Step into Meg House by Olson Kundig

night time view from the backyard looking at a two storey house with light shining through the glass windows

Olson Kundig’s latest residential work is the Meg House, a single family home in Seattle.

(Image credit: Nic Lehoux)

last updated 29 August 2022

Olson Kundig have a reputation for creating stunning private homes set within the vast, leafy American countryside, so in a way, Meg House bucks the trend. Nestled in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighbourhood, in fact not too far from Tom Kundig’s own home, and overlooking downtown Seattle and Puget Sound, this project is as urban as they get. Yet the house has all the hallmarks of an Olson Kundig design.

There’s swathes of glass, a distinct industrial feel, and a large-scale retractable window, which is operated with the help of a hand-cranked wheel and three large counterweights; all pleasingly familiar Tom Kundig obsessions. The metal structure’s glass wall towards the garden allows for a generous ‘guillotine’ opening that leads out to the greenery and seamlessly connects indoors and outdoors.

Take an interactive tour of Meg House

Making the most of the steeply sloped site, the house offers long, 180-degree views of the residential landscape around the house, and down towards the city below. The architects juxtapose this sense of lightness and openness with the house’s street front on the opposite side of the plot; here, the house was designed to be ‘respectful’ to its surroundings in terms of scale, set back from the street and discreetly positioned behind a leafy front garden.

Inside, there’s exposed industrial details everywhere, such as unfinished steel beams and plywood casework. The 6,050 sq ft home spans three levels. The lower ground floor hosts private areas, such as bedrooms and bathrooms; the main, street level features the open plan living spaces; while a smaller level on the top is reserved for the master bedroom suite. A custom-built, reclaimed fir dining table exemplifies the level of detail that went into the interiors, which are a mix of contemporary and vintage styles.

Meg House was designed to balance ‘transparency and refuge, spare industrial modernity and inviting warmth’, explain the architects; making for the perfect urban retreat.

night time view from the street front looking at a two storey house with light shining through the glass windows — From the street front, the house was designed to be ‘respectful’ to its surroundings in terms of scale, and set back from the street.

living room with high ceilings and full length glass windows showing a view of dowtown Seattle — The project sits on a hilltop overlooking downtown Seattle and Puget Sound.

outdoors staircase leading up to a house illuminated at night — The design is defined by swathes of glass and a distinct industrial feel.

large glass wall near garden — A glass wall towards the garden allows for a generous ‘guillotine’ opening that leads out to the greenery.

large pull out full wine rack inside house — Inside, there’s exposed industrial details everywhere, such as unfinished steel beams and plywood casework.

black staircase — The 6,050 sq ft home spans three levels.

open plan living room with high ceiling — The main, street level features the open plan living spaces.

open plan living, dining and kitchen with full length glass windows and high ceiling — A custom-built, reclaimed fir dining table exemplifies the level of detail that went into the interiors.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Olson Kundig website (opens in new tab)

TOPICS

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).