TOM KUNDIG, PRINCIPAL, OLSON SUNDBERG KUNDIG ALLEN ARCHITECTS, PUBLISHES FIRST MONOGRAPH

Tom Kundig: Houses
to feature contributions by Dung Ngo, Steven Holl, Rick Joy, and Billie Tsien

SEATTLE – Tom Kundig: Houses by Tom Kundig, principal of Seattle-based architecture firm, Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects, will be published this December from Princeton Architectural Press. The award-winning architect’s first monograph presents five projects in depth, from their early conceptual sketches to photographs of the completed projects. Edited by design writer Dung Ngo, the book also features a personal statement by Kundig and contributions from noted architects Steven Holl, Rick Joy and Billie Tsien.

Kundig finalized the book during his month-long residency at the renowned MacDowell Colony, to which he was awarded one of its prestigious fellowships in 2006. Like many of the nation’s top artists and architects who have received fellowships since the grant’s inception in 1907, Kundig used his time at MacDowell to reflect upon the highly intimate creative process that goes into his personal language of “making.” The resulting book makes manifest this process, giving us unique insight into the evolution of this gifted designer’s architectural vocabulary and the collaboration with craftspeople and clients that make it come alive.

“In each of the projects found on these pages, Tom reveals an empathetic sensitivity for his clients’ desires, a deep understanding for the specificities of the settings, and the awareness of the architect’s persona as a mediator between the corporeal and incorporeal realms of his design process,” writes Rick Joy in his essay for the book.

The internationally acclaimed houses featured in the book reveal Kundig’s reverence for materials, while combining art, craft and the experience of built space with respect for the environment. Featured houses include Studio House (Seattle, 1998), “The Brain” Studio (Seattle, 2001), Chicken Point Cabin (Northern Idaho, 2003), The Hotrod House (Seattle, 2006), and Delta Shelter (Mazama, Washington, 2003). Creating some of the most inventive structures today, his buildings uniquely meld industrial sensibilities and materials such as steel and concrete with an intuitive understanding of scale. A telling example is the Delta Shelter, a 1,000 square-foot weekend cabin, a steel box on stilts featuring Kundig’s characteristic gizmos, that can be completely shuttered when the owner is away. Lauded earlier this year by The New York Times, the cabin was recently awarded a prestigious 2006 Record House by Architectural Record.



Tom Kundig - Seattle architect

About Tom Kundig:

Tom Kundig, FAIA, is widely recognized for his poetic, elemental and intuitive designs. His projects revere the beauty of the American West. He uses art, craft, and materials to connect us with the landscape, and he creates serene places for contemplation and repose. He received a prestigious fellowship to the MacDowell Colony in 2006, was selected as a Finalist for the National Design Award in Architecture by The Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in 2005 and was recognized as one of North America’s Emerging Architects by the Architectural League of New York in 2004. Earlier this year his first monograph, Tom Kundig: Houses, was published by Princeton Architectural Press. This year also marks his first time as a juror for the 2007 National AIA Honor Awards.

His work is extensively published in magazines and books—both nationally and internationally and he is a frequent lecturer and design juror. His most recent house, Hot Rod, was featured in a 2006 issue of The New York Times Magazine and his 2006 Architectural Record “Record House” -winning Delta Shelter, Chicken Point Cabin and The Brain, are all winners of 2004 National AIA Honor Awards; Sedgwick Rd, an advertising agency; the Mission Hill Winery in Westbank, British Columbia; and the Studio House in Seattle. Current projects include a 37-story tower in downtown Seattle, the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, a winery near Santa Barbara, the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Ketchum, Idaho, a destination resort in eastern Washington, numerous residences throughout North America, and a house in Sitges, Spain. In 2003, the monograph Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen - Architecture, Art and Craft was published by The Monacelli Press. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture from the University of Washington.

Montecito Residence


Wabi Sabi house, Houston, Texas, USA


New York Architects

American Buildings



Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects : Wing Luke Asian Art Museum

Tom Kundig : Idaho building


World Architecture : e-architect - a guide to key buildings across the globe

Steven Holl

Washington buildings

Modern Houses

Comments / photos for the Tom Kundig Architecture page welcome:
info@e-architect.co.uk

Tom Kundig Buildings : page - adrian welch / isabelle lomholt

Website : www.oskaarchitects.com