Sustainable success - Home front: tips and trends from the world of residential design - architectural firm honored for sustainable development - Brief Article

Residential Architect, March, 2003 by Meghan Drueding

Miller/Hull Partnership's Modern, site-sensitive houses have been cleaning up at design awards competitions for years. Now the firm itself has been honored--with The American Institute of Architects' 2003 Architecture Firm Award. The 45-person, Seattle-based firm joins an illustrious collection of previous winners, many of them much larger practices--such as international giants Gensler and Skidmore Owings & Merrill. "Even though Miller/Hull is small, its national and global impact has been significant," says Bruce Blackmer, AIA, a member of the AIA's board of directors, which selected the firm.

The board admired Miller/Hull's commitment to regionally appropriate design. "Their architecture is such a contrast to so many other buildings we see that could be built anywhere in the world," says Blackmer. Sustainability became part of the 25-year-old firm's vocabulary long before it was fashionable; that, too, helped win over the board. "Our interest in sustainability started with our early residential work," says principal and founding partner Bob Hull, FAIA. Miller/Hull's collaborative approach to design, unusual in the age of star architects, also impressed judges.

Hull views the award as a new challenge for himself, his partners, and his staff. "Every project we do now needs to be really, really good," he says. "We need to keep on proving ourselves."