Exciting news: the great Seattle-based architect Tom Kundig, designer of some of the most sublime cabins you’ve ever seen, is visiting New Zealand in late January.
Tom’s work combines a deep respect for nature with an intimate sense of refuge. Tom Kundig will visit New Zealand as the international member of HOME magazine’s Home of the Year 2016 jury. He will give talks in Auckland (on Tuesday January 26; buy tickets here) and Wellington (Wednesday January 27; buy tickets here) about his work. His visit is generously supported by our Home of the Year sponsors, Altherm Window Systems.
Kundig’s buildings are often inspired by the mountainous terrain of Washington state, where he grew up. In his new book, Tom Kundig: Works, he writes of the benefits of inconveniences, that “you have to get outside to get inside”, a treatise that could easily apply to a quintessential New Zealand bach. Some of his most famous buildings have been cabins of exquisite simplicity, highly crafted retreats from which to appreciate a landscape, not dominate it.
Kundig doesn’t only design homes, as he believes the poetic qualities that enliven his best-known works can apply equally to other buildings. He has also designed art galleries, apartment buildings, hotels and wineries, and worked in the US, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Australia.
He works frequently in steel and timber, and many of his buildings feature operational details, such as the glass window wall at the Chicken Point Cabin in Idaho that opens with the help of a hand-crank. The son of an architect, he has said that he chose architecture for himself because he likes having one foot in the technical realm and the other in the poetic. We hope you’ll take the time to come and hear him speak about his remarkable creations.
Event details: Tom Kundig speaks in Auckland at the Fisher & Paykel Auditorium at the University of Auckland at 6.30pm on Tuesday January 26. Tickets can be purchased here. Kundig speaks at Wellington’s City Gallery Auditorium at 6.30pm on Wednesday January 27. Tickets can be purchased here. Tickets for each event are $25 ($20 for students and NZ Institute of Architects members).
