Kirsten R. Murray’s passion for Seattle’s urban fabric manifests itself in a wide range of projects for Olson Kundig Architects. Murray joined the firm in 1989, and became an owner in 2008. She is a generalist architect with particular interest and experience in community, arts, workplace and residential projects. She is currently working on several urban infill projects in Seattle, including Art Stable, the 1900 First Avenue Hotel and Apartments and the Casey Family Programs Headquarters.
Like her frequent collaborator Tom Kundig, Murray is deeply engaged with issues of context – how a building relates and responds to its surroundings. Her projects emerge from the design aesthetic of the Pacific Northwest, in which the built and natural have a strong dialogue, and where the sense of craft and materiality is evident in the architecture. Murray brings this sense to many of the firm’s urban projects, exploring how environmental factors can interact with concepts of urban design to create flexible environments that promote healthy living and community.
Murray’s project work has been published in a variety of magazines and books including the New York Times, Architectural Digest, Interior Design, Architectural Record, and Architecture. Projects she has led have received awards from the American Institute of Architects, including Tye River Cabin and Outpost, both of which have won awards from the national AIA. Projects for which she served as project architect are included in the monograph, Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects: Architecture, Art and Craft (The Monacelli Press, 2003) and The Good Office: Green Design on the Cutting Edge (Collins, 2008), and Archinature (Beta Plus, 2010).
Murray was instrumental in creating Olson Kundig Architects’ widely-recognized international intern program. She speaks about issues of design and professional practice at Universities and professional conferences around the country, and regularly serves on AIA design juries. Murray has served as a visiting lecturer and design critic at the University of Washington, Montana State University, Tulane and Syracuse University. She has a Master of Architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Design from the University of Colorado.