Vrin, Switzerland

How did the Baths colonize the Valley?

The Alpine villages and impregnable banks of Switzerland aren’t just for tax dodgers anymore. Tourists and locals looking to relax (being wealthy is awfully tiring) head to the Therme Vals, or the Baths of the Vals Valley high in the mountains, along a dangerously curvy road. Designed in the mid-90s by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and made mostly of locally quarried Valser quarzite slabs, the baths have been described as nothing short of magical. If the tired tourist prefers a more distinctly Alpine experience, local architect and town planner Gion A. Caminada has transformed his hometown into something that looks both ancient and hypermodern. The craftsmen he hires maintain traditional Swiss methods of working with wood, but with dramatically updated designs so that his constructions look at once ancient and modern.

Both Zumthor's Therme Vals and the Caminada’s new interventions at Vrin share the same care for landscape and community integrity. Zumthor achieved a clean monolith effect balancing geometric shapes and natural materials in his Baths, while even phone booths or graves have a strong connection with local traditional architecture and nature in Vrin.

Mission Report

This experience originates in our curiosity, our playfulness, our desire to leave, and in the end, in our great passion for Architecture.
Once we knew we were about to leave, we organized our work in order to realize a high-quality video, to satisfy the demands of the mission.
We took the Mini Clubman from the dealer and drove toward Switzerland, into the Canton Grigioni, and precisely to the small villages of Vrin and Vals. We first stopped in Vrin, where we took, under the rain, a photo and video session about the work of the Swiss architect Gion Caminada. We were attracted by the beauty of valleys, from the intense green grass on the hill sides to the breathtaking falls, and by the amazing match between architecture and nature.
After we slept in the nice little city of Chur, the following day we got in Vals. In Vals, we visited and documented the baths built as a project of the great contemporary architect: Peter Zumthor. A great intervention, unique, flawless and in perfect harmony with the Alpine context. An ideal balance between materials, plays of light, green areas and planning solutions.
Then we started our way back home, a little bit sad because of leaving the magic places surrounded by luxuriant and protected nature of the Swiss Alps.
We are really satisfied by our trip and our work for Check-in Architecture, we would love to do this again…
Luca Baialardo
Andrea Quartieri