Nefes Alan Duvar: Zumthor’un Roma Kalıntıları Barınağı’nda Gözeneklilik, Işık ve Tektonik Hafıza

This article aims to reassess Peter Zumthor’s Shelter for Roman Ruins in Chur within the discourse of architectural conservation by examining the integrated roles of light, material, and tectonic logic. Questioning the modernist “glass box” paradigm that isolates historical remains, the study proposes an alternative understanding of preservation grounded in porosity and atmosphere. Methodologically, the research is based on a qualitative architectural analysis informed by phenomenological theory, reading the building through Gottfried Semper’s concept of Bekleidung (cladding) and Kenneth Frampton’s notion of tectonic culture. Within this framework, particular attention is given to the permeable timber lamella wall system and the organization of interior circulation. The findings demonstrate that light in this project functions not as a passive means of illumination, but as an active architectural agent that filters perception, constructs atmosphere, and mediates between past and present. The discussion reveals how the building’s “breathing” envelope, shaped by light, shadow, and material aging, intensifies spatial experience and situates the archaeological remains within a living environmental context rather than a frozen historical display. In conclusion, the study argues that Zumthor’s Shelter for Roman Ruins offers an alternative model for conservation architecture, one that activates memory through atmosphere and redefines light as a constitutive material of architectural meaning.