Notes of Interest
Set in the remote and harsh high desert landscape of Idaho, Outpost is an artist live/work studio and sculpture garden for making and displaying art. An important aspect of the complex is the protected “paradise garden,” which is separated from the wild landscape by thick masonry walls. The materials used in the structure, including concrete block, car-decking, and plywood, require little or no maintenance, and are capable of withstanding the extreme weather that characterize the desert’s four seasons.
Outpost’s compactness limits site impact and reinforces the desire to be outside. The architects chose a readily available construction material – concrete block – for the primary structure; commercial builders were able to quickly and cheaply assemble the building. Interiors are exposed and unfinished. In a windy environment, the enclosed garden provides protection to develop a cultured space. Nothing outside the walls is modified. The footprint of the building is the limit of intrusion into the landscape – a simple, clearly defined space within the landscape.
Architect
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Olson Kundig Architects
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Owner
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Jan Cox
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Location
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Central Idaho
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ADDITIONAL CREDITS
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Consultant
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Monte Clark
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General Contractor
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Upham Construction
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Photo Credit
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© Tim Bies
© Stuart Isett
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JURY COMMENTS
A severely simple building
evokes ages-old images of
oases and paradisiacal
gardens transported to the
American west. Industrial
materials, while rough, are
thoughtfully detailed and
crafted, and are handled
with great skill to make a
sublime place.
The composition of the
facades as solid and void is
artfully done. While it
appears very simple,
construction of this
condition required careful
detailing and engineering.
This small building
somehow manages to
command a much larger
site, and simultaneously,
with its extending garden
walls, capture a piece of the
site as its own.
2010 INSTITUTE HONOR AWARDS FOR ARCHITECTURE JURY
Richard L. Maimon, AIA (Chair)
KieranTimberlake
Philadelphia
Jeanne Gang, FAIA
Studio/Gang Architects
Chicago
Sam Grawe
Dwell /At Home in the Modern World Magazines
San Francisco
Jeffrey Lee, FAIA
Pearce Brinkley Cease & Lee P.A.
Raleigh
Justine N. Lewis
AIAS Representative
Atlanta
Miguel A. Rivera Agosto, AIA
Miró Rivera Architects
Austin
Mark Simon, FAIA
Centerbrook Architects & Planners
Centerbrook, Connecticut
H. Ruth Todd, AIA
Page & Turnbull Architects
San Francisco
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