{"id":101359,"date":"2014-06-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/designwire\/olson-kundig-architects\/"},"modified":"2022-12-08T12:19:48","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T17:19:48","slug":"olson-kundig-architects","status":"publish","type":"id_news","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/designwire\/olson-kundig-architects\/","title":{"rendered":"Jim Olson and Tom Kundig: 2012 Hall of Fame Inductees"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\n \"Hall
\n <\/span>\n <\/td>\n		\n
\n \"Hall
\n <\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
\n Olson Kundig Architects principal Tom Kundig. Photography by Kyle Johnson.
\n <\/span>\n <\/td>\n		\n
\n Olson Kundig Architects principal Jim Olson. Photography by Kyle Johnson.<\/p>\n

<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n In large part due to Jim Olson and Tom Kundig, Seattle has become an outpost of world-class design. Professional partners since 1996, the two have amassed an enviable portfolio. Their projects span continents, encompass almost every genre, and have been richly lauded;
\n
\n AIA\u2019s 2009 Architecture Firm Award
\n <\/a>
\n is one among more than 150. Yet over the course of their lifetimes, nothing has influenced Olson and Kundig as much as their roots in the Pacific Northwest.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Olson\u2019s response to the Seattle connection: \u201cLook out the window.\u201d A half-block away from the eponymous studio\u2019s headquarters stands the building where he started his career at age 23 and launched a private practice two years later. A native of Enumclaw, a tiny town in the shadow of Mount Rainier, approximately an hour southeast of Seattle, Olson recalls spending his childhood as a solitary thinker. Later, he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in architecture from the University of Washington.\u201cI was in too much of a hurry to start working,\u201d he says when asked why he eschewed graduate school.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Raised in Spokane, surrounded by the rugged landscape of the Washington\/Idaho border, Kundig\u2019s DNA is steeped in design. That his father is an architect was at first a deterrent. Kundig was more interested in science, particularly physics. Right-brain stimuli came from\u201cthe nutty group of artists\u201d who were family friends. \u201cI knew I\u2019d never be an artist,\u201d he says,\u201cbut I sure appreciated what they brought to the party as provocateurs and iconoclasts.\u201d He eventually succumbed to architecture\u2014\u201cthe intersection of rational and poetic\u201d\u2014earning undergraduate and master\u2019s degrees also from the
\n
\n University of Washington
\n <\/a>
\n . Ironically, it was his father who approached Olson at a lecture, which ultimately connected the two eventual partners. Kundig began employment at the then called
\n
\n Olson Sundberg Architects
\n <\/a>
\n in 1986.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n The 100-strong
\n
\n Olson Kundig Architects
\n <\/a>
\n , formed in 2010 and including
\n
\n Kirsten Murray
\n <\/a>
\n and
\n
\n Alan Maskin
\n <\/a>
\n as co principals, counts approximately 75 percent of its work as residential. Each project is spearheaded by one of the four principals. Kundig\u2019s houses are often simple in geometry but always gutsy, usually incorporating massive moving parts. For instance, cabin she\u2019s designed in northern Idaho and Mazama, Washington, have pivoting walls that open up entirely to the outdoors via a hand crank. Says Olson of Kundig: \u201cWith his physics background, Tom makes innovative and smart architecture that looks to the future.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Olson\u2019s residences, on the other hand, are more classical and refined, befitting the art collectors who comprise much of his clientele. One in Bellevue, Washington, cohesively incorporates an ethereal
\n
\n James Turrell
\n <\/a>
\n installation and a hefty steel sculpture by
\n
\n Richard Serra
\n <\/a>
\n . Kundigon Olson: \u201cIn Jim\u2019s projects, the proportions of the art, furniture, and landscape combine to almost suspend materiality into a magical realm.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Farther afield, Olson has residences in Bedford, New York; Lugano, Switzerland; and Mumbai, India, on his boards, while Kundig has dwellings in Manhattan, Geneva, and Buenos Aires on his. All this work has led to the firm launching a studio in 2000 devoted specifically to interiors. It currently counts six designers, involved in every project. Those projects, other than residential, include the
\n
\n Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
\n <\/a>
\n visitor center in Seattle,
\n
\n JW Marriott Los Cabos hotel
\n <\/a>
\n in Mexico, and offices in Asia. At the opposite end of the scale spectrum is the
\n
\n 2012 debut of the Tom Kundig Collection
\n <\/a>
\n of steel hardware.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n Recent commissions include a number of cultural institutions as well:
\n
\n The Whatcom Museum
\n <\/a>
\n \u2019s Light catcher building in Bellingham was Olson Kundig\u2019s first ground-up museum, a LEED Silver\u2013certified one at that. Several others have followed, and the firm is currently adapting a former Tacom a warehouse into the 45,000-square-foot
\n
\n Foss Waterway Seaport
\n <\/a>
\n , set to be the West Coast\u2019s largest maritime heritage center when it opens in 2015. Further proof of their ties to their surroundings, last year the two principals launched [storefront] Olson Kundig Architects: an experimental space hosting performances and exhibitions on the ground floor of their 1892 office building.\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n <<Back to All Hall of Fame Members
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

<\/body>
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In large part due to Jim Olson and Tom Kundig, Seattle has become an outpost of world-class design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3527,"featured_media":70091,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"featured_image_focal_point":[],"legacy_django_id":8469},"tags":[],"id_tax_domain":[],"id_tax_product":[],"id_tax_program":[],"id_issue":[],"id_cat_news":[135],"internal_flag":[4220],"class_list":["post-101359","id_news","type-id_news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","id_cat_news-happenings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJim Olson and Tom Kundig: 2012 Hall of Fame Inductees - Interior Design<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In large part due to Jim Olson and Tom Kundig, Seattle has become an outpost of world-class design.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=https://interiordesign.net/"https:////interiordesign.net//designwire//olson-kundig-architects///" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jim Olson and Tom Kundig: 2012 Hall of Fame Inductees - 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