Disagreement in Vals
John Hill
11. February 2015
Webcam view of Therme Vals, via 7132.com
Less than a week after Morphosis was selected to design a 100-room luxury hotel in Vals, Switzerland, for Therme Vals owner 7132 Ltd, some of the jury members are distancing themselves from the decision.
As originally reported last Friday, Thom Mayne's Los Angeles-based firm was selected over Steven Holl Architects and 6a architects, the three finalists narrowed down from an initial list of eight firms. The news of the selection came via a press release from Morphosis, but now there are reports that the decision was made solely by the client, disregarding input from the jury, which was headed by Louisa Hutton of Berlin's Sauerbruch Hutton.
In particular, jury member Stefan Cadosch (Cadosch & Zimmermann), said that Morphosis is not a good fit for Vals and that the jury saw more potential in the other projects. A statement from the jury issued to the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects claims the decision happened before the jury could determine a winner since, according to Dezeen, "important questions [were left] unanswered."
The proposed hotel would be located next to the architecturally significant Therme Vals, designed by Peter Zumthor and opened in 1996. Barring any change to the architect's selection arising from the jury's recent actions, Morphosis's design is slated to be unveiled in March.