Evett Ruffcorn FAIA

The AIA College of Fellows honored Ev Ruffcorn FAIA with advancement in 1997, recognizing his achievements to advance the profession in design.  Over his decades of experience as a principal designer, he has applied the art of architecture with patience and tenacity to attain design excellence on a number of influential and award-winning buildings.

His colleague Robert Hull FAIA offered these observations of the work of Evett Ruffcorn:  "It is not very often that the public's and the profession's perceptions of good architecture coincide.  It is even rarer when that same architecture ranks as some of the best design work being done in the country.  Accomplishing this with projects that are institutional in nature -- a project type that usually has difficulty expressing its humanity -- makes this an even more rarefied achievement.  I am describing the [accomplishment] of Evett Ruffcorn.   Ev's work has successfully melded a strong sense of social purpose with objects of extreme beauty...  Social space is treated elegantly, and with dignity." 

In 1991, the firm he served as partner in charge of design for its Seattle office, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, received the coveted AIA Firm Award.   Ev and his partners at ZGF continued to produce work of acknowledged success throughout the Northwest, widely praised and extensively published.   In 2005, he founded the firm of ruffcorn mott hinthorne stine, and in 2008 joined NBBJ.  Later he established an independent practice.

In addition to his practice, Ev has taken an active role with the Seattle Architectural Foundation, serving as its President in 1999 and 2000 and advancing the Foundation's mission to build public appreciation of architecture and design in the Northwest.