The firm has received many awards acknowledging its innovative "green" design approach and its contribution to the continued development of Pacific Northwestregional architecture.
History
Miller Hull was founded in 1977 after the dissolution of Rhone & Iredale, the Vancouver-based firm for which both future partners worked. The firm's first office was located in Seattle's Smith Tower.[1] Early projects, such as a water quality testing lab in Seattle, Seattle Community College's Marine Technology Facility, and several earth-sheltered houses, demonstrated the architects' interests in resource conservation and innovative use of off-the-shelf materials to keep project costs within budget. 70% of the firm's projects involve public funding.[2] The architects credit their economical, sustainable, and regionalist approach to building to their time in the US Peace Corps in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Miller in Brazil, and Hull in Afghanistan.[1]
Founding partner Robert Hull died in 2014. During Hull's lifetime, the two architects traditionally worked in collaboration—one partner birthing an idea, and the other refining.[2] In 2015, the firm employed 40 architects, 8 partners, 6 principals, and 8 associates, and had offices in Seattle and San Diego.[3]
Awards and honors
In addition to numerous publications, they are the recipients of the 2003 American Institute of ArchitectsArchitecture Firm Award, the AIA's highest honor.[4] FAIA discussed the Miller/Hull Partnership’s work, including the Fisher Pavilion at the Seattle Center, one of the AIA Committee on the Environment’s (COTE) 2003 Top Ten Green Buildings in the Spotlight on Design Lecture Series held at the National Building Museum in 2003.
The firm was ranked #14 in the AIA's 2013 list of top 50 architectural firms.[5] The Bullitt Center, a 50,000 square foot, Living Building Challenge certified[6] office building in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, was named "Sustainable Building of the Year" by both World Architecture News and Metal Architecture Magazine,[7][8] and has received numerous other awards for its innovative design.
Miller Hull's renovation of the Odegaard Undergraduate Library at the University of Washington received a 2014 AIA Honor Award for Interior Architecture.[5]