The Saint Benedict Chapel in Sumvitg, designed by Peter Zumthor. This project is nothing short of a masterpiece in my mind. In this area of Graubünden, dotting the steep, grassy hillsides are many, many individual wood barns on stone plinths. Very simple, sturdy, graceful, beautiful and aging quite well. And this Chapel draws from those […]
Monthly Archives: July 2010
day 750_july 25, 2010
Peter Zumthor’s Thermal Baths in Vals. This is an amazing project and I have looked at all the wonderful photos of this building in architecture books and magazines throughout the years. Finally, a visit to see for myself. Well, I was truly shocked. The professional photographs of this building give the impression that it is […]
day 747_july 22, 2010
The Ugo Rondinone exhibit at the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau. One of my favorite pieces in the show was thank you silence, which cast small scraps of shredded paper down to the gallery floor like snow was falling in a self contained mound. Another great piece was the fat-gutted clown passed out on the floor.
day 743_july 18, 2010
1800 meters (5906 feet) in two hours and twenty minutes. These are some of the images of the trail up Mount Rigi. At one point there were some very, very large cows nearly in the path and I took several minutes contemplating my options. Turn around. Wait it out. Proceed cautiously. I choose the latter. […]
day 740_july 15, 2010
We have passed by this signal box, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, many times as we head in and out of Basel by train. Today was the first time to actually see it up close. Considering its fifteen years in an aggressive location it is aging quite nicely.
day 740_july 15, 2010
Schaulager. The special exhibition ‘Prayer Sheet with the Wound and the Nail’ by Matthew Barney. I understand his concept behind the Drawing Restraint series but that is about all that I understand. We first saw his work at the Guggenheim in New York. The Cremaster Cycle. Wow. This exhibition was nothing like that although there […]
day 736_july 11, 2010
Image taken from the exhibit ‘Inside Out, part II’ at the Kunsthalle Luzern. A very cool exhibition space for young artists in an old refrigerator factory.
day 734_july 09, 2010
My goal today was to make it all the way around the Vierwaldstätter See, taking the northern route out and the southern route back. Heading through Meggen, Vitznau, Brunnen and Flüelen going away from Luzern and Beckenried, Stans and Hergiswil on the way back to Luzern. As I past through Flüelen I missed my turn […]
day 732_july 07, 2010
I really can’t get over how consistently beautiful central Switzerland is. This really is a special place. In case you have been wondering, yes, I do see bad architecture here but it is extremely rare and it’s hard to find examples like this one. Ride statistics: time: 3 h, 01m, 19s; distance: 74.66 km; avg. […]
day 729_july 04, 2010
Heidi Weber Haus, Zürich. This is the last project that Le Corbusier designed before he died. It has very limited opening hours. Only Saturdays and Sundays for three hours per day during July and September. And we timed our trip to see this house with about two million other people coming to Zürich this weekend. […]