Kunsthaus Bregenz

Architect Peter Zumthor

The lake with its constantly changing plays of light provides the outer decoration for the glass lamp structure that encloses the concrete cube of the Kunsthaus. Ever since its opening in 1997, the Kunsthaus has attracted not only visitors to its exhibitions but also countless lovers of modern architecture. It was intended to be a simple container for art, said Peter Zumthor at its opening, and because he always radically implements whatever he has found to be right, the exhibiting artists are confronted with this grandiose simplicity. There is no view from the inside out, the exhibition rooms in the three upper storeys are each limited by concrete walls behind which the staircases and lifts disappear and even the daylight and artificial lighting are only allowed in through the ceilings between the storeys. Here, international artists present their works and find responses to an architecture that is nothing other than an empty space for art.