ABOUT TOM KUNDIG, FAIA Olson Kundig, Seattle

ABOUT TOM KUNDIG, FAIA Olson Kundig, Seattle Tom Kundig is an owner and design principal at Olson Kundig. He joined the firm in 1986, and has steadily diversified his range of project typologies from residential work to museums, wineries, high-rise multi-unit structures, and hotels. The geographic diversity of his projects has broadened just as much over the years; he is currently working not only all over the West Coast of the United States, but also in Australia, Brazil, Austria, Mexico, South Korea, and multiple locations on the East Coast and Canada. But no matter where he works, whether in the urban context of Manhattan or the rural landscape of Montana or Idaho, the landscape inevitably looms large, as do a consistent array of concerns related to site, scale, materials, and livability. Kundig favors materials that are appropriate to the particular context of the building, generally opting for the tough and the rustic for their ability to evoke nature and weather over time, helping the building recede into the landscape. Kundig grew up in the Pacific Northwest. His father was an architect, and during his formative years he was constantly exposed to artists, designers, and craftspeople. He initially wanted to study science, but finally decided that architecture “allowed me to have a foot in both places—the technical realm and the poetic realm—and in that magical intersection between the two.” The style may be rugged, but the effect is warm and welcoming. “And sometimes there is even an element of risk, or daring, which is desired on the client’s part and intentional on my part,” he adds. “Many of my buildings, even the public ones, involve being exposed to the elements in some way.” The Studhorse home in Winthrop, Washington, is designed as a gathering of structures around a central courtyard, and to walk from the common areas to the bedrooms it is necessary to go outside, no matter the season. Occupants of Kundig’s buildings are constantly aware of a balance achieved between prospect and refuge, both within each room and over the entire site. This is related to the “macro to micro” phenomenon, where the building encourages reflection on its big ideas and at the same time enjoyment of its many details. Wherever you look, subtle material connections are happening. Perhaps a quiet nod is being made to the former existence of the building or the site, as in Art Stable, which occupies the site of an actual former horse stable. Or locally salvaged materials are being given new life, as in the Sawmill Canyon house, where the structural steel was salvaged from a nearby cement mine that was being demolished, the wood for much of the interior was found in a nearby barn, and the sliding window wall is operated by a found wheel from an old water pump. Kundig’s breakout project was Studio House, completed in 1998. It was featured in The New York Times, and that story was quickly followed by a New York Times Magazine cover feature on Chicken Point. Both Chicken Point and the Brain won AIA National Honor Awards. Since then, Kundig’s work has been frequently featured in The New York Times, Architectural Record, Financial Times, Architectural Digest, and the Wall Street Journal. Princeton Architectural Press has published three volumes devoted to his work. He has received some of the world’s highest design honors, from a National Design Award from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum to an Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2014, he was included in Architectural Digest’s AD100, and in 2012, he was inducted into Interior Design magazine’s Hall of Fame. His work has received more than 50 awards from the American Institute of Architects, including 18 National Design Awards. olsonkundig.com .

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