News: Swiss architect Peter Zumthor is now inviting guests to rent a holiday home he built for his family in the mountain hamlet of Leis in Vals (+ slideshow).
Zumthor, the most recent recipient of the Royal Gold Medal for architecture, built two neighbouring timber houses in 2009 for himself and his wife and named them the Oberhus and the Unterhus. "Annalisa had always dreamed of living in a house built of wood," wrote the architect in the year of construction.
Both three-storey houses feature a similar vernacular design, with gabled roofs and large balcony windows, but it is the Unterhus that Peter and Annalisa Zumthor have made available to rent. Peter Zumthor has also designed a third house, named the Türmlihus, which is due to complete this year and will start accepting bookings in the autumn. "We are very much looking forward to having guests in our timber vacation homes in Leis," say the pair.
The Unterhus contains five rooms and sleeps 4-5, while the Türmlihus will contain four rooms and will accommodate a maximum of four people. The Türmlihus will also feature a sauna and a cross-shaped layout that offers views in four different directions.
Zumthor is best known for designing buildings such as the Therme Vals thermal baths in Switzerland and the Kunsthaus Bregenz gallery in Austria, but his more recent projects include a memorial to commemorate witches burned at the stake. See more stories about Peter Zumthor, including an interview we filmed with him at the opening of the 2011 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion.