Olson Kundig is a full-service design firm whose work includes residences (often for art collectors), museums and exhibition design, hospitality projects, commercial design, academic buildings, interior design, visual identities, and places of worship.
The firm is led by five owners—Jim Olson, Tom Kundig, Kirsten R. Murray, Alan Maskin, and Kevin Kudo-King—who are supported by three principals, twenty one associates, and a staff of approximately 140 in the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood of downtown Seattle. The firm opened a workspace in New York in 2014 to better serve its expanding roster of East Coast and international clients. The in-house interiors studio, founded in 2000, provides a full range of services, including material selection, custom furniture design, and purchasing capabilities.
The firm began its creative existence in 1966 with the architect Jim Olson, whose work at that time centered on explorations of the relationship between dwellings and the landscapes in which they inhabit. Olson started the firm based on the essential ideas that buildings can serve as a bridge between nature, culture, histories, and people, and that inspiring surroundings have a positive effect on people’s lives.
LOCATION: Seattle, Washington
LEARN MORE: olsonkundig.com
The T-shaped form of Rimrock responds to the unique typography of the bluff upon which it is situated. Sited at the edge of a cliff, the house straddles two sides of wash atop a stable outcropping of tough, slow-cooled volcanic basalt.
Set in the Coast Mountains of western Canada, Whistler Ski Retreat is a family retreat built to withstand the harsh mountain environment. Elevated ten feet above grade, the main level provides a sense of occupying the tree canopy while also floating above snowdrifts and flood prone lake shore.
Jim Olson’s reverence for nature and admiration of the site’s beauty is expressed in the design of this project located on Puget Sound and nestled amidst the towering fir trees of an ancient forest.
The main level of the Berkshire Retreat was raised about ten feet above the ground, partly to maximize the views, but also to get up above the humidity and insects in the summertime, and the snow in the winter.
Replacing a stark, all-white interior with a warm, wood-based palate proved to be a wise choice for the owners of this high-rise apartment. With floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Elliott Bay and downtown Seattle, the unit’s new oak finishes offer a welcome contrast to the often gray and rainy panorama.
Set in the remote, harsh high desert of California, Sawmill is a family retreat that reflects and weaves into the beautiful, tough, scrubby site. Tough as nails, the house is built to respond to drastic climate variations and is completely off-the-grid, relying on its own solar power and well water.
Olson Kundig Architects, Sherry Williamson Design, Michael Boucher Landscape Architect, and Woodmeister Master Builders joined forces to create East Coast Compound—a four‑building lakefront haven that meets the rigorous LEED Platinum standard.
Project: Bigwood House Architects: Olson Kundig Location: Ketchum, Idaho, United States Area: 6500.0 m2 Photographs: Benjamin Benschneider Architecture firm Olson Kundig have designed Bigwood House, a modern mountain home located in Ketchum, Idaho, US. From the architect: When I first visited this site, the owner and I immediately had the idea for a building that seems to be
