How architect Tom Kundig designs mountain cabins that balance shelter, snowfall and style

Winter weather presents unique challenges for architects – something that Tom Kundig faces head-on. With a career spanning six continents and four decades, US architect Tom Kundig’s design philosophy revolves around how we interact with nature – a central theme of his new book, Tom Kundig: Complete Houses. The founder and principal of Seattle-based Olson Kundig takes a holistic approach to every project to ensure that materials, textures and the environment all work together. Here, he tells Monocle about designing for snowfall and the idea of architecture as a refuge.

You’ve designed many mountain cabins. How does that kind of environment shape your work?`
Snow is a strange material. I grew up in a cold country and later worked in Switzerland to learn about mountain architecture. With snow, the issue isn’t weight but movement. When it sits on a sloped roof, it becomes a threat to people who are walking underneath. Old chalets, with their relatively low-slope roofs, are examples of how to hold snow, not for insulation but for movement, so that it doesn’t drop off the side like an avalanche. It’s about control. If you look at a lot of my architecture, it seems relatively simple – it’s often just a series of boxes. But there’s an intention to it. These buildings deal with the snow that’s not only landing on top but that’s being blown from the side. Until you understand the ways that snow works, you will be designing naively.

People associate cabins in snowy places with rest and slowing down. Is that something that resonates with you as an architect?
Absolutely. Snow country generally means a challenging climate, which might mean that a building is all about the prospect of refuge, places where you’re protected from the outside elements. Even if you’re not physically affected by the weather, you’re psychologically affected by it. It’s stormy as hell, it’s windy and it’s cold. But inside, you have the fireplace and cosy furniture that make you feel protected. The other great thing about the mountains is that they are places of extremes. It’s this yin and yang of existence that I find extraordinary.