Richard W. Hobbs FAIA

Richard W. Hobbs FAIA (BArch UW 1964, MSArch Columbia University 1967) has dedicated three decades of service as an advisor to the professional design community, providing vision and strategy for professional service firms and organizations.
He has more than 20 years of experience in private practice, including his early residential design work with Hobbs/Fukui in Seattle recognized by AIA Seattle Honor Awards, and published widely including several residences featured in Seattle Times/AIA Home of the Month articles.  Following his term as AIA Seattle President in 1985, he chaired "Celebrating Architectural Diversity," the 1985 Conference of the AIA Northwest Region, held in Vancouver BC.

Following his election to serve on the AIA national Board of Directors (1987-89) representing the AIA NW+Pacific Region, he went on to serve 10 years on the AIA national staff as Vice President for Professional Practice, and two years as AIA Resident Fellow for Marketplace Research.  In his national endeavors, he played key roles in the development of the AIA Continuing Education program, and prepared more than 100 articles in AIArchitect on the changing practice of architecture.

His colleagues describe Richard Hobbs as "a recognized and accomplished change agent" who "has [ridden] the leading edge of the redefinition/reinvention of the architectural profession in the US" and also "helped groups and individuals capture new value."  He has frequently spoken on marketplace trends and strategies for professionals, universities, and clients connected to the design community.

An adjunct associate professor at the University of Hawaii School of Architecture, Richard Hobbs helped establish and has taught in the University of Washington's Design Firm Leadership and Management program, and also served on the Washington State University Advisory Board, and taught courses.

In his private role as a strategic advisor, Richard has served as a consultant to numerous firms within the design community, and has advised management guru Tom Peters in his company's research on innovation in the professional service firm.

In 2002, he and his wife Lynne returned from Washington to the Roche Harbor home Richard Hobbs designed for the family in 1986.    Beginning in 2021, he served on the Board of AIA California Desert.

At the AIA Seattle 109th Birthday Party in August 2003, AIA President Gordon H. Chong FAIA presented Richard Hobbs with this AIA Presidential Citation, dated December 2002:

Presented to Richard W. Hobbs, FAIA, for daring to look over the horizon, and then report enthusiastically on what lies on the other side.  He has put down on paper with the ink of ideas a whole new vocabulary for professional practice, and, in so doing, has framed the scope of discussion and debate within a reinvigorated, outward looking profession as it expands the reach of its creative imagination and discovers new ways of being of ever-increasing service to society.

Publications:
* "Value Analysis is a Holistic Process," AIA Architect 8/01
* "Why Consider a New ARCHITECTURE?," AIA Architect  10/01
* "Refining a Redefinition Scenario," AIA Architect 3/02
* "Rethinking the Future of the Design Professions," Design Intelligence 12/02