Robert Hull was (1945–2014) was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and co-founder, with David Miller, of the architectural firm

Miller Hull The Miller Hull Partnership is an architectural firm based in Seattle, Washington, founded by David Miller and Robert Hull. The firm's major works in the domains of municipal, commercial, and residential architecture reflect a modernist aesthet ...

. Hull's notable works include the Fisher Pavilion at

Seattle Center The Seattle Center is an entertainment, education, tourism and performing arts center located in the Lower Queen Anne, Seattle, Lower Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. Constructed for the Century 21 Exposition, 1962 W ...

and the

Bullitt Center The Bullitt Center is a commercial office building at the intersection of the Central District neighborhood, and Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington. It was officially opened on Earth Day, April 22, 2013.

, as well as many other award-winning civic, commercial and residential buildings in the Pacific Northwest completed over a 46-year career. Hull is the recipient of multiple architectural awards, a fellow in the American Institute of Architects, and served as president of the Seattle Architecture Foundation. Under Hull's leadership, Miller Hull won the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

prestigious

Architecture Firm Award The Architecture Firm Award is the highest honor that the American Institute of Architects can bestow on an architecture firm for consistently producing distinguished architecture. Prior recipients of the AIA Architecture Firm Award include: *2025 ...

, making it one of only two Washington state architectural firms to have earned that distinction.

Career

Hull studied architecture at

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

, where he met future business partner David Miller. After graduating from Washington State in 1972, Hull joined the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

, where he spent 4 years building sustainable schools in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Hull began his career working for modernist

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981) was a Hungarian-American modernist architect and furniture designer. He moved to the United States in 1937 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. At the Bauhaus he designed the Was ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and Rhone & Iredale in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. In 1977, Hull and Miller founded Miller Hull in Seattle. Hull's architectural style has been characterized as pragmatic and

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. His buildings reflect a sensitivity to context, or "sense of place", and a commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainability. The ENR award-winning Bullitt Center is the first commercial building in the USA to receive project certification from the

Forest Stewardship Council The Forest Stewardship Council GmbH (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification. This organization uses a market-b ...

In 2013, Hull returned to Afghanistan to build a heath clinic and a school for girls in the cities of

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

and Mazar e Sharif, the same communities in which he had served as a Peace Corps volunteer at the beginning of his career. He died on April 7, 2014, of complications from a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

Notable buildings

(Seattle) * Fisher Pavilion (

) * Conibear Shell House (

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

) * Technology Access Foundation school (Seattle) * Vancouver Community Library (

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, WA) *

Open Window School Open Window School is an independent K-8 school for students who have been formally identified as intellectually gifted. Open Window School is located in Bellevue, Washington on top of Cougar Mountain, which is on the outer edge of the city acr ...

(Seattle)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hull, Robert Architects from Washington (state) 1945 births 2014 deaths Washington State University alumni Architects from Seattle