Pole Pass Retreat by Olson Kundig

The San Juan Islands in the American state of Washington are a tapestry of rural landscapes and tropical wildlife. Pole Pass Retreat by Seattle-based multidisciplinary collective Olson Kundig appears to be one with this environment, camouflaging itself with an exterior that holds a mirror to the earth.

Situated on a sylvan land parcel, Pole Pass Retreat is a 518-square-metre pied-à-terre that sits across the river from the homeowners’ primary residence. Ensconced between dense woods and a meadow that parlays into the Salish Sea, the home is a symphony of indoor and outdoor spaces that keep the elements close. Olson Kundig collaborated with Seattle-based Charlie Hellstern Interior Design for the project.

Ensconced between dense woods and a meadow that parlays into the Salish Sea, the home is a symphony of indoor and outdoor spaces that keep the elements close.

Site constraints prompted Olson Kundig to minimise walls, not only to project a sense of volume, but also to eliminate sightlines between the site and its surroundings. As design principal Tom Kundig, explains, “the intent was to create an expansive indoor-outdoor living space with spectacular views.” The home unfolds in a series of imperceptible layers. This is most evident in the living room, where a mechanical wheel connected to a system of gears and chains, akin to those in a bicycle, governs the movement of 2.7-metre-tall glass walls. When completely retracted, the walls disappear to combine the living and kitchen areas with the generous deck whose total area almost equals the internal footprint.

An important priority was ensuring that the dwelling naturally melded into the wooded surroundings. The exterior doffs its hat to nature with a cedar siding created using a traditional Japanese wood-charring technique called shou-sugi–ban. “Shou-sugi-ban naturally preserves the wood, making the cedar less of a target for insects, rot and fire. It gives the siding a very dark, slightly silvery color that changes over time,” explains Kundig.

The interior is antithetical to the facade, a tactile antidote to the hardness of the exterior’s steel and charred siding shell.

The interior is antithetical to the facade, a tactile antidote to the hardness of the exterior’s steel and charred siding. A palette of pine gently pervades the rooms, punctuated by exposed wood rafters that add a touch of rusticity. Olson Kundig ensured that each space, indoor or outdoor, was optimally utilised. By the same token, the upper level comprises a bedroom that protrudes out of the exterior to overarch a covered outdoor storage space at the back of the house. “It looks out over the drought-resistant, planted roof of the main level, giving the sense of floating above the lawn and water beyond,” notes Kundig, adding that this storey was deliberately designed to lean into the elements. Whether upstairs or downstairs, come rain or shine, Pole Pass Retreat unquestionably stands as a sanctuary for every season.

Architecture by Olson Kundig. Interior design by Charlie Hellstern Interior Design.