Counterweight

Since its founding, Olson Kundig has built a body of work that embraces the unexpected. For over two decades, the firm has been at the forefront of creating architecture that responds to human touch as it adapts to human needs, known as kinetic design or gizmos. Behind these tactile inventions—from opening a wall with the turn of a wheel, to moving an entire building on train tracks—is the symbiotic partnership between principal/owner & founder Tom Kundig and the firm’s resident gizmologist, Phil Turner. A self-described “analog guy,” Phil draws on a unique and varied background in fabrication and physical sciences to solve complex design challenges using simple machines, applying traditional engineering principles in modern, ingenious ways. Together, Tom and Phil have established an approach to kinetic architecture that keenly balances form and function, underscoring a culture of curiosity and collaboration that defines the firm’s practice. Revealing stories of innovation, experimentation, and creative evolution, Counterweight is a look back—and a look forward—into Olson Kundig’s kinetic portfolio, exploring the physical and visceral connections between buildings and the people who inhabit them.