Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner AG

The studio house in the center of the village of Haldenstein contains a garden room on the first floor, a drafting room on the second floor, and archives in the cellar. It is built out of wood like the traditional local buildings for trades and craftsmanship, but has the appearance of an object-like body of wood. A finely structured shell of larch-wood slats, worked like a piece of furniture, encases the facades. A large opening facing south looks onto a decorative garden — a grove of cherry trees.

A trellis along the wall is overgrown with grapevines and protects the studio from the sunlight with large sail-cloth screens. The interior consists of one large, open space subdivided by a free-standing “working wall” extending over all three stories and separating the narrow circulation area on the north from the rooms to the south.