In action at its December 2002 meeting, the AIA national Board of Directors selected The Miller|Hull Partnership, a Seattle-based firm, to receive the Architecture Firm Award for 2003.

See links to media reports below.
Up against the wall at AIA HQ (L-R): unidentified observer, AIA Seattle EVP Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA, 1st VP Kristen Scott AIA, President Rena Klein AIA, and Miller|Hull partner Norman Strong AIA (March 2003, Washington DC)

The AIA presents this award annually to a single firm, as the highest honor The American Institute of Architects can bestow on an architecture firm for consistently producing distinguished architecture. The Award recognizes a practice that has evidenced great depth and breadth, demonstrating a cumulative effect on the profession of architecture and influence on its direction. Further, it calls for evidence that the firm's work represents a product of a collaborative environment that has consistently directed itself toward the future while respecting the past, and of the firm's ability to transcend specific areas of expertise or to have made connections between areas; and finally, for the work of the firm to have become widely known by the quality of its products among and beyond architectural practitioners and educators.

Many of those in the regional design community have known and attested to the achievements of Miller|Hull, which recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding by Dave Miller FAIA and Bob Hull FAIA. A 2001 Princeton Architectural Press publication, Miller|Hull: Architects of the Pacific Northwest, by Sheri Olson FAIA, documents the firm's much-decorated work.

First given in 1962 to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the Firm Award has recognized only one other Northwest firm, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership, honored in 1991. AIA Vice President Bruce Blackmer FAIA, of AIA Spokane, successfully presented and supported Miller|Hull's nomination to the AIA Board of Directors. "In an era when buildings look the same worldwide," says Blackmer, "Miller|Hull has defined Pacific Northwest Regional Modernism in a way that inspires architects around the globe to respond to the unique characteristics of their own regions."

Miller|Hull will receive the accolades of local and national colleagues at an award presentation March 8, 2003 at the Accent on Architecture Gala of the American Architectural Foundation, at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC; and "back home" at the AIA Seattle Honors Gala June 7.

Media coverage:
* Architectural Record News 12/6: "Miller|Hull wins 2003 AIA Architecture Firm Award"
* Benjamin Forgey in The Washington Post 12/8: "No AIA medalist for 2003"
* AIArchitect 12/02: "Miller|Hull Partnership receives AIA 2003 Architecture Firm Award"
* Seattle P-I 12/10: "Seattle's own Miller|Hull receives architecture award"
* The Seattle Times 12/15: Elizabeth Rhodes reports: "Miller|Hull's woodsy, stylized designs define the region and win national acclaim"
* ArchitectureWeek 1/09: "Miller|Hull AIA Firm of the Year"
* AIArchitect 3/14: Accent on Architecture Celebrates 'the Age of Architecture'
* Puget Sound Business Journal 3/28: "Sturdy Foundations: Miller|Hull Partnership finds stability, recognition during soft economy"