Rick Mohler

Professor, Chair

Rick Mohler is Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture and Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design and Planning in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), recipient of the AIA Seattle Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and a Distinguished Professor of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (DPACSA).

For three decades, Rick divided his time equally between design studio teaching and professional practice. A decade ago, he chose to focus more fully on the interdisciplinary, community-engaged work central to the University of Washington’s mission. Addressing the intertwined crises of housing affordability and climate change, he leverages synergies among research, teaching, and advocacy to expand housing access at the local, regional, and national levels. His work builds bridges between the academy, profession, government, and community, positioning design as a catalyst for progressive policy change while preparing students to enter the messy fray of policymaking as citizen-architects with agency over their futures. As department chair, he extends this commitment beyond the classroom and studio to elevate the visibility and relevance of the Department and University within the broader community.

Rick’s community-engaged research has been recognized with a 2022 AIA Small Project Award, a 2022 Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) Place Design Award, and a 2019 Architect Magazine R+D Award, in addition to multiple regional honors. He disseminates this work through peer-reviewed papers, reports, action guides, policy briefs, and op-eds in regional and national media. Over the past seven years, he has presented his work more than twenty times at peer-reviewed national AIA and ACSA conferences as well as invited national and international venues, and he received the 2023 ACSA Best Paper Award.

Rick previously led the AIA Seattle Public Policy Board’s housing advocacy efforts, which were nationally recognized with a 2018 New Urban Agenda AIA Chapter Award. He also led the national AIA conversation addressing the social inequities of single-family zoning policy. As co-chair and commissioner of the Seattle Planning Commission, he co-authored and served as spokesperson for the widely recognized report Neighborhoods for All: Expanding Housing Opportunity in Seattle’s Single-Family Zones. He has been featured on PBS and NPR programs in the Pacific Northwest and Wisconsin, reaching millions of viewers and listeners.

Rick integrates policy engagement directly into design education. Through policy-focused, community-engaged studios, he exposes students to the policymaking process, demonstrates the power of design as a tool for progressive change, and empowers the next generation of citizen-architects. His studios have received the 2021 AIA/ACSA Housing Design Education Award and the 2023 Metropolis Magazine Planet Positive Award. His students’ work has received twenty-four regional, national, and international design awards, has been featured twenty-two times in regional and national publications and radio broadcasts, and fourteen projects have been exhibited at national AIA, ACSA, and Greenbuild conferences.

Through his own practice, collaborations with other firms, and independent projects—including pioneering work on Accessory Dwelling Units such as ADUniverse and involvement with Sound Communities and the Clean Hands Collective—Rick’s design work has been recognized thirty-seven times in local, regional, national, and international design awards programs. His pioneering work on Accessory Dwelling Units—including his own home—has received regional and national recognition through awards and publications.

Rick received a BA in Design of the Environment and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.