Q&A: Tom Kundig on Why Buildings Should Move and Morph

Tom Kundig may be best known for his monolithic Pacific Northwest homes cast in concrete and weathered steel—but his body of work is much broader than that. His massive new monograph, Working Title, explores 29 projects in diverse landscapes, locations, and typologies—from a jewel box home in Hawaii to an office tower in Seoul and a natural history museum in Seattle.

On the occasion of the book’s launch, we chatted with Kundig about the River House, a residence in Ketchum, Idaho, that’s packed with movable elements and made from robust materials that will weather beautifully over time. Read on for a look at this landmark home, published exclusively here for the first time.

Photo captions excerpted from Tom Kundig: Working Title, published by Princeton Architectural Press and available June 2020.

Working Title is your fourth book—how would you say your practice has evolved over time? 

It’s certainly diversified. This book highlights the way my design practice has branched out into many different areas—I’m working in new parts of the world, new landscapes, new building types. I think the scale of the projects in this book might surprise people who know me as a residential designer. The book includes wineries, office buildings, hospitality, a museum. 

In that way it traces a kind of trajectory in my career. But I hope what comes across is that all of my work—large and small, residential and non-residential—is informed by my earlier work designing small residential buildings set within big landscapes. Those essential characteristics are a constant thread throughout every project.