Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa

Echoing contemporary sensibility for social and environmental issues, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) gave its Gold Medal to Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa for their commitment to “architecture that profoundly enriches the human experience and reveals the extraordinary in what is widely considered ordinary,” as well as to the relevance their work gives to “social responsibility and environmental stewardship that seeks to find ways to improve the livability of cities and ennoble the daily lives of its citizens.” Born in modest families of Florida Central, Brooks and Scarpa studied at their State university and later settled in California, where they founded their professional studio and took on their first commissions, until building the Los Angeles Community Design Center, a building to aid people in need, with which they became known. This project was followed by others like Colorado Court Apartments, the first zero-emissions building of this type in the United States, and which combines that “design excellence, social and environmental responsibility, and public service,” that the AIA has distinguished with its medal.