Starchitect Tom Kundig on Protecting Your Home Against Climate Change

Sometimes, no matter how smart, connected, and well-resourced you are, you simply need an expert—and not just any expert, but the rarefied insider whom other specialists call when they need help.

Luckily Robb Report has our own highly curated directory of heavy hitters across categories: the Masters of Luxury.

This month, it’s Tom Kundig, who’s a principal and founder of Olson Kundig, a design firm with a trio of offices stateside and staff of more than 300. He’s a starchitect renowned for his know-how in building high-end properties in challenging locations, with a particular interest in industrial design and the smallest details of every major project.

Have a conundrum you’d like to see solved? Email askrobb@robbreport.com.

The Expert

Name: Tom Kundig
Occupation: Architect
HQ: Seattle, Wash.
Specialty: Five-star homes in far-flung places

The Big Question

Climate change is making extreme weather events—from wildfires to floods—more commonplace. What can I do to mitigate the risks?

Kundig is seasoned in building for both extreme cold and heat. His work in Switzerland informs how he approaches cold-weather designs. “Think about those farm buildings and chalets there—the flatter the roof is in snow country, the safer it is. When you have a steep roof, it’s like an avalanche, and you have no control over it. You can build for weight, but you can’t predict movement.” A now-retired snow consultant always counseled Kundig to work counterintuitively and incorporate that inverted 1950s-style roofline known as the Butterfly, as it funnels drainage of snow and icy water to one line at the building’s center, which can be robustly waterproofed.

As for fire, Kundig proudly points to one of his houses on Malibu’s Carbon Beach that defied the heat and flames during the L.A. fires last January. The design includes deep overhangs that protected the windows from the worst of the heat, so they didn’t break. “Once the glass goes, the story is over. But the sprinkling system did not go off, so all the art and furniture was perfectly fine.” Pesky, tiny embers are another big risk, as they get sucked into a home’s vents when the wind increases, creating negative pressure at the house. “Set up baffles [in the vents] rather than having a straight shot like a raceway into the house” that would allow fire to spread. Consider, too, a firesafe room, better known as a T.R.A. or Temporary Refuge Area. Fires typically rage for no more than three hours, so these are designed to keep you safe indoors until it’s only smoldering. It’s an architectural feature that some city councils are eyeing to shift from nice-to-have to essential when granting building permits. “The reason for that is the Napa Glass Fire—it became so much worse because people tried to leave their property, and it jammed up the road with cars,” he says. “It was kind of an issue with the L.A. fires, also.”

Speed Round

What’s a finish that ages most gracefully? There’s some limestone coming out of Portugal that’s just stunning. It’s warm and almost consistent and feels like a stone. For an interior, hinoki wood from Japan; I’ve been in a number of 15th-century farmhouses and temples, and I love the way that cedar ages. It tells the arc of time.

What’s the best way to warm up the vibe of a Modernist house? People call it flow, and I call it proportions. If you’re making a place for large artworks, never go above 14 feet in ceiling height or a floor that’s wider than, say, 26 or 30 feet.

The best thing to blow your budget on? Windows and doors. You’re touching and moving them every day. And windows in all four directions, because that’s what gets value engineered out of a project: the high windows. Take out those overly fancy countertops and pay for those clerestory windows.

If I’m building the first house in a family compound, how do I futureproof it? Leave the property lines in place, following all the setbacks. It’s really important in some of the larger estates to have flexibility—say, at an inheritance, when you can pull out individual pieces of property easily.

Vendor you recommend to any client? Brombal windows out of Italy and Vitrocsa out of Switzerland. Beautiful windows, wonderful people to work with.

Biggest security concerns that often go unaddressed? Being on a shoreline is kind of tricky because there’s an infinite piece of water where you don’t have your security out there. There are a number of ways of making a house really safe from intrusion, and it’s not only the hardware, it’s the glass: laminated like a car windshield, you can beat on it all you want, but it can’t break.

Either | Or

Vastly superior in an earthquake area.

It can be perfectly still or crazy wild—I like those extremes.

I like to see how things work.

Whether it’s really sunny, rainy, or windy, they’re almost like an umbrella.

It implies an infinity, as if you’re swimming to the horizon.

Love the nature of nature going the way it wants to go.

It implies a series of small gatherings in special locations—you’re looking for a refuge.

It’s best for both—the family and the staff can live a private life.