Olson Kundig: Global Architecture Brilliance

Olson Kundig: Global Architecture Brilliance

May 16, 2021

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Owned by five associates – Jim Olson, Tom Kundig, Kirsten R. Murray, Alan Maskin and Kevin Kudo-King – with a supportive and interested staff with approximately 190 persons in the notable Pioneer Square neighbourhood of downtown Seattle, Olson Kundig made its mark. In a way of responding to international needs and their expanding team, the company opened a workspace in New York in 2014. But it was in the year 2000 that the in-house interiors studio of the company was founded, providing a full package of services, furniture design, material selection, purchasing capabilities, etc. The studio not only focuses on providing their client’s in-house design needs but on integrating nature. Don’t worry, CovetED will guide you!

“Olson Kundig is a collaborative global design practice whose work expands the context of built and natural landscapes.”

Speaking of its creative existence, the company started in 1996 with the architect Jim Olson, his work at the time was focused on the relationship between the residence and the landscape that surrounds it. Assuming that the structure of a building can serve as a bridge between nature, culture, and people (it can and should be an element of huge impact), Olson proceed with the idea of creating the firm.

Already with five decades of existence, Olson Kundig‘s has grown to a point that transcends their work on residences for which it is still best known. They place their energy and motivation on every project no matter the briefing, a cabin in the woods is going to have the same type of commitment that a high-rise in Seoul, for example. The greatest ideas and minutia are present in the smallest details, giving coherence to the entire experience of the built site.

With lots of work in more than fifteen countries on five continents on their portfolio, the company’s values and philosophies -“for instance a careful consideration of the environment, attunement to local materials and culture, and seeking out the expertise and contributions of craftspeople, artists, and other outside experts” – are always practised, no matter what.