Remembering Olle Lundberg: The Sonoma Cabin

Olle Lundberg in his studio. Photograph by Yoshihiro Makino

San Francisco's architecture and design community was saddened to learn of the recent loss of Olle Lundberg (1954-2025), founder of Lundberg Design. The architect, designer, and author emphasized the "hand of the builder" rather than purely digital or detached design, with craft-oriented, material-rich projects that repurposed and renovated existing buildings, such as the 1933 mattress factory on 3rd Street in Dogpatch, which became the firm's integrated architecture practice and fabrication shop. COUPAR likes to remember Olle at the Sonoma cabin he shared with his wife, Mary Breuer, and various dogs, surrounded by 16 acres of redwoods.

The Pool, Photograph by Alan Owings

The cabin began as a derelict building on the property that Olle purchased in 1996. Over the years, he has incorporated reclaimed building materials from various projects. The most dramatic design element is the pool fabricated from a livestock water tank. Olle acquired a 25-foot-diameter and 14-foot-deep container from a client's ranch, and not only is it the focal point of the home, but it's also a favorite spot for canine swims.  Reclaimed redwood siding covers the exterior of the cabin, and the industrial steel windows come from five different remodeling jobs.

On the interior, Olle covered the floors with dog-friendly multi-colored slate and used Montana white pine on the walls. Furnishings were either rejected from projects, such as a flawed coffee table intended initially for the Diva Hotel, or made to order. The architect was an avid cook who added an outdoor kitchen to the property, complete with a pizza oven, tandoori, cooking hearth, and wok range, where he enjoyed entertaining friends. He passed away on October 31st, when ancient cultures believed that the veil between the living and the dead was thinnest. We like to imagine Olle entertaining in heaven.

The open living space, photo by J.D. Peterson