Tom Kundig

Kundig was born on October 9, 1954, in Merced, California, and raised in Spokane, Washington.{{Cite web |date=2017-03-28 |title=See Architect Tom Kundig’s Latest Masterpiece - Galerie |url=https://galeriemagazine.com/tour-tom-kundigs-latest-masterpiece-in-spokane/ |access-date=2025-05-12 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Scozzaro |first=Carrie |title=The intertwined legacies of father-and-son architects Moritz and Tom Kundig, with the late, great Harold Balazs |url=https://www.inlander.com/health-and-home/the-intertwined-legacies-of-father-and-son-architects-moritz-and-tom-kundig-with-the-late-great-harold-balazs-22568810 |access-date=2025-05-12 |website=Inlander |language=en}} As a teenager, he found early influences in his work at sawmills, his surroundings and his time spent hiking, skiing and climbing.{{cite web|last=Bell|first=Jonathan|title=Native Son|url=http://privatair.com/magazine_flipbook/41/41.html|work=PrivatAir|accessdate=7 June 2012}} "I experienced being relatively humble in the landscape," Kundig says about his childhood. "Mountaineering and architecture have many parallels—they're about solving the problem in as clear and economic means as possible—it's not about getting to the top." He also took inspiration from the sculptor Harold Balazs, who taught him that building a project is the most important part of the design process as well as how tough it is to be an artist.{{cite news|last=Gregory|first=Rob|title=Custom Made|newspaper=Grand Designs|date=May 2012}}

In college, Kundig originally trained as a geophysicist before switching to architecture, his father's profession. In an interview with the National Building Museum, he says:

:When I left for college, I was more interested in the hard sciences—physics and especially geophysics. I was fascinated by the movement of Earth tectonics and geology. The idea of these large forces that shape our Earth is still a really fascinating sidebar interest. In fact, I’d almost say it is a focus; I’m often as interested in that as I am in architecture. Ultimately, I came to understand pretty early that I did not have a natural propensity for the larger geophysics requirements and I really missed what architecture is: the intersection between the rational and the poetic. I was just in the rational world of physics and I missed the poetic. Architecture lets me have both.{{cite web|last=Andrew|first=Caruso|title=Exploring the Nature of Nature|url=http://www.nbm.org/about-us/national-building-museum-online/exploring-the-nature-of-1.html|work=National Building Museum|accessdate=7 June 2012}}

After working for other firms around the world, Kundig joined Olson Kundig Architects in 1986. He first came to national attention with Studio House, a private residence that he completed in 1998. In 2002, he completed Chicken Point Cabin, a private residence that remains one of his most "iconic and poetic" designs that includes one of his most recognized gizmos: a 20-foot by 30-foot window-wall that opens with a hand crank.{{cite web|last=Welton|first=Michael J.|title=From Tokyo, Tom Kundig Goes Global|url=http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2010/11/in-tokyo-tom-kundig-goes-global/|work=Architects+Artisans|accessdate=7 June 2012}}

Kundig regularly serves on design juries and lectures around the world on architecture and design. He has been a university studio critic throughout the United States and in Japan, including at Harvard University and the University of Oregon, and has served as the John G. Williams Distinguished Professor at the University of Arkansas School of Architecture and the D. Kenneth Sargent Visiting Design Critic at Syracuse University’s College of Architecture. Recent lectures include presentations at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the New York Public Library. His award-winning work has been exhibited at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, Syracuse University, and at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. In the winter of 2010/2011, he was the sole North American architect chosen to represent the continent in an exhibit at TOTO GALLERY MA in Tokyo, Japan.

Kundig is recipient of numerous awards and honors including the prestigious National Design Award in Architecture Design from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (2008). Kundig was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2007. 14 projects by Kundig have been recognized by The American Institute of Architects National Awards, including the AIA Honor Awards for Art Stable (2013), Outpost (2010) and Delta Shelter (2008). The AIA has also awarded Kundig's project with AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Honor Award for The Rolling Huts (2009), Montecito Residence (2008) and Delta Shelter (2007). Other awards and distinctions include several American Architecture Awards from the Chicago Athenaeum for Outpost (2009), The Rolling Huts (2009), Montecito Residence (2008), Delta Shelter (2007) and Tye River Cabin (2007). Also, Kundig was named the Architectural League of New York's, Emerging Architect in 2004.

• AIA National Honor Awards, Architecture, Art Stable, 2013
• AIA National Honor Awards, Interior Architecture, Charles Smith Wines, 2013
• AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Honor Award, The Pierre, 2012
• [http://www.builderschoicewinners.com/ Builder's Choice Design & Planning Awards], Builder's Choice Grand Award, The Pierre, 2012
• [http://www.iida-northernpacific.org/event/inawards-2012 IIDA Northern Pacific Chapter INawards], People's Choice Award, Charles Smith Wines, 2012
• [http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/ American Architecture Award], Chicago Athenaeum, Studio Sitges, 2012
• European Centre and Chicago Athenaeum International Architecture Award, Art Stable, 2012
• AIA National Housing Award, The Pierre, 2012
• AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Honor Award, Art Stable, 2011
• AIA National Housing Award, Art Stable, 2011
• AIA National Housing Award, 1111 E. Pike, 2011
• AIA National Honor Award, Outpost, 2010
• AIA National Housing Committee Award, Montecito Residence, 2009
• AIA National Housing Committee Award, Outpost, 2009
• AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Honor Award, The Rolling Huts, 2009
• [http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/ American Architecture Award], Chicago Athenaeum, Outpost, 2009
• [http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/ American Architecture Award], Chicago Athenaeum, The Rolling Huts, 2009
• National Design Award in Architecture Design, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, 2008
• AIA National Honor Award, Delta Shelter, 2008
• [http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/ American Architecture Award], Chicago Athenaeum, Montecito Residence, 2008
• AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Honor Award, Montecito Residence, 2008
• American Academy of Arts & Letters, Academy Award in Architecture, 2007
• AIA National Housing Committee Award, Delta Shelter, 2007
• AIA National Housing Committee Award, Tye River Cabin, 2007
• AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Honor Award, Delta Shelter, 2007
• [http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/ American Architecture Award], Chicago Athenaeum, Delta Shelter, 2007
• [http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/ American Architecture Award], Chicago Athenaeum, Tye River Cabin, 2007
• AIA National Honor Award, Chicken Point Cabin, 2004
• AIA National Honor Award, The Brain, 2004
• [http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/archawards/ American Architecture Award], Chicago Athenaeum, Chicken Point Cabin, 2004
• Architectural League of New York, Emerging Architect: Tom Kundig, 2004
• AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Design Honor Award, Chicken Point Cabin, 2003

In 2012, Olson Kundig Architects launched a steel accessories line, The Tom Kundig Collection, comprising over 25 hardware pieces that celebrate the kinetic moments that occur in buildings. The Tom Kundig Collection includes cabinet pulls, rollers, door knockers and knobs. Kundig collaborated with Seattle-based fabricator [http://www.12thavenueiron.com/ 12th Avenue Iron] to manufacture the line.{{cite web |url=http://kontentpartners.com/work/the-art-of-series/ |title=The Art of: Iron & Steel {{!}} Kontent Partners |website=kontentpartners.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130920082823/http://kontentpartners.com/work/the-art-of-series/ |archive-date=2013-09-20}}

The architect explains in an [http://www.dwell.com/profiles/article/man-steel interview] in Dwell magazine, that the “simplest-looking pieces” (the Peel, Ear and Droop Ear cabinet pulls) are also the most rewarding—“they represent the collection at its most elemental.” He calls the higher-priced Roll and Disc rollers a “wink and a nod” to their complex fabrication. Their edited forms are, as Kundig says, “honest about how they are made and what they are made from.”

According to [http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/mh/snap_20120506/index.php?startid=46#/20 Kundig], this line is the very first of many; now that he has begun to focus in this direction, he wants to keep going. “There are so many other products that I can’t find in the commodity market. Designing them myself and putting them out there for others to use seems like the right evolution.” The Tom Kundig Collection won a 2012 “Best of Year” award in the hardware category from [http://www.interiordesign.net/article/558264-2012_Best_of_Year_Awards_Products.php Interior Design Magazine].

In 2013, Kundig designed The Final Turn, a funerary urn, with Greg Lundgren, owner of Lundgren Monuments in Seattle. The urn consists of two halves of an eight- inch-diameter blackened steel or bronze sphere—the halves are threaded with a noticeable offset from one another when they meet. While the sphere implies perfection and eternity, the offset nature of the urn is inspired by the people left behind - those whose lives are thrown off-kilter by the passing of a loved one. “It’s a quiet reminder.” Kundig noted in a [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/13/garden/a-funerary-urn-designed-by-tom-kundig.html New York Times interview]. A threaded cap atop the stem on the lower half provides access to the receptacle for the remains. The upper half includes a compartment designed to house mementos. Flat surfaces on the exterior accommodate inscriptions, if desired.

• [http://vimeo.com/55035364 Shadowboxx], 2012 – Three minute stop-motion film captures the ever-changing natural conditions of a place and the ability of a house to morph and respond to those changes over the course of a day.
• [http://vimeo.com/66411065 The Art Of: Tom Kundig Collection by 12th Avenue Iron], 2012 – Created and produced by Kontent Partners, The Art Of series celebrates the craft, passion, and people who make desired and sought-after objects of design. This short format vignette focuses on the Tom Kundig hardware line created and produced in partnership between 12th Avenue Iron and Olson Kundig Architects.
• [http://vimeo.com/64409573 An Interview with Jim Olson and Tom Kundig], 2012 – Created for the 28th Annual Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame Award, this video introduces the work of Jim Olson and Tom Kundig. Video produced by C & M City Inc.
• [http://vimeo.com/66780186 Between Light and Shadow], 2011 – Discussion between Tom Kundig, Carol Bobo and Amber Murray about two houses that Kundig created for Bobo: Studio House in Shoreline, Seattle, and Shadowboxx in Lopez Island.
• [http://vimeo.com/47135354 Art Stable Time Lapse], 2011 – Art Stable is an urban infill project in the rapidly developing South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. Built on the site of a former horse stable, the seven-story mixed-use building carries its working history into the future with highly adaptable live/work units.
• [http://vimeo.com/30158960 Tom Kundig: Prototypes and Moving Parts], 2010 – A collection of projects by Tom Kundig.
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6ubp-DA Moving Mazama], 2013 - Short by Katie Turinski depicting the differing viewpoints behind the Flagg Mountain controversy.

In 2012, Tom Kundig and Jim Dow built a cabin on top of Flagg Mountain in Mazama, Washington, that has been opposed{{cite web|url=http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Mazama-Cabin-267075551.html|work=KOMO News|date=July 21, 2014|title=Residents say developer's odd cabin is 'extended third finger' to town|last=Vedder|first=Tracy}} by a coalition{{cite web |title=Move the Hut |last=Cross |first=Midge |url=http://www.movethehut.org |accessdate=May 25, 2013}} including a number of area residents and adjoining property owners, who claim that the building, which is cantilevered over a rock cliff, is visually obtrusive and breaks an unwritten agreement among residents not to build atop the ridgeline.[http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/947468-129/cabin-kundig-says-valley-dow-hut Celebrated Architect Tom Kundig Rouses Ire Over Ridgeline Cabin], Nina Shapiro, Seattle Weekly, June 26, 2013 Those opponents have filed a lawsuit claiming that the structure violates protective viewshed covenants that were placed on the property by earlier owners.{{cite news |title=Tom Kundig goes head to head with residents of Methow Valley |date=June 27, 2013 |url=http://www.mnn.com/your-home/remodeling-design/blogs/tom-kundig-goes-head-to-head-with-residents-of-methow-valley |work=Mother Nature Network}}{{cite web |url=http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/947468-129/cabin-kundig-says-valley-dow-hut|title=Celebrated Architect Tom Kundig Rouses Ire Over Ridgeline Cabin |work=Seattle Weekly| date=June 26, 2013}} The cabin's owners (including Kundig and Dow) assert that the cabin's location is legal, that it is not as visible as opponents claim, that placement elsewhere would have intruded on other neighbors, and that once its exterior siding is completed, it will blend in more with its surroundings.{{citation | last=Mehaffey |first=K.C. |newspaper=Wenatchee World |date=May 7, 2013 |title=Eyesore or environmental wonder? Depends on how you see it |url=http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2013/may/07/eyesore-or-environmental-wonder-depends-on-how/ |accessdate=May 27, 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://seattlemag.com/article/big-problem-methows-little-hut|work=Seattle Magazine|date=December 2013|title=The Big Problem with the Methow's Little Hut}} The case is being heard in Superior Court of Okanogan County, Washington.{{citation | last=Lacitis |first=Erik |newspaper=Seattle Times |date=October 12, 2014 |title=Tiny cliff cabin rocks the Methow Valley |url=http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024765926_methowhutxml.html|accessdate=October 13, 2014}}

• Vergelegen,{{cite web | url=https://www.bostonmagazine.com/property/2022/12/15/vergelegen/ | title=On the Market: An Iconic Modern Home in the Berkshires | date=15 December 2022 }} Berkshire Residence,{{Cite news|url=https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/interactive-tour-berkshire-house-olson-kundig-architects#I6YbWI3GQFifePir.99|title=Open plan: a vacation home in the Berkshires becomes one with the landscape|last=Magazine|first=Wallpaper*|date=2015-11-19|work=Wallpaper*|access-date=2018-09-25}} The Berkshires, Massachusetts, 2015
• Sawmill,{{Cite web|url=https://www.aia.org/showcases/78326-sawmill|title=Sawmill|website=www.aia.org|access-date=2018-09-25}} Tehachapi, California, 2014
• Studhorse,{{Cite news|url=https://www.dezeen.com/2015/06/16/tom-kundig-studhorse-holiday-home-rural-washington-methow-valley/|title=Tom Kundig's Studhorse is a rural retreat in Washington|date=2015-06-16|work=Dezeen|access-date=2018-09-25|language=en-US}} Winthrop, Washington, 2012
• Charles Smith Wines Tasting Room and World Headquarters,{{cite web|last=Hanley|first=William|title=Charles Smith Wines|url=http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/portfolio/2012/05/Charles-Smith-Wines.asp|work=Architectural Record|accessdate=19 July 2013}} Walla Walla, Washington, 2011
• The Pierre,{{cite web|title=2012 Recipient {{!}} AIA Housing Awards|url=http://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/2012/housing-awards/ThePierre/index.htm|work=American Institute of Architects|accessdate=7 June 2012}} San Juan Islands, Washington, 2010
• Art Stable,{{cite web|last=Drueding|first=Meghan|title=Project of the Year: Art Stable, Seattle|url=http://www.residentialarchitect.com/award-winners/art-stable-seattle.aspx|work=Residential Architect|accessdate=7 June 2012}} Seattle, Washington, 2010
• Slaughterhouse Beach House,{{cite web|last=Gordon|first=Alastair|title=La La Land|url=http://magazine.wsj.com/features/a-house-garden/la-la-land/|work=Wall Street Journal Magazine|accessdate=19 July 2013}} Maui, Hawaii, 2010
• Studio Sitges,{{cite news|last=Bostwick|first=William|title=A Minimalist Home/Studio by Tom Kundig|url=http://www.architecturaldigest.com/decor/2011-09/tom-kundig-industrial-style-home-in-spain-article|work=Architectural Digest|date=2 September 2011|accessdate=19 July 2013}} Sitges, Spain, 2010
• Shadowboxx,{{cite web|last=Rus|first=Mayer|title=Social Engineering|url=http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2010/12/social-engineering.html|work=Los Angeles Times Magazine|accessdate=19 July 2013}} San Juan Islands, Washington, 2010
• Outpost,{{citation | author=Bernstein, Fred A.| title=Surrendering to the Landscape| date=January 7, 2009| newspaper=New York Times|accessdate=January 7, 2009| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/garden/08idaho.html}} Central Idaho, 2007
• Montecito Residence,{{cite web|last=Fairs|first=Marcus|title=Montecito Residence by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects|url=http://www.dezeen.com/2007/11/19/montecito-residence-by-olson-sundberg-kundig-allen-architects/|work=dezeen magazine|date=19 November 2007|accessdate=19 July 2013}} Montecito, California, 2007
• Rolling Huts,{{citation | author=Kolleeny, Jane F.| title=Record Houses - Rolling Huts| date=April 2008| publisher=Architectural Record| accessdate=August 18, 2009| url=http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/residential/archives/0604RHb-1.asp}} Mazama, Washington, 2007
• Delta Shelter,{{citation | author=Russell, James S.| title=Record Houses - Stilt Cabin| publisher=Architectural Record| accessdate=August 18, 2009| url=http://archrecord.construction.com/projects/residential/archives/0604RHb-1.asp}} Mazama, Washington, 2005
• Chicken Point Cabin,{{citation | author=Viladas, Pilar| title=Open House| date=April 13, 2003| newspaper=New York Times| pages=64–74| accessdate=August 18, 2009| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/magazine/open-house.html?scp=4&sq=open%20house%20pilar&st=cse}} Northern Idaho, 2002
• The Brain,{{cite web|last=Clair|first=Enlow|title=Thinking Inside The Box|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0522/cover_nseattle.html|work=Pacific Northwest: The Seattle Times Magazine|accessdate=7 June 2012}} Seattle, Washington, 2001
• Ridge House,{{cite web|last=Moody|first=Fred|title=The Natural|url=http://www.seattlemet.com/home-and-garden/articles/architecture-tom-kundig-0606/3/|work=Seattle Met|accessdate=7 June 2012}} Eastern Washington, 2001
• Mission Hill Winery,{{cite web|title=Little Houses on the Prairie|url=http://magazine.wsj.com/features/little-houses-on-the-prairie/tab/slideshow/|work=The Wall Street Journal|accessdate=7 June 2012}} Westbank, British Columbia, 2000
• Studio House,{{cite web|last=Cheek|first=Lawrence W.|title=Seattle's 10 Greatest Homes|url=http://www.seattlemet.com/real-estate/articles/seattles-10-greatest-homes-january-2012/3/|work=Seattle Met|accessdate=7 June 2012}} Seattle, Washington, 1998

• Tom Kundig: Working Title, Princeton Architectural Press, 2020. ({{ISBN|1616898992}})
• Tom Kundig: Works, Princeton Architectural Press, 2015. ({{ISBN|9781616893453}})
• Tom Kundig: Houses 2. Princeton Architectural Press, 2011.
• Ngo, Dung. Tom Kundig: Houses. Princeton Architectural Press, 2006.
• Ojeda, Oscar Riera, ed. Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects: Architecture, Art, and Craft. The Monacelli Press, 2001.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.olsonkundigarchitects.com Olson Kundig Architects website]
• [http://www.nationaldesignawards.org/2008/ Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards]
• [http://www.e-architect.co.uk/architects/tom_kundig.htm E-Architect listing for Tom Kundig]
• [http://www.aia.org/release_010408_honoraward 2008 AIA Honor Awards Press Release]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080720040317/http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architects/100/olson_sundberg/olson_sundberg_profile Architectural Digest, AD 100]

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Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American architects

Category:Architects from Washington (state)

Category:Architects from Seattle

Category:Fellows of the American Institute of Architects

Category:1954 births

Category:University of Washington College of Built Environments alumni

Category:21st-century American architects