STYLE : STYLEMAKER : Drawn From Nature

If one more of his dreams comes true, C. W. Kim’s next high-rise will mimic the exquisite design of a South African protea. The flower, says the 53-year-old San Diego architect, is 90% function and 10% decoration, like a good building should be. From its strong stem, narrow leaves curve up toward a tight bunch of pink petals and, at the very top, a soft ruffle of gentle gray.

Kim admires the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn, of course, but Nature is tops on his list. He believes people thrive in buildings that echo Nature’s masterful designs. Whether he is pondering an exotic flower or a sprig of wheat, he constantly asks, “How could I really build that?”

Kim, who was born in South Korea, opened his 15-person firm eight years ago. His visions of harmony, balance and simplicity are everywhere: Emerald Shapery Center downtown sprouts like tourmaline crystals from the Pala Mountains. A block away, a stairstep design cascades down the Columbia Centre (now called the First National Bank Building), and by the San Diego Bay, two curved towers of the Inter-Continental Hotel (now the San Diego Marriott) look like boats ready to set sail.

Aside from his breathtaking new house atop Mt. Soledad in La Jolla, with its spectacular circular windows and warm wood core, Kim’s latest triumph is the Loews Coronado Bay Resort, situated on a man-made peninsula. The oddly shaped site stymied other architects, but Kim borrowed inspiration from a nautilus shell. He laid out five prongs on a semicircular walkway (“like a little necklace with shells on it”) so that every room has a view. The interior is a Kim-style surprise: long corridors penetrated by shafts of natural light pouring in from lofty windows.