Hacker is an architecture and interior design studio united by a call to create meaningful spaces that enrich the world—spaces that make us feel more connected to the landscape, each other and ourselves.


Hacker's commitment to equity

 

Founder

Thomas Hacker, Founder

 

Thom Hacker

November 4, 1941 - February 27, 2023

The work of Thomas Hacker is rooted in a history that reaches back through the Philadelphia school of the 1960s to the nineteenth-century French rationalists, and beyond them to the Renaissance, the Gothic, and ultimately to Roman classicism. Thom had the good fortune to arrive at the University of Pennsylvania in 1960, at a time when that school was helping to reinterpret architectural thought in America.

In this environment, Thom was exposed to profound architectural and philosophical ideas that have influenced his work over the past thirty years. While at Penn, Thom was recruited by Louis Kahn to work in his office, first as a young draftsman and later as a design assistant to Mr. Kahn.

Kahn recognized in this young architect a rare gift of both mental and visual acuity, and Thom was able to work on the design of several projects that have become icons of twentieth-century American architecture, among them the Capitol Building in Dacca, Bangladesh and the great Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

Thom left Kahn's office to teach at the University of Oregon, where for fourteen years he guided students with his clear ability to communicate, draw, and most importantly to inspire them with lessons he learned both in Philadelphia and from his work in Oregon. One of the issues that became of primary importance for him was the specific character of the Pacific Northwest region; not just its unique natural beauty, but its striking indigenous vernacular architecture: buildings of simple gabled forms, made of natural wood with deep overhangs. These elements were immediately incorporated into his design work, as he assimilated the sense of the region together with the ideas of the Philadelphia school.

Thom founded the firm now named Hacker in 1983. In 1986, the firm’s winning entry for the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tempe gave name recognition to this tiny studio, followed closely by being selected to design the High Desert Museum’s first set of buildings on their current site. The High Desert Museum remains one of the firm’s most cherished clients to this day.

Though the firm has grown and evolved many times over since its establishment in 1983, we remain true to our foundational principles — relentlessly pursuing design excellence and deeply embracing social and environmental progressivism.

 

In the late 1970’s, Thom designed and built a house for himself and his wife, Margaret, employing his family members and students as builders. The house is located in Eugene, Oregon where Thom was a professor at the University of Oregon.

The firm's first commissioned project was a winning design for the Arizona Historical Society Museum design competition.

 

The Biomedical Information Computer Center was the first computerized library of its kind for Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). The project was a turning point in the firm’s growth from a four-person office to a larger design studio.