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photo of Wasatch House
Photo: Matthew Millman

Wasatch House

Salt Lake City, Utah

Wasatch House

Salt Lake City, Utah

  • Design Principal

    Tom Kundig

Pulling apart the various functions of this residence into three discrete pavilions allowed Design Principal Tom Kundig to create a home that accommodates large gatherings yet feels intimate when family members are home. Separating the home into these pavilions created a closer relationship between architecture and nature, with the landscape weaving around and under the home’s public and private spaces.

The more formal, public-facing rooms are housed in the first pavilion, where an entry box leads to a living room and a library. Secret bookshelf doors on either side of the library’s fireplace open to reveal an office with a custom blackened steel desk. Dark, rich materials – including fumed oak casework and floors and a bronze fireplace – transition to lighter, warmer materials in the central pavilion, which houses the kitchen, dining and family rooms.

In the family room, a hand crank lowers a window wall to guardrail height, and large sliding doors open the corners of the family and dining rooms completely, connecting them across an outdoor terrace. A custom built-in grill, firepit and banquette seating extend the home’s livable space out of doors during the temperate Utah summers and shoulder seasons. Steps lead down from the terrace through lush native landscaping to an open-air pool house where a 40-foot-long cantilever shades the deck. In the pool house, a hand-cranked bi-fold door retracts to reveal a kitchenette, with changing rooms and an outdoor shower.

The home’s third pavilion contains the master suite and three children’s bedrooms, connected to the central pavilion via an enclosed, elevated walkway. Views of the Oquirrh Mountains to the west and Wasatch Mountains to the east informed the home’s orientation, particularly the master bedroom whose roof bears a small “kick” that provides an unobstructed view of Mount Olympus. Throughout the home, exposed timber ceilings and exterior overhangs and an interior palette of deep reds and greens are inspired by Salt Lake City’s forested landscape.

I wanted to create a home that would not only respond to the way the family lives now, but also be able to grow and change over time. Because of the way the home is laid out, it allows them to modify the building to an unforeseen future. Tom Kundig

Team