I Am AIA:

Rick Mohler AIA

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Rick Mohler, AIA is a principal of Mohler + Ghillino Architects and an Associate Professor of Architecture at UW where he teaches design and serves as the Graduate Program Coordinator. He is a founding co-chair of the Seattle AIA Future Shack Program, a member of the AIA Seattle Public Policy Board and a 2016 Affiliate Fellow of the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington.

What is the value of AIA to you?

I find value in the AIA Seattle chapter more than AIA national. I especially appreciate AIA Seattle’s strength in advocacy and that’s what keeps me involved.

What project are you working on now?

A pretty cool furniture workshop and showroom that will ideally be net-zero (or nearly so) and constructed of cross laminated timber. We’ll see.

How do you explain what you do for a living?

I usually don’t have to since most people seem to have some idea of what architects do. In fact, many say they wanted to be an architect at some point in their lives.

What inspired you today?

Seeing a connection between a proposal in today’s Public Policy Board meeting, a research fellowship I’m engaged in and a design studio I hope to teach next year.

Has your career taken you anywhere you didn’t expect?

I didn’t expect teaching and research to play as large a role in my career as it has.

Where is the field of architecture, engineering or construction headed?

My hope is that architecture will continue to expand beyond the building scale and more fully engage other disciplines.

Can design save the world?

No, but it can help. Policy has a much greater impact than design at the global scale but good design can advance good policy… and bad design can tank it. The inverse is true as well.