A Feeling of History by Peter Zumthor, Mari Lending
Scheidegger & Spiess, 2018
Paperback, 80 pages

Swiss architect Peter Zumthor finishes buildings so sporadically that the presence of each in various strands of architectural communication lasts years rather than days or weeks. It was five years, for instance, between two recently completed works: the Steilneset Memorial (2011) and the Allmannajuvet Zinc Mining Museum (2016), both in Norway. When I saw Zumthor speak with Paul Goldberger at the Guggenheim in February 2017, these were the two projects Zumthor focused on. In general, discussions around these and other Zumthor projects unfold over time, unlike projects by prolific firms such as BIG or Kengo Kuma Associates, where lots of attention follows an opening, only to give way quickly to the next project's completion. In turn, Zumthor's slowness invites interviews ? but ones that play out over time rather than ones that take place in one evening like the Guggenheim.
A Feeling of History transcribes a series of conversations between Zumthor and Norwegian architectural historian Mari Lending that took place between September 2014 and August 2017. Not surprisingly, they focus on his two projects in Norway, though primarily the Zinc Mining Museum, which was finished in the middle of their conversations. History as a theme for their talks makes sense, since the museum marks the site of a mine that operated in the last half of the 19th century. To Zumthor, "l...