(via) Jim Olson, co-founder of Seattle’s accomplished Olson Kundig Architects, has been building a house in the Pacific Northwest wilds near Longbranch, WA since 1959. In the short film above by Nowness, he gives a tour of the building and shares the property’s genesis:

“When I was 18, I was just a first-year architecture student. My dad gave me $500, and he said, ‘Go build a bunk house in the woods.'”

He started with just a 14ft by 14ft cabin, which he has subsequently built upon and modified in successive remodelings (1981, 1997, 2003, 2014) that have resulted in the stunner below. Take a look…