Brooks + Scarpa (originally Pugh + Scarpa) is an American architectural firm based in Los Angeles, California, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa are the recipients of the 2022 American Institute of Architect Gold Medal, the institute's highest honor. The firm was also chosen as the 2014 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Award Winner in Architecture. In 2010 they were the recipient of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Firm Award. Los Angeles projects completed by the firm include the Solar Umbrella home in Venice, California, the Orange Grove lofts in West Hollywood and the Colorado housing project in Santa Monica.

History

Pugh + Scarpa was formed in Santa Monica in 1991 by architects Lawrence Scarpa FAIA and Gwynne Pugh AIA. In 1999 Scarpa's wife Angela Brooks FAIA became the third principal. The company grew to include 43 professionals by 2004, with offices in Los Angeles, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2010 Pugh left the firm to pursue his own design interests and the name was changed to 'Brooks + Scarpa' to reflect the current leadership under Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa. Brooks co-founded and served as President of Livable Places, a nonprofit development company created to stimulate neighborhood revitalization in Los Angeles. In 2015 Jeffrey Huber, FAIA joined the firm as principal and Director of Planning, Urban Design and Landscape. Huber manages the Ft. Lauderdale office.

Honors and awards

Scarpa and Brooks are the recipients of the 2022 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. As the institute's highest award, the Gold Medal honors an individual or pair whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture. In 2020 Brooks I received The Maybeck Award from the American Institute of Architects California. She is the first woman to receive the award. In 2018 Scarpa received the Gold Medal in Architecture from the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter. In 2014 Brooks + Scarpa was the recipient of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Award in Architecture. Other awards includes the 2005 Record Houses, 2003 Record Interiors, 2003 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2006 and 2003 AIA COTE “Top Ten Green Building” Award and they were a finalist for the World Habitat Award, one of ten people selected worldwide. In 2004 The Architectural League of New York selected Scarpa as an “Emerging Voice” in architecture. Their work has been exhibited at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, Museum of Contemporary Art(MOCA) and at numerous other venues worldwide. They have been Featured in NEWSWEEK and Scarpa appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2009 Interior Design Magazine honored them with their Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009, Angela Brooks received the USA Network "Character Approved" Award. In 2010, the firm received the National and State of California AIA Firm Award, for 19 years of "consistent excellent work, including its seamless lending of architecture, art, and craft." Co-principals Brooks and Huber are National AIA Young Architects Award awardees (Brooks 2009, Huber 2017). Brooks is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Brooks is the recipient of the 2020 National and State of California Citizen Architect award and the 2020 State of California's American Institute of Architects "Maybeck Award" for her lifetime body of work. Brooks is also the 2010 recipient of the “Character Approved” Award by USA Network for her “unparalleled ability to marry aesthetics, affordability and sustainability in the built environment”.

Sustainability

Known as a leaders in the field of sustainable design, their Solar umbrella house in Venice, California (the home of Scarpa and Brooks) has been named by the AIA as one of the Top Ten Green Projects. Their project Colorado Court in Santa Monica was the first Multi-family housing project in the US to be LEED certified. Colorado Court, the Solar Umbrella House and their Step Up on 2nd building (housing for mentally disabled homeless residents) are the only projects in the history of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to win a National AIA Design Award, an AIA "COTE" Committee on the Environment "Top Ten Green Building" Award and a National AIA special interest award for a single project. No other firm in the history of the American Institute of Architects has ever achieved this triple award. In 2018 they won the $4.5 mil Housing Innovation Challenge Grant for scalable, sustainable solutions to affordable housing. Brooks + Scarpa has also been celebrated, receiving numerous awards for their work pertaining to climate change and sea level rise adaptation in coastal communities.

Schedule and budgets

The firm has completed National AIA award-winning office projects Hollywood people in the entertainment industry Some of the work included projects for Danny DeVito, Jennifer Lopez, Jerry Bruckheimer and Marshall Herskovitz. Work for Reactor Films, Jigsaw, CoOP and XAP Corporation were noted for their design, speed of construction and short completion time. Brooks + Scarpa gained a reputation for delivering award-winning designs within limited budgets and time constraints.

Significant works