Gordon Walker's (b. 1939) highly unusual design process has yielded an
extensive architecture of extraordinary quality; he is a unique figure
in the American architectural movement and in the history of the Pacific
Northwest. This personal and professional biography contributes both to
our understanding of the breadth of viable design processes and, in a
broader sense, to regional and architectural history.
Gordon Walker is a 1962 graduate of the University of Idaho. He was
co-founder of Olson Walker Architects (now Olson Kundig), worked with
NBBJ in Seattle and San Francisco, and practiced in his own name for
twelve years before joining Mithun Architects as a consulting principal.
His work embraces the American west coast from Davis, California, to the
Canadian border. He has designed over thirty residences (and built
several with his own hands); a host of buildings and plans for
universities throughout the Northwest and California; three buildings
for the Pacific Northwest Ballet; and myriad commercial buildings,
remodels, restaurants, and parks. He has been an educator and mentor,
teaching at the Universities of Idaho and Washington. In addressing all
of its determinants simultaneously in plan, section, and elevation,
Gordon Walker has, for half a century, created an architecture of
exceptional merit.
