The Therme Vals / Peter Zumthor

Architects: Peter Zumthor
Year: 1996
Photographs: Andrea Ceriani
Manufacturers: Vitrocsa, Stonecon, Truffer Natural Stones
Lead Architects: Peter Zumthor, with Marc Loeliger, Thomas Durisch and Rainer Weitschies
Products Used in This Project: Minimalist Window – Sliding by Vitrocsa
Municipality: Vals
Country: Switzerland

The Therme Vals, designed by Peter Zumthor in Vals, Switzerland, is a hotel and spa built over the region’s only thermal springs. Opened in 1996, the baths were designed to resemble a cave or quarry, partially embedded into the hillside beneath a grass-covered roof. Constructed from locally quarried Valser Quarzite slabs, the design embraces the natural landscape, creating a sensory bathing experience. Zumthor envisioned the space as an architectural interpretation of mountain, stone, and water, carefully controlling perspectives through a meandering circulation path. The interplay of light, shadow, enclosure, and openness enhances the ritual of bathing. The stone interiors, designed to complement rather than compete with the human form, emphasize texture, warmth, and acoustics, offering a deeply immersive and restorative experience.

Constructed over the only thermal springs in the Graubünden Canton of Switzerland, the Therme Vals is both a hotel and a spa, offering a comprehensive sensory experience designed by Peter Zumthor.

Peter Zumthor designed the spa and baths, which opened in 1996, to precede the existing hotel complex. The concept aimed to create a structure reminiscent of a cave or quarry. In harmony with the natural surroundings, the bath spaces are positioned beneath a grass-covered roof, partially embedded into the hillside. The Therme Vals is constructed from multiple layers of locally quarried Valser Quarzite slabs, a material that served as the primary inspiration for the design and was applied with great care and respect.

Peter Zumthor posed the question: “Mountain, stone, water – building in the stone, building with the stone, into the mountain, building out of the mountain, being inside the mountain – how can the implications and the sensuality of the association of these words be interpreted, architecturally?”

This space was conceived to allow visitors to indulge in and reconnect with the ancient benefits of bathing. The interplay of light and shadow, the balance between open and enclosed spaces, and the use of linear elements create a deeply sensuous and restorative experience. The internal layout follows an informal yet carefully designed circulation path, guiding bathers toward specific predetermined points while allowing them the freedom to explore other areas independently. The perspective is meticulously controlled, either revealing or deliberately obscuring views to shape the experience.

Peter Zumthor described “the meander” as “a designed negative space between the blocks, a space that connects everything as it flows throughout the entire building, creating a peacefully pulsating rhythm. Moving around this space means making discoveries. You are walking as if in the woods. Everyone there is looking for a path of their own.”

The architect was guided by a fascination with the mystic qualities of a world of stone within the mountain, exploring the interplay of darkness and light, the reflections of water and steam, the unique acoustics of bubbling water, and the tactile sensation of warm stone against bare skin. The ritual of bathing was central to this vision. From the outset, the intent was to consciously integrate these elements, shaping them into a distinct architectural form. The stone rooms were designed not to compete with the human body but to complement and embrace it, providing a space that allows individuals of all ages to simply exist and experience the environment.