This is the story of a small village in the Swiss Alps that has become a place of pilgrimage for lovers of design and architecture…In Vals, in the canton of Graubünden, there were first the thermal baths: an impressive vessel designed more than 15 years ago by the Swiss Peter Zumthor, winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize. Then recently, the hotel section, 7132, in reference to the resort’s postal code, was given a makeover: on the one hand, 7132 Hotel, with three rooftop suites designed by Kengo Kuma. On the other, 7132 House of Architects, whose 73 rooms bear prestigious signatures: Peter Zumthor, again, has taken up a plastering technique from the Italian Renaissance stucco lustro. Kengo Kuma celebrates Japanese carpentry here; Tadao Ando was inspired by Japanese teahouses; and the American Thom Mayne combines wood and black stone, causing a sensation with a surprisingly organic glass shower.
By Céline Baussay
