MOSES LAKE - An exhibit focusing on the works and life of the late Bob Hull, Seattle architect and Moses Lake native, opens Sept. 18 at the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center. The opening reception for "Investigation, Innovation and Influence: The Life and Work of Bob Hull" is scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 18 the museum, 401 South Balsam St.

The show is being produced by the Miller Hull Partnership, the Seattle firm founded by Hull and business partner David Miller, said museum director Freya Liggett. Admission is free.

Hull was the son of pioneers who homesteaded in Grant County, said his wife Beanne, who grew up in Moses Lake and graduated from Moses Lake High School. He did the things all Moses Lake kids did, participating in 4-H and showing animals at the Grant County Fair. Hull and some of his friends started a band in high school, his wife said. His sisters Nancy Nishida and Linda Hatch still live in Moses Lake, she said.

As a young man Hull joined the Peace Corps, Beanne Hull said, and went to Afghanistan. By the time he was 26 he had designed a public building in Afghanistan, and "he didn't even speak the language when he arrived," she said.

Hull worked in New York before moving to Seattle and opening his own firm, his wife said. As an architect he designed schools and community centers, a lot of public buildings, she said, museums and laboratories, which reflected his interest in science. "A very practical architect," she said. Among his local projects was the Moses Lake Civic Center and a visitor center at Grand Coulee Dam. His design was chosen for a project to enlarge the Moses Lake Public Library.

"He also loved doing cabins," she said. "Loved cabins." He designed houses, including some in Moses Lake. she said.

The exhibit will include architectural drawings and also some of his artworks, Beanne Hull said. "He was also an extremely prolific sketcher." Pictures of Hull's projects and his life will be part of the exhibit as well.

"The story of a very remarkable person," Beanne Hull said. "He died too young, but he packed two lifetimes into 68 years." The Hulls were married for 38 years.

The reception will include a wine-tasting, with the wine provided by Camas Cove Cellars.