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After completing his school education, Zumthor began an apprenticeship as a furniture carpenter in 1958. He then attended the School of Design in Basel from 1963. In 1966 he moved to New York to the Pratt Institute, where he continued his studies. After graduating, Zumthor held several teaching positions in architecture, for example in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. At times he worked as a monument conservator. In 1979 he opened his own architectural office in Haldenstein in Graubünden, Switzerland, near Chur. Zumthor soon employed 14 architects and cabinet makers there. He planned numerous buildings and structures there. The school complex in Churwalden was built in 1983 based on his design.
In the same year, the Räth semi-detached house was built in Haldenstein. In Chur in 1986, Zumthor constructed the protective structures over the finds from Roman times. In the same year he designed his studio in Haldenstein according to his own plans. It is realized as a wooden cuboid with an offset entrance. The international breakthrough came in 1989 with the Sogn Benedetg chapel in Sumvitg. This was followed the following year by the planning commission for the Chur Art Museum, together with P. Calonder and H.J. Smoke. In 1993 Zumthor planned the retirement home in Masans. The following year he constructed the Gugalun House in Versam. In 1996 he designed the Vals rock thermal bath in the canton of Graubünden, which became a highly acclaimed object. This is not the only place where his high-quality craftsmanship can be seen. According to his plans, gray-green gneiss was precisely cut and layered without mortar.
Other noble materials were used in the Vals bathroom, such as Murano glass, which shimmers blue from the doors. The wood of the changing rooms, which was stained red, also matches the variety of colors. Zumthor is considered a pioneer of the new "Alpine architecture". In addition to the Sogn Benedetg chapel in the village of Sumvitg and the underground-like Felsentherme in the Valsertal in Graubünden, the Kunsthaus in Bregenz, which was completed in 1996, established the Swiss architect's worldwide reputation. The year before, he designed the Spittelhof housing estate in Biel-Benken in Baselland. In 1993, Zumthor won the competition for the new construction of the memorial and the international exhibition and documentation center "Topography of Terror" in Berlin, i.e. the uncovered Gestapo torture cellar.
But then difficulties arose in further financing the project. Zumthor's design produced ever higher costs - until a construction stop was imposed. The entire project was in danger of failing. Finally, in June 2001, an agreement was reached between Zumthor and the Berlin Senate Building Authority. With a smaller overall budget of 76 million marks, work on the construction project, which was highly praised by the trade public, continued before it failed in 2004. The Swiss architect became an award-winning building planner. In 1997, Zumthor emerged as the winner of the competition for the Archbishop's Diocesan Museum in Cologne. His award-winning works could also be admired in numerous exhibitions such as in architecture galleries, museums and international architecture schools as well as at the Venice Biennale.
Zumthor's national and international awards include, among others, the "Award for Good Buildings in the Canton of Graubünden" (1987 and 1994), the Heinrich Tessenow Medal from the Technical University of Hanover (1989), the International Architecture Prize for New Building in the Alps (1992 and 1995), the "Best Building" award (1993), the International Prize for Stone Architecture from the Fiera di Verona in Italy (1995) and the Erich Schelling Prize for Architecture from the Erich Schelling Foundation in Germany (1996). In 2009 he was awarded the Pritzker Prize, the most important architecture prize, for his life's work. In 2011, the Pavilion Serpentine Gallery, London was built according to his plans and in 2012 the Witch Museum in Vardø, Norway.
