Peter Zumthor’s Handmade Bricks Evoke ‘A Feeling of History'

Thank you for taking the time to read another installment of Masonry InPrint, our quarterly newsletter where we feature one of our past projects as it relates to an In Print architectural resource.

In the first issue, we discussed Robert Venturi’s evaluation of the historic relevance of a building as dependent on the degree to which it is rooted in authentic elements of traditional design principles. This month I would like to expand on that theme, taking a look at the process of Peter Zumthor as it relates specifically to his work at the Kolumba Museum in Cologne.

Where Venturi uses the term “vestigial element,” to describe the association with the past that a building can evoke, Peter Zumthor refers to a “tension between tradition and innovation,” that helps him create the atmosphere of melancholic nostalgia that his buildings are known for.

Essential to the execution of this sensory experience is Zumthor’s commitment to the use of materials that are “anchored in an ancient, elemental knowledge.” The bricks developed specially for the Kolumba Museum were handmade by Petersen Tegl, a Danish brick manufacturing company founded in 1791.

Lyons Heritage Masonry had the privilege of installing these same bricks on a project in Toronto in 2022.

In the publication “A Feeling of History,” where Zumthor is interviewed by architectural historian Mari Lending, he describes the ability of a place or object to evoke a sensory experience of the past in a way that is distinct from scholarly history:

Zumthor’s Kolumba Museum in Cologne is an exquisite example of Zumthor’s ability to evoke the past through modernity. The museum was built on the ruins of St. Kolumba Church, which was destroyed in the Second World War. It is intended to foster an experience with a religious dimension through an encounter with art.

Writing this now, I am transported back to the moments in time we spent working on that house. In many ways, it really was a sacred experience.

Thank you again for taking the time to follow our story. I look forward to seeing and working with all of you on upcoming projects.