In-Process is a lecture series presented by AIA Oregon exploring the creative process of local architects, designers, makers, and creators. This is an opportunity for us to see beyond the finished work and explore the methodology, conceptual thinking, design tools, and the iterative process that went into it.

In this lecture we will be hearing from Alan Jones, founding Principal of Jones Architecture and Robb Rathe, founder and President of Steelab. Robb and Alan will each give a 20-minute presentation, followed by a 20 minute Q&A discussion.

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Alan Jones, AIA
Jones Architecture

As the founding principal of Jones Architecture, Alan guides the creative design process and focuses on client relationship cultivation and staff mentorship. He is known for his ability to align himself with his client’s tangible and intangible goals for their projects. His work reflects his finely developed design sensibilities, high level of technical skill, and breadth of construction experience. Alan recognizes that a project’s success is determined by the strength of the fundamental idea behind it, the quality of the team’s rapport, and a mutually understood and shared goal.

Alan has been practicing architecture for 25 years. He is a native of Lakeland, MI and grew up working in his family’s fine millwork business in Ypsilanti. This early exposure to the craft of building and design inspired his pursuit of an architecture degree at the University of Michigan. He started practicing in Ann Arbor, then moved to Seattle, where he worked on complex residential projects throughout the Pacific Northwest.

He moved to Portland in 2001. He has worked on a diverse range of project types including fine single-family homes, multi-family housing, urban mixed-use in-fill development, adaptive reuse projects, student housing, offices, banks, and corporate headquarters. His collaborative approach to projects has made him particularly adept at shepherding projects through complex jurisdictional processes.

Now a permanent resident of the Pacific Northwest, Alan understands and appreciates the geographic and climatic forces that shape the region and the people who define its unique character. These elements continue to inspire his work at Jones Architecture.

Robb Rathe
Steelab

As founder and President of Steelab, Robb focuses on the process of connecting the conceptual phases of a client’s design intent to the real-world possibilities of a built environment or product, and then utilizing his team to make that concept a reality. His lifelong passion for all things designed, engineered, constructed, and manufactured has guided Steelab through projects ranging from bicycle parts and furniture to entire retail and architectural buildouts. He believes the most successful projects require a desire of all those involved to have a passion for the creative journey, a respect for budget & timelines, and a knowledge of technical limitations and possibilities.

Robb is a native of Omaha, NE where he grew up helping his mother and father remodel houses, landscape yards, spray-paint bad 80’s wicker furniture and build bike ramps from scrap plywood. His college years were spent working long hours in machine shops, running live music venues, building custom furniture and bicycle frames and interning for the Army Corps of Engineers. He went on to complete the Manufacturing Engineering program at the University of Nebraska before moving to Portland in 1998.

Robb worked as a design engineer for a Portland based retail-design agency from 1998-2005, focusing on entire store buildouts for Portland’s sportswear companies as well as major fashion brands in New York. He founded Steelab,llc in 2005 to better focus on projects where he was able to inform the design process through technical knowledge and experience, and then carry that project through in-house production and installation. After 15+ years and now with 30 employees, that remains Steelab’s intent.

Robb lives in Portland with his wife Erin and two sons, 10 and 12. Their family spends their free time at Mt Hood and the Oregon coast, cycling, skiing, and building bike ramps from scrap plywood.

Digital Design Series - In-Process