Many adjectives can be used to describe Dogpatch-based architect Olle Lundberg, who passed away unexpectedly on October 31, 2025. The two that crop up most often are “kind” and “exceptional designer.”
His firm, Lundberg Design, is a nationally recognized design and fabrication practice. But it was his personal qualities that many recall as much as his award-winning work. His wife of 33 years, Mary Breuer, said he gave people the benefit of the doubt, often befriending those others might ignore, mentoring many aspiring designers.
“He had a unique take on the profession of architecture, and the ability to describe important ideas about the significance of design at any scale in a compelling way, influencing many practitioners and clients,” a social media post from his firm Lundberg Design said. “His legacy of craft and material-focused architectural design work has made an indelible imprint on the practice of architecture, which will be carried on by his firm.”
Thomas “Olle” Lundberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 7, 1954, two weeks after his parents emigrated from their native Sweden. He attended Washington and Lee University as an English major and received a Master of Architecture from the University of Virginia. While there, he met Bob Marquis, a visiting lecturer, who helmed a notable architecture practice in San Francisco, Marquis Associates. Lundberg moved across the country to join Marquis in 1980, after practicing with VMDO in Charlottesville, Virginia for several years.
In 1984, he designed and built a house for his sister, Anne Kimball, in Washington, Connecticut, where she still lives.
“Olle (Tom to me) was my older brother,” Kimball wrote on social media. “He was my rock, a mentor and father figure to my children, and leader of our family. He inspired us beyond measure. How lucky I have been to live in a home that he designed and built for me. My heart will never be the same, but he would be honored to know how he left his mark on the world. Such a kind, generous, beautiful man in every way. He lived an amazing life.”
Lundberg left his fingerprints in many places, but especially in San Francisco. After completing his sister’s house, he returned to the City, founding Lundberg Design in 1987. In 1996, he moved his growing practice to Dogpatch, renovating a mattress factory on Third Street to accommodate the firm’s integrated architecture practice and fabrication shop.
“Olle saw potential in people, objects, and ideas,” Breuer said. “He often made sculptural elements for his clients’ projects out of ordinary objects, seeing opportunity where it is often overlooked. His work helped transform objects, neighborhoods, and landscapes into new and improved places. Dogpatch is a good example: our investment in an old mattress factory on Third Street shaped his career, enabled the integration of craft into his architecture practice, and contributed to the transformation of an area of SF that had lain fallow for years, recapturing the importance of craft that Dogpatch had long been known for.”
Lundberg’s work can be seen throughout the City, in the form of the wavy Muni bus shelters. He’s known for his labor on the former Twitter headquarters, restaurants such as Flour + Water, Mourad, Nari, and Slanted Door, and many high-end residences.
“He took risks that others considered almost impossible,” Breuer said. “The most outstanding example was a global search for the right vessel for us to live on, resulting in the purchase of a decommissioned car ferry in Iceland, locating its former crew, and having them sail it to SF through the Panama Canal. We lived on that ferry – the Maritol – for 10 years, first at Pier 54 and then at Pier 50 before moving to Dogpatch.”
On dry land, Lundberg turned two dilapidated 1930s fishing shacks in a secluded enclave at Bodega Bay into elegant-but-small vacation homes. He spent many years building a spectacular cabin compound on the Sonoma coast north of Jenner for himself, his wife, and their dogs. Hosting friends and colleagues at their outdoor kitchen, pizzas would emerge frequently from the oven he designed, often with innovative combinations of ingredients. Lundberg and Breuer cultivated a large vegetable garden at the compound.
Food was one of Lundberg’s passions. He partnered with the late Charles Phan, chef/owner of Slanted Door, to create the former Hardwater, a bar known for its simple elegance and extensive whiskey collection at Pier 3. In addition to Phan’s iconic Slanted Door restaurant, Phan and Lundberg collaborated on many Bay Area restaurant ventures.
“He always dived deep when he was curious about something and developed unusual expertise in wide-ranging products beyond bourbon, like cheese, hot sauce and charcuterie, all of which he made himself,” Breuer said. “Bourbon was one of his most enduring passions and he became a recognized expert in the bourbon community nationally. Hot sauce was another. In both categories, he collected well over a thousand bottles.”
At the time of his passing, he was planning a series of engagements for his recently released book, Olle Lundberg: An Architecture of Craft. Published by Princeton Architectural Press/Chronicle Books, the book traces his personal and architectural journey – from his experiences as a University of Virginia student to becoming a go-to architect for the Bay Area’s digital and hospitality elite. His accolades include several Best of Year Awards from Interior Design and Architects Newspaper.
“Every day, I was astounded by how he saw the world and lived in it. I am everlastingly proud of him and fortunate to have had a ringside seat for 33 years,” Breuer said.
“Olle Lundberg: a great mind,” design lecturer and author Diane Dorrans Saeks said on social media. “Rare. Kind. A maker. A dreamer. I have admired him for many years. I console myself with the thought: he was a great human. His spirit will live on.”
PV Staff