The five jurors – led by competition chair Louisa Hutton of Berlin-based Sauerbruch Hutton – have issued a public statement through Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) distancing themselves from the appointment, which they claim took place when "a decision had not yet been made".
The owner of the Swiss resort – known as 7132, which already operates one hotel nearby, announced this week that the competition jury led by Sauerbruch Hutton co-founder Louisa Hutton had recommended three schemes – by Morphosis, Steven Holl Architects and 6a Architects. The client named Thom Mayne's firm as the winner.
The public statement – translated from German into English – said that after initial assessment round were left ‘important questions unanswered’ over the architectural formulation, scale, site-specific conditions, arrival situation and delivery of the chosen design. Consequently there is ‘no clear winner’.
Other members of the jury were SIA president Stefan Cadosch, Italian architect Vittorio Lampugnani, architect and ETH Zürich professor Sacha Menz and EM2N co-founder Daniel Niggli.
A total of eight firms were originally shortlisted for the competition to design the 100-suite hotel beside the Therme Vals spa, which was completed in 1996 by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor over the only thermal springs in the Graubünden canton.
Morphosis is expected to reveal its design at an event in New York City next month.
