Firm Name: Olson Kundig

Principal: Tom Kundig

Headquarters: Seattle, Washington

Accolades: Forbes Architecture’s “America’s Top 200 Residential Architects,” 2025; Forbes Architecture’s “America’s Best-in-State Residential Architects,” 2025; Forbes Architecture’s “America’s Top Hospitality Architects & Designers,” 2026.

House Name: Montana Beach House

Location: Whitefish, Montana

Site Specifics: A wooded 1.7-acre parcel bordering Whitefish Lake

Area & Layout: 6,500 square feet; 6 BR, 5 BA

Architectural Photographer: Aaron Leitz (aaronleitz.com)

Over the course of 60 years, Seattle-based Olson Kundig has persevered as a leading purveyor of what might be called muscular modernism. Their Mondrian-like compositions feature kinetic planes that rise, slide and pivot (sometimes assisted by hand-turned cranks), blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, the manmade and the natural—as in this airy pavilion that appears to float above the shore of Montana’s Whitefish Lake.

FRED ALBERT, Forbes Deputy Editor, Architecture: In terms of scale, scope and identity, how does this project fit into your overall body of residential work?

TOM KUNDIG, design principal: Like all of our residential work, this project started with the site. Here, that meant keeping the house low and quiet along the beach. From certain angles it almost disappears into the beach and hillside. That sense of belonging is central to how we think about houses. It’s also very much a family home, designed to work when it’s just a couple of people there, but expanding to hold kids and grandkids, so it balances intimacy and generosity. That tension—between being quiet in the landscape and full of life when everyone’s home—is really where it sits within our broader body of work.

ALBERT: Creatively, from a design problem-solving viewpoint, what are a few of the most satisfying solutions that came together here?

KUNDIG: Getting the massing right—keeping it low and stretched so it feels calm against the water—was critical. That restraint is satisfying because it allows the landscape to lead. Second is the internal flow as you move from the most public spaces to the more private areas. There’s a clear transition from social to quiet. The primary suite and family bedrooms are set apart, and the upper level reinforces that separation, giving the house a sense of order without feeling rigid. That organization also helps the building step back into the hillside, breaking down the scale so it feels appropriate to the site. The overall character of the house is deeply rooted in Montana: the materials, the proportions, the way it sits gently on the site—it’s almost like it grew there.

ALBERT: What’s next for the studio?

KUNDIG: In the residential arena, we have active projects around the world and up and down the coasts. The non-residential part of the portfolio continues to grow. We’re doing more sports venues and museums, which are always exciting. Resorts are also becoming a bigger part of the practice, with projects like One&Only Moonlight Basin, which recently opened in Big Sky, Montana. Overall, the scope of our work is broadening, but it’s always grounded in the same principles and core DNA of Olson Kundig.

More from America’s Top Architects

© Forbes