50 DIGS.NET
| 1.13.23
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P R O F I L E | O L S O N K U N D I G
the trees on a forest walk, this home
changes direction to respect and make
way for the trees. I remember walking onto
the site for the first time and hearing Greg
and Lesa describe the house as a journey
through the forest, in order to preserve the
magnificent trees, and I totally agreed."
As the basis of all great architecture,
light—in this instance filtered through the
forest canopy and distributed across the
site—is fundamental to the project. "The
different light sources—reflected off the
snow, against the forest floor, through
the needles on the trees—all conspire to
make the experience of the house," Kundig
continues. "It's all idiosyncratic to what's
happening in context to the place." It is a
project that, as the architect affirms, "could
only be built in this spot."
With the site's Ponderosa pines central
to the story of the project, the home's
three-story steel tower riffs on a traditional
treehouse. "The site is very different than
our typical projects, where there's a big,
outstanding view that becomes an obvious
gesture of the house," Kundig explains.
dent in our voices and ability to collaborate
as designers," Kundig concedes. "But I
was nervous, too." Nerves did not get the
better of Kundig; they did, however, draw
out his best. Analog House is a spectacular
house—an architect's house.
The architecture is also a strong response
to the landscape. "This house has been
shaped both functionally and poetically
by the mature Ponderosa pine trees that
occupy the site," Kundig notes. "In the
same way that you would weave through
