grand award
chicken point cabin, northern idaho
olson sundberg kundig allen architects
seattle
The owners of this weekend retreat asked for a little cabin that opens to its natural surroundings. Tom Kundig, FAIA, took their request literally and metaphorically, designing a tough, concrete-and-steel tent in the woods and an enormous window that lifts away like a flap.
Kundig conceived the structure as
 Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
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three simple parts: a concrete block box, a plywood insert containing the master suite, and a 4-foot-diameter steel fireplace, a remnant from the Alaska pipeline. The concept is straightforward, but the gestures are meant to surprise. A 19-foot-tall steel entry door accommodates long skis and echoes the scale of the surrounding pines. In warm weather, the owners can open the 30-foot-by-20-foot window wall and wander freely from the living room to the beach. Centering the soaring living room is the fireplace, which acts as a structural component. “A cabin is intended to bring you out into the landscape, but it's also about the refuge from that landscape, so a fireplace becomes a very important element,” Kundig says. The judges admired the cabin's clarity and poetry. “It's a very clever solution to getting light and heat into the interior, and a celebration of the present,” a jury member said.
principal in charge / project architect:
 Photo: Benjamin Benschneider
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Tom Kundig, FAIA, Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects;
general contractor: Doric Creager, MC Company, Spokane, Wash.;
interior designer: Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects;
project size: 3,400 square feet;
site size: 0.5 acre;
construction cost: Withheld;
photographer: Benjamin Benschneider, except where noted.
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merit award
pacific palisades residence, pacific palisades, calif.
 Photo: Klaus Knoll
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paastudio
pacific palisades
Just about every design decision architect Ivo Venkov made on this project—the home (and office) he shares with his wife and fellow architect, Rossi Venkov—related back to the site, a steep hillside overlooking the Pacific. Permits alone took two years to wrangle, and 37 pilings support the hill-hugging house. “It's designed specifically for this location, to fit within the environment,” says Venkov. “It also takes into account basic passive solar principles.”
To that end,
 Photo: Klaus Knoll
Touches of wood show up on both the exterior elevation and inside Ivo Venkov's hill-hugging house. Outside, stationary fir louvers help moderate the sun's impact on the house. Inside, Canadian maple floors and built-ins made from birch plywood help warm up the contemporary space.
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skylights ventilate the house and, along the north side, stationary fir louvers moderate summer sun but invite winter light. Computer modeling positioned the louvers at exactly 19 inches apart to maintain the ocean view line. Inside, it's all about “livable minimalism.” “We wanted to enjoy the space and not have to step very carefully or move like an Egyptian,” Venkov says. He used varying floor materials and suspended ceilings rather than partitions to come up with what he calls a “delicate definition of space.”
Best of all, though, is the view. That glorious ocean is visible from multiple terraces and just about every room in the house. Only the top-level secondary bathroom is land-locked.
principal in charge / project architect: Ivo Venkov, PAASTUDIO; general contractor / interior designer: PAASTUDIO; project size: 3,000 square feet; site size: 0.1005 acres; construction cost: Withheld; photographer: Klaus Knoll. Click here for product information.
merit award
matthew residence, brainerd, minn.
salmela architect
duluth, minn.
Most of the cabins around this summer residence run parallel to the shoreline and sit as close to the water as possible. Asked to design a replacement for a cabin that had burned down, David Salmela proposed something a little more interesting. By positioning the house perpendicular to the water, he was able to create east and west terraces, tripling the view corridors.
 Photo: Peter Bastianelli Kerze
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“The need for two outdoor rooms is synonymous with summer living,” he says. “You want to be able to have breakfast outside in the sun, and in the evening you want to be on the west side of the house.”
The judges applauded the way the house engages the whole site. Slate floors blend with the outdoor bluestone surfaces. On the exterior, clean detailing and traditional materials simplify the mass. The monolithic white masonry “book-ends” make the buildings appear to float in a field of native grasses.
 Photo: Peter Bastianelli Kerze
Salmela pointed the cabin toward the lake and used glazed side walls to broaden water views. Masonry walls bracket the cypress-clad cabin, sauna, and garage. The outdoor rooms are framed with white-stained wood and screened with 2x2 slats.
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principal in charge / project architect: David Salmela, FAIA, Salmela Architect; general contractor: John Majka, Majka Construction, Nisswa, Minn.; landscape architect: Shane Coen, Coen + Partners, Minneapolis.; interior designer: Tia Salmela Keobounpheng, Silvercocoon, Minneapolis; project size: 2,280 square feet; site size: 0.5 acre; construction cost: $210 per square foot; photographer: Peter Bastianelli Kerze. Click here for product information.
