Peter Vetsch
Pioneer of earth house architecture
Since 1974, Peter Vetsch has been shaping the field of modern earth house construction. With over 90 earth houses to his name, he has created a body of work that is unique in the world of architecture.
Architecture beyond the right angle
From 1950 to 1956, Peter Vetsch attended primary school in Sax, followed by secondary school in Frümsen until 1959. He attended the agricultural college in Cernier, NE, until 1962, graduating with a diploma. This was followed by an apprenticeship as a building draughtsman in Winterthur until 1965. From 1965 to 1966, Vetsch worked at an architectural practice in St. Gallen. In the years that followed, Vetsch attended the State Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, graduating with a diploma in 1970. From 1971 to 1974, he worked at the architectural practices Krass (Düsseldorf) and Hasler (Zurich). Since 1974, Vetsch has run his own architectural practice in Zumikon (Zurich), and from 1978 onwards in Dietikon (Zurich).
Peter Vetsch now works as an architect in Zurich (Switzerland). Vetsch has been a pioneer in earth-house design since 1974. He is the only architect in the world to have completed over 100 earth houses. In addition to earth houses, however, Vetsch also designs conventional buildings. His primary focus is on ecological and environmentally friendly architecture.
Peter Vetsch has been making a name for himself with earth houses since the late 1970s. Using shotcrete constructions, he creates building envelopes that enclose maximum volume within a minimum footprint, thus providing an ideal form for energy efficiency. The buildings eschew right angles and, through their spatial diversity, overcome the monotony of traditional and conventional construction. They are reminiscent of Antoni Gaudí’s organic forms and Art Nouveau architecture.
They appeal to the unconscious and the hidden, and, through the psychological and emotional added value generated by their spatial design, can compensate for the shortcomings humans experience in their right-angled dwellings. The architect Peter Vetsch has rediscovered form and shape by clearing away the rubble of tradition in his quest for the primordial, thereby reaching the archetypes of architecture.