I'm an engineer by trade, and what engineers do is they go and build, and they don't think a lot about storytelling.

Just taking a piece of dirt and envisioning the building you'd like to put on it - it's an amazing process.

Every well built house started in the form of a definite purpose plus a definite plan in the nature of a set of blueprints.

My father was a master carpenter and builder. Architectural design, engineering design, mechanical design, three-dimensional views, that was my shtick, my forte.

I wanted to be an architect. I used to draw houses and buildings and construct buildings on my own.

Architects work in two ways. One is to respond precisely to a client's needs or demands. Another is to look at what the client asks and reinterpret it.

I used to love to draw. I didn't want to go to art class because I felt that would be too corny when I was young, but architectural drafting was the cool thing to do because there was more precision. It taught me a lot about building and structures and doorways and frames and windowsills.

What I learned from architectural drafting is that everything has to have a plan to work. You just can't wing it. I can't get all the materials I need for a house and just start building. Whether it's a career, family, life - you have to plan it out.

The difference between a builder and an architect is that an architect also cares about desire, about dreams.

My job the same as carpenter. What kind of house you want to build? What kind of food you want to make? You think your ingredients, your structure. Simple.

I tell you, it is easier to build a grand opera or a city center than to build a personal house.

What I try to do is the art of building, and the art of building is the art of construction; it is not only about forms and shapes and images.

I studied to be an architect. And I find tremendous similarities between building a company and the design process. Businesses have to do their planning on the fly in a fashion similar to an architect sketching.

I don't build because I am an architect. I can make true architecture because I do not build.

People kind of tend to mystify design and architecture by suggesting you need to train.

A career for me is something like building a bridge. You know, where to put the lifts. You have a plan. I have a blueprint for each film, but not for my life.

I think a construction project for me is like writing a novel. I can't do the project unless I can envision sort of the whole structure and see what the end result might be.

Building a house from scratch in the middle of a field is a bit like building a prototype car. As with all prototypes, if you're building a car you usually have the luxury of producing several prototypes before you arrive at the production line version - so the opportunity for changing things is quite rich.

Building a house is like producing a movie. There's no right way to do it but a lot of wrong ways. You have to be flexible and creative. You have to move fast, be prepared - or it quickly becomes costly.

Architect. One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft of your money.