Unger house wins in annual AIA competition

Kim Unger is the designer of this elegant, often minimalist house in the tony Las Campanas subdivision on Santa Fe’s northwest side. Unger built with the topography on the 2.5-acre lot and tried to disturb the least amount of material in order to build. “The generation of the plan came from the topography, the views, and the fact that we had really nice southern exposure, because it’s a passive solar house.” The beautiful tile floors provide some thermal mass, storing energy from the winter sun and releasing it at night. The clients installed an automated blind system to control the solar gain.

“Theywanted to have a view fromthe entry, but I didn’t want to have a view that just looks straight through,” Unger said, “sowhat I did is you come into the entry and there are two long hallways, because they wanted gallery space for all their art. I organized the two hallways with full-height win-

The Santa Fe chapter of the American Institute of Architects held its 2018 Design Awards Dec. 14 at La Posada de Santa Fe. The intent of the awards program is “to recognize the highest standards of design in response to user requirements, site context, climate, and environment. Each entry regardless of size or classification is judged individually on the basis of total design merit.”

This year’s jurors were IngalillWahlroos-Ritter (chair), who is the dean of the School of Architecture at Woodbury University, San Diego, and director of theWUHO (Woodbury University Hollywood Outpost); Mark Lahmon, principal of Lahmon Architects in Culver City, Calif.; and architects Catherine Johnson and Rebecca Rudolph, who founded and run the Los Angeles firm Design, Bitches.

The three winners— Atkin Olshin Schade for the Zuni Pueblo housing assessment and app (Honor Award), Kim Unger for the Greyhawk residence (Merit Award), and Autotroph Design for Transformer Studio (Citation Award) — are profiled here and on Pages 18 and 27. The one dozen other entries are shown on Pages 34-35.

In addition to the regular, juried, awards, AIA-Santa Fe presented its 2018 Honor Awards:

• Architectural Service Award to David Rasch, the former longtime director of the city’s Historic Preservation Division (and now director of the Traditional Spanish Market)

• AIASanta Fe TurquoiseMedal to Santa Fe architect Suby T. Bowden. dows to the views at the end of each one. Then the house unfolds as you move around.”

Glass walls in the living roomcreate the impression of a light box from outside, where the portal was designed as an extension. The 24- by 24-inch ceramic floor tile continues out, and Unger added a narrow landscaped “moat” toward the edge of the paving. “This portal has ceilings continuing from the inside and we stuccoed it white to mimic the white plaster inside,” he said. “We used a hard-trowel diamond plaster on both the walls the the ceilings; those were done by Javier’s Lath & Plaster and they turned out beautiful. So you have that inside-outside continuity. And then I put metal wrapping on the portal columns to give it a little depth. That bronze color matches the windows.

“It’s a very simple palette with the gray tile, the white walls, the rift-cut oak cabinets from Ernest Thompson in Albuquerque, and the dark metal door and window framing.

The living-room fireplace is a massive rectangle of light-colored stone running right up to the ceiling, with a square firebox at the bottom. “The fireplace is Texas limestone. I went through a lot of samples, then also picked a really nice texture so it wasn’t too rough and rustic.” Unger and his crew built the interior doors out of solid wood, also rift-cut oak, 1 3/4 inches thick.

The ceiling is plastered between beams, but the plaster isn’t coved like you often see in Santa Fe Style homes. And the parapets and exterior wall-edges are pretty sharp, not rounded. “This is pretty contemporary. It could be in LA or a lot of places,” Unger said. “But there’s always an homage to Santa Fe, which I think is good. I do like regional architecture.

“If you look at my houses, they’re all different. I listen to my clients and try to get to what they want, towhat their dream is.” Unger, who is a registered architect, said about a third of his houses are done as design-build projects, while on the majority he works with other architects and designers. “It’s fun, the whole process, to take a piece of dirt and build something there that somebody loves to live in.”

The actual building process of course varies from one project to the next. Something he said was surprising— many of us probably think the old-fashioned Santa Fe house design would be more difficult to do, with all those rounded features inside and out. “Everybody thinks a contemporary house looks so simple and easy. But they are so much harder to build than a traditional Santa Fe Style house. The dimensions are exacting. When you have a wall that goes from the inside to the outside, it’s a lot of work. And it’s fun. I’m really lucky. I love what I do.”

— PaulWeideman Awards held on Dec. 14

Jury comments: A nicely organized plan integrating intermediary buffer zones in the entry and gallery spaces. Proportion and placement of glazing is well balanced from the outside. From the inside, openings nicely frame views while carefully controlling natural light. The reflectiveness of the interior plaster walls creates luminous interior spaces.

PHOTOS COURTESY PETER OGILVIE