Peter Zumthor: a life in architecture - in pictures

Peter Zumthor. The Swiss-born architect has built 20 projects which have created ripples around the world Photograph: Gerry Ebner

Peter Zumthor’s 1989 chapel of St Benedict in Sumvitg, Switzerland Photograph: Arno Balzarini/Keystone/Corbis

The thermal baths at Vals, Switzerland, which made Zumthor's name in 1996 Photograph: Christof Sonderegger/Switzerland Tourism

Therme Vals, Switzerland. The layers of locally quarried quartzite conceal thick concrete walls Photograph: Hélène Binet

Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, Wachendorf, Germany. Inside is a wigwam made of 112 tree trunks Photograph: Hélène Binet

Kolumba Art Museum, Cologne, Germany. Zumthor's design rises from the ruins of a late-Gothic church Photograph: Hélène Binet

Inside the art Museum of the Cologne Archdiocese in Cologne, Germany. "Articulated with perforations, the brick work allows diffused light to fill specific spaces of the museum," said Arch Daily Photograph: AP

The twin house Raeth in Haldenstein, Switzerland, built 1981-3 Photograph: Arno Balzarini/EPA

The Kunsthaus Museum in Bregenz, Austria, which stands on Lake Constance. In Zumthor's words: 'From the outside, the building looks like a lamp. It absorbs the changing light of the sky, the haze of the lake, it reflects light and colour and gives an intimation of its inner life according to the angle of vision, the daylight and the weather.' Photograph: Ennio Leanza/AP

Inside the Kunsthaus Bregenz. The walls and floor are polished concrete; the windows and ceiling frosted glass Photograph: Hélène Binet

Projection of Zumthor's design for the Serpentine Gallery's 2011 summer pavilion, a walled garden Photograph: Peter Zumthor

Visitors enjoy the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in the summer of 2011 Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Zumthor's Spittelhof houseing estate in Biel-Benken, near Basel. Designed to maximise the light to the lounges and bedrooms, the complex includes five ground-floor flats for the elderly Photograph: LeonL

Peter Zumthor's model of his Secular Retreat for Living Architecture, a retreat from the stresses and strains of life which will be built in Devon in 2014 Photograph: PR

Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgoise's witchcraft memorial in Vardø, Norway, within the Arctic Circle. It commemorates the 91 people burned at the stake in the 17th-century Vardø witchcraft trials Photograph: PR