The Saint Benedict Chapel, located in the village of Sumvitg, Graubünden, was designed by the Pritzker Prize Laureate Peter Zumthor in 1988.
The modest, human-scaled exterior of the chapel encapsulates the beauty and simplicity of Zumthor’s works, while the interior showcases his unparalleled craftsmanship. The chapel was constructed in the small village of Sumvitg following a 1984 avalanche that destroyed the baroque-style chapel of the village. The hillside site for the new chapel, which provides breathtaking mountainous views, is protected from future avalanches by a surrounding forest.
In an interview with The New York Times, Zumthor once explained his process: "When I start, my first idea for a building is with the material. I believe architecture is about that. It's not about paper, it's not about forms. It's about space and material.”