Chicken Point Cabin / Olson Kundig Architects. Image © Benjamin Benschneider
Seattle-based Olson Kundig is an example of how context and culture can influence a firm’s design approach. Founded in 1966 by Jim Olson and now consisting of hundreds of employees and four other partners, including Tom Kundig, the firm has an extensive and diverse portfolio that spans different scales and budgets. In lectures and interviews, Kundig in particular often talks about how having grown up in a region with a strong mining and lumbering tradition has influenced the industrial and rational aesthetic of his designs, the use of durable and low-maintenance materials, and a special attention to craftsmanship. In many of the firm’s designs, however, the ingenuity and emphasis on moving parts –blurring the boundaries between inside and outside– is striking. This is usually achieved by incorporating hand-held devices that allow users to activate the building directly, connecting them both to the context but also to the building itself and the dynamic mechanisms therein.