Montecito House and Outpost are 2008 Region Design Award Winners!
Montecito Residence and Outpost, designed by Tom Kundig, FAIA of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen, received Honor and Merit awards for architectural excellence at the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Annual Conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii earlier this month. Montecito Residence received an Honor Award, and Outpost received an Award of Merit.
Montecito Residence and Outpost, designed by Tom Kundig, FAIA of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen, received Honor and Merit awards for architectural excellence at the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Annual Conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii earlier this month. Montecito Residence received an Honor Award, and Outpost received an Award of Merit.
Montecito Residence is a single-family home set in the fire-prone Toro Canyon. The owners wanted a house that minimized its use of scarce natural resources and recognized the challenging environmental conditions of the area. The design solution was to create a house that could harvest the climatic conditions which make the site so dangerous – the sun and the wind. The project team included Tom Kundig, FAIA, Elizabeth Bianchi Conklin and Huyen Hoang.
The jury commented: “Superbly crafted, the Montecito Residence is powerful architecture that is grounded to the site and speaks to the sky and views. Situated in an area prone to wild fires, the architect has used simple materials such as oxidized steel and toned concrete to blend into the landscape.”
Set in the remote and harsh high desert landscape of Idaho, Outpost is an artist live/work studio and sculpture garden for making and displaying art. An important aspect of the complex is the protected “paradise garden,” which is separated from the wild landscape by thick masonry walls. The materials used in the structure, including concrete block, car-decking, and plywood, require little or no maintenance, and are capable of withstanding the extreme weather that characterize the desert’s four seasons. The project team included Tom Kundig, FAIA, Kirsten Murray, AIA, Steven Rainville, AIA and Gladys Ly-Au Young.
The jury commented: Utilizing a durable and readily available construction material, this residence, designed with great boldness and simplicity, holds its own in its remote environment. The garden walls protect the attached sculpture garden from high winds, adding to the horizontality and in keeping with the gentle undulation of the land.”
The 2008 Regional Architecture Awards for architectural excellence were presented at the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region Annual Conference held in Honolulu, Hawaii earlier this month. The Northwest & Pacific Region of the AIA is the largest and most diverse of all the AIA regions; it includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Hong Kong and Japan.
The ultimate goal of the awards program is to raise the standards of architectural design excellence by both the architectural community and the public. This year’s winners are a wide-ranging group that not only surpasses the prerequisites but raises the bar for architectural standards. Jurors for the competition were: Peter Q. Bohlin, FAIA, partner of Bohlin | Cywinski | Jackson; Cameron Sinclair, Executive Director and Co-founder of Architecture for Humanity; Dean Sakamoto, Director of Exhibitions at Yale University’s School of Architecture; John M. Hara, FAIA, independent practice devoted to design that continues to re-define Hawaiian architectural traditions; and Johnpaul Jones, FAIA, founding partner of the Seattle-based Jones and Jones Architects and Landscape Architects.
All awarded projects can be found on-line at the AIA Northwest and Pacific Region website at http://aianwpr.org/RDAwinners08.html