Behind the Build: Todd Saunders - Saunders Architecture

Todd Saunders grew up on Newfoundland’s rugged coast, carving cabins and learning early that good buildings start with good stories. That hands-on childhood nudged him through a planning degree at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada; a semester at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, United States; and an M.Arch. at McGill University, Montréal, Canada. Stints with landscape architect Maria Auböck, Vienna, Austria; urbanist Rob Krier, Berlin, Germany; and designer Jane Durante, Vancouver, Canada sharpened his craft, while a hitch-and-rail trek that began in Paris, France, boarded the Trans-Siberian in Moscow, Russia, and rattled east for days proved that place matters more than style.

In 1996 he settled in Bergen, Norway, and two years later opened Saunders Architecture, small on purpose, restless by nature. First came the timber Aurland Lookout, Aurland, Norway; then the Hardanger Cabin, Ullensvang, Norway; and a ring of stark-white artist studios that helped remote Fogo Island, Canada step onto the world stage. Those one-offs opened bigger canvases: Villa G on Lake Nordås near Bergen; Roxanne Quimby’s museum, Maine, United States; and community plans for Carraig Ridge, Alberta, Canada and Cypress Village, British Columbia, Canada. Today the studio counts 35-plus commissions in eleven countries, yet Todd still begins every project the old way with a pencil in hand, boots on the ground, chasing the right view line before the first stroke on paper.

When he isn’t sketching on a mountain trail, you’ll find him teaching at Bergen Arkitekthøgskole, Bergen, Norway; guest-critiquing at Cornell University, Ithaca, United States; or fly-fishing with the rod his dad gifted at graduation, a reminder to stay true to home, craft, and the long game.

After three decades he still believes: build lightly, frame the horizon, and let quality shout louder than size.

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