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RobertBonner about

Architecture and design has always been my passion. When I was a small child my parents started building a house in Issaquah and they would periodically take me there as it was being constructed. Over time I was able to see the construction process and then I ended up living in that completed house. I guess you could say this was the beginning of my interest in architecture. When I was around 10 years old my parents expressed a desire to move to Bellevue. One day, I happened to be visiting a friend there and noticed a great Lot for sale. I quickly rushed home and told my parents about it and then they went to take a look. They were equally impressed and ended up buying that Lot. My parents then decided to build their dream house there. My sister and I eagerly started drawing rough sketches of our new dream house based on what our parents described. Our parents then gave those sketches our architect. This was my first real encounter with architecture. It was also a great learning experience as the architect quickly pointed out that the garage I designed wasn’t big enough to accommodate a VW Bug. This was my first lesson in practicality. I quickly redesigned the garage and the architect noddingly approved it. Unfortunately, the architect wasn’t able to finish our drawings so I ended up doing the front elevations and other missing pieces for my parent’s new house. Through this process I became fascinated with architecture and design and it is something that I carry with me today. I still remember my first drafting board, t-square, Velumn and drafting pencils. I also had the opportunity to see up close and personal the construction of our new house. My parents later decided to move again and built a new house in Kirkland. Once again, I was able to witness first-hand the construction of the house and in particular the finishing details and design elements. Over the next 15-20 years, I gained scholarly and practical experience in architecture and design, I worked at multiple architectural companies and ultimately I opened my own architecture and design company. Over the last 8 years I have worked on a wide-variety of architectural projects ranging from residential to commercial to retail. But going back to my childhood experiences, residential architecture remains my true passion even though I am happy to work on other projects.I strongly believe that architecture should be aesthetically pleasing but also practical. And given my personal experience in home building and construction (I also remolded my current home) I feel that I have a balanced perspective on how to create designs and plans that not only look good on paper but also work from a construction standpoint. I continue to strive to learn more about architecture, design and construction and I look forward to working on new projects.
Experience

RobertBonner experience

Born in Renton WashingtonOverviewMr. Bonner has worked on numerous projects with wide-ranging uses. Several of these projects, Robert used multiple disciplines from his experience and knowledge as a Project Manager, Designer, Construction Documentation and Managing the Construcion to complete the essential assignment. He has worked on Airports, Multi-Family with Retail, a variety of high end Retail, Churches, Schools, Amusement Parks, Product Design, Rapid Transportation, Residential along with Managing the construction of several homes. He is proficient with Autodesk AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Bentley MicroStation, SketchUp, and Power Point. Project Specific ExperienceAirport Terminal, Medford International, Rouge Valley, Conceptual Design for competition: Assisted on designing the Medford Terminal building using the existing conditions of the site and creating new concepts for building a new terminal. Developed numerous design concepts for the terminal in Medford Oregon for the jury to review and decide. Responsibilities included meeting with superiors and designing exterior and interior concepts to coordinating for the competition with imagery using PhotoShop, ACAD, and Power Point. Multi-Family and Retail, Sedha Corp., Fremont, Seattle, Design for MUP:Created a unique design concept for a small lot that required a mixed-use building in the Fremont area of Seattle which has several unusual buildings in the area. The City of Seattle requires a design review board to examine the project before the Master-Use Permit is issued to insure high design, so that the Architecture will work with the neighborhood. Responsibilities include meeting with the clients and determining the direction that the building should go, meet with city planners to review the drawings, and drafting the project in CAD.Retail Clothing, Emma Gold, Melrose Boulevard, Beverly Hills, Concepts to CD’s: Mr. Bonner worked with talented designer Larry Totah of Beverly Hills, whom has been a mentor to Robert as he worked with Larry as a designer and as a project manager. Mr. Totah, designed Maxfields of Beverly Hills and Vidal Sassoon’s residence. Emma Gold was a remodel of an existing structure that was gutted completely to its structure. Responsibilities included site investigations, taking sketches and translating them into CAD, meetings with the clients, and submitting the CD’s for the city to approve, and revise accordingly. Check out this link to see what Robert's mentor had done for Vidal Sassoon's house: http://magazines.ivillage.com/housebeautiful/decorate/style/photo/0,13067,562060_562061,00.htmlChurch, Seattle Central Mission Church, Lynnwood, Concepts to CD’s: Robert created several distinctive conceptual designs for a Korean Pentecostal congregation that needed room for theirgrowing church. Significant religious events written in the Bible were used as an abstract design metaphor for the three main entrances into or within the church. The main entrance resembled Calvary hill as a tilt-up concrete angular panel which you would walk beside above the entry which was the churches library had structured glass in a cross formation. As you walked beside the “hill” you would then be compressed by the library’s concrete floor above and feel the weight that Christ bared. Coffee Retail, Starbucks Coffee Co., Khobar, Saudi Arabia, Concepts to CD’s:Designed a gender divided Coffee shop within a mall in Khobar that had a separate area for the men’s and women’s.As an admirer of Mies Van der Rohe, Robert used the Barcelona Pavilion, in Spain, as an inspiration for the space, but used his vertical wall plains as a horizontal element too for ceiling soffits. Mies would uses walls as divisions for views that would enable the viewer to only see so much of the space that was about to be experienced. Within the project the woman are separated from the main area, the woman’s space has frosted windows so that they cannot see out and passer by’s can’t see in, sits within a simple box. On the men’s side the complex design, an eroded box, uses a similar ideal of privacy by using divided walls that varies in length and height to respect the sense of what the woman may view but in an open space. Responsibilities included designing the concept, choosing the colors of the space, materials, artwork, cabinetry, and finalizing the drawing for construction.Product Design, Sushi Roku, Santa Monica Location, Beverly Hills, Beer label design, interior lighting,and post card: Innovative Dining Group of Beverly Hills had Mr. Bonner commissioned to design their “Red Sun” label for their specially brewed beer for Sushi Roku, which is distributed to their four locations. Sushi Roku is famous not only for their sushi, but also for the famous people that go there to eat their sushi. Sushi Roku’s team saw the designs for the beer label that Robert designed which was to be originally called Golden Buddha, he helped them by going with the Red Sun name going with their Zen like atmosphere which is still used to this day, going on 16 years. This interaction with the client also got him two more projects. One of the projects were the 6 (Roku)water light features in the middle of the Santa Monica location, where the water movement is reflected in the ceiling via the “glass light”. The second one was an invitation flyer for the Grand Opening for again, the Santa Monica location. Check out this link to see what Sushi Roku is about: http://www.sushiroku.com/roku_dsl/sushi.htm click on the menu link, under buzz to see the RED SUN label.Professional Societies/AffiliatesRenton Aviation Advisory Committee, memberRenton Planning Commission, Appointed member Renton Historical Board memberAPA Member, American Planning AssociationService Magic, Design Service ProfessionalAngie’s List, Client Recommended Design ProfessionalChronology4/08 – Present: Project Manager, RGBJR Design, Renton, WA11/07 – 4/08: Project CAD Manager, Microsoft, Redmond, WA10/04 – 11/07: Small Terminal Airport Designer, URS, Seattle, WA11/00 – 10/04: Project Manager, RGBJR Design, Renton, WA2/04 – 10/04: Auto CAD Design Technician, City of Bellevue, WA1/00 – 11/00: Job Captain, Starbucks Coffee Co., Seattle, WA10/97 – 12/99: Civil Engineering, Arca Engineering, Inc., Carson, CA8/96 – 9/97: Project Manager, Totah Design Studios, Beverly Hills, CA5/96 – 7/96: CAD Designer, McCoy & Assoc., Los Angeles, CA3/96 – 5/96: Architectural lighting and graphics, Sushi Roku, Beverly Hills, CA3/96 – 12/99: Project Manager, RGBJR Design, Burbank, CA2/95 – 3/96: Job Captain, LHA Architecture, Glendale, CA2/94 – 2/95: Head Model Maker, Wet Design, Universal City, CA
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