Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has attracted a cult following over his five-decade career, but kept a famously low profile in the media. He spoke to Dezeen about trying to dispel his mysterious reputation by taking cues from media-shy tennis star Roger Federer.
Zumthor, 74, works with a small team of around 30 based in Haldenstein, a mountain village in eastern Switzerland where his studio Atelier Peter Zumthor has been based since 1979.
The scale of his studio, its remote location and the notoriously rigorous vetting and waiting process his clients experience have contributed to his media portrayal as a "reclusive mountain-dwelling hermit".
But it's a reputation Zumthor is trying hard to rid himself of, he told Dezeen in an interview at the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, where he is working on an extension for the Renzo Piano-designed gallery. "It's interesting that it's still lingering on. I'm doing my best to change this image," he said. "Whoever knows me says 'but you're not like people say', but that's not how the rumour goes!"
"I think 10, 15 years ago I tried to protect myself much more from influences. I was then maybe a bit harsh in my reaction," he added. "But even then it was not true. A myth. But then I was more reluctant and closed, and now I'm not."
Therme Vals, which opened in 1996, is one of Zumthor's best-known buildings. It is one of around just 20 projects completed by the architect since he set up ...