The office of Peter Zumthor has been selected to design an expansion to the Beyeler Foundation, located just outside Zumthor?s childhood home of Basel, Switzerland. The Swiss architect was chosen from a prestigious shortlist of 11 firms to add to the existing museum building, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and completed in 1997.

Beyeler Foundation, 1997 / Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Image © Fran Parente

The office of Peter Zumthor has been selected to design an expansion to the Beyeler Foundation, located just outside Zumthor?s childhood home of Basel, Switzerland. The Swiss architect was chosen from a prestigious shortlist of 11 firms to add to the existing museum building, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and completed in 1997.?The sky above Basel, the city and its surroundings?those are the landscapes of my youth,? said Zumthor. ?It is heart-warming to be able to design a major building here.?
Beyeler Foundation, 1997 / Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Image © flickr user jkz. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Zumthor?s design was unanimously named the winner by an international jury board, which included Swiss billionaire philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss, Chairman Emeritus of Vitra Rolf Fehlbaum, Tate Museums Director Sir Nicholas Serota and architects Roger Diener and Jean Nouvel.?The interaction of human beings, nature, art and architecture is one of the keystones of the Fondation Beyeler?s success, and was also essen...