Olson Kundig, is an American architectural firm based in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, run by architects
Jim Olson
Jim Olson, FAIA (b. 1940) is the founding principal of the Seattle-based firm Olson Kundig Architects. He is best known for residential design, often for art collectors, though his designs have also included museums, commercial spaces and places o ...
and
Tom Kundig
Tom Kundig (born 1954) is an American architect and principal in the Seattle-based firm Olson Kundig Architects. He has won numerous professional honors.
In 2015, Princeton Architectural Press released ''Tom Kundig: Works'', a collection of Kun ...
. Founded by Olson in 1966, the firm’s work has grown to encompass museums, commercial and mixed-use design, exhibit design, interior design, places of worship, and residences, often for art collectors. Olson Kundig was awarded the 2009 AIA Architecture Firm Award (as Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects) from the
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
.
History
The firm, founded by
Jim Olson
Jim Olson, FAIA (b. 1940) is the founding principal of the Seattle-based firm Olson Kundig Architects. He is best known for residential design, often for art collectors, though his designs have also included museums, commercial spaces and places o ...
, has been in business since 1966. Principal and owners have included Jim Olson,
Tom Kundig
Tom Kundig (born 1954) is an American architect and principal in the Seattle-based firm Olson Kundig Architects. He has won numerous professional honors.
In 2015, Princeton Architectural Press released ''Tom Kundig: Works'', a collection of Kun ...
, Rick Sundberg, Kirsten R. Murray, Alan Maskin and Kevin M. Kudo-King. The firm changed its name from Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects to Olson Kundig on January 1, 2010.
The firm launched an interiors studio in 2000. Their first line of accessories, The Tom Kundig Collection, debuted in 2012. In 2022, the firm expanded to New York City, its first office outside of Seattle since 1966.
Notable works
Olson Kundig designed a space for the
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
Gethsemane Lutheran Church is a historic Lutheran church in downtown Austin, Texas. Designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places (together with neighboring Luther Hall), the building c ...
in downtown Seattle.
The project involves renovation of an existing 1950s building to integrate it into an evolving urban context and construction of 50 new housing apartments.
In 2016, Olson Kundig won the competition for a children's museum annex to the
Jewish Museum Berlin
The Jewish Museum Berlin (''Jüdisches Museum Berlin'') was opened in 2001 and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. On of floor space, the museum presents the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new focuses ...
.
*
The Burke Museum, Seattle (2019)
* Noah’s Ark Exhibit,
Skirball Cultural Center
The Skirball Cultural Center, founded in 1996, is a Jewish educational institution in Los Angeles, California. The center, named after philanthropist-couple Jack H. Skirball and Audrey Skirball-Kenis, features a museum with regularly changing exh ...
, Los Angeles (2007)
* Delta Shelter, Washington (2004)
* Chicken Point Cabin, Idaho (2003)
*
Pratt Fine Arts Center
Pratt Fine Arts Center is a non-profit arts education and resource center in the Squire Park area of Seattle's Central District. The center employs 155 teaching artists and conducts more than 600 classes annually.
Pratt was founded in 1976 by ...
, Seattle (2002)
* The Brain, Seattle (2001)
*
Mission Hill Winery, Westbank, British Columbia (2001)
* Ridge House, Washington (2001)
* Red House, Denver (1999)
* Studio House, Seattle (1998)
*
Frye Art Museum
The Frye Art Museum is a modern and contemporary art museum located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1952 to house the collection of Charles and Emma Frye and has since grown to include rotating temporary ex ...
, Seattle (1997)
*
Hillclimb Court Building, Seattle (1985)
* Gallery House, Seattle (1985)
* Pike & Virginia Building, Seattle (1978)
* Earth House, Washington (1969)
Awards and honors
The firm has won more than 70 regional and national
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to:
Aia
* Aia, a small town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain
* Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis
* Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ancient town in Greece
* ''Aia'', the collected ed ...
awards, as well as awards from the
Chicago Athenaeum
The Chicago Athenaeum is a private museum of architecture and design, based in Galena, Illinois. The museum focuses on the art of design in all areas of the discipline: architecture, industrial and product design, graphics, landscape architecture, ...
. Tom Kundig was awarded the 2008
National Design Award
The American National Design Awards, founded in 2000, are funded and awarded by Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New Y ...
in Architecture from the
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile (New York City), Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the ...
,
an Academy Award in Architecture from the
American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
in 2007, and the Emerging Architecture Award from the
Architectural League of New York
The Architectural League of New York is a non-profit organization "for creative and intellectual work in architecture, urbanism, and related disciplines".
The league dates from 1881, when Cass Gilbert organized meetings at the Salmagundi Club for ...
in 2004. Jim Olson received the AIA Seattle Medal of Honor in 2007. The firm's work has been published in the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
,
Architectural Digest
''Architectural Digest'' is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast, which also publishes internati ...
, and
Architectural Record
''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in a ...
, among other publications.
Further reading
* Olson, Jim. ''Jim Olson: Art in Architecture''. Whatcom Museum/August Editions, 2013
* Kundig, Tom. ''Tom Kundig: Houses 2''. Princeton Architectural Press, 2011
* Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen. ''Jim Olson Houses''. The Monacelli Press, 2009
* Riordan, John and Kristen Becker. ''The Good Office: Green Design on the Cutting Edge''. New York: Collins Design, 2008.
* Beck, Petyr, ed. ''The Frye Art Museum: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects''. Documentary Media, 2007.
* Ngo, Dung. ''Art + Architecture: The Ebsworth Collection & Residence'', William Stout Publishers, 2006.
* 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.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official websiteNational AIA Architecture Firm of the Year award"A Glass House in Farm Country"Juliet Chung, ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', 6 August 2010
Architecture firms based in Washington (state)
Companies based in Seattle