Samuel Ratensky Memorial Lecture: Angela Brooks & Lawrence Scarpa

The annual Samuel Ratensky Memorial Lecture was initiated by the AIANY Housing Committee in honor of Samuel Ratensky (1910-1972), an architect and NYC housing official who was responsible for major housing initiatives in the city from 1946 to 1972, and who served as a mentor to many architects who worked in his programs. The lecture series honors individuals who, like Ratensky, have made significant lifetime contribution to the advancement of housing and community design.

This year, the AIANY Housing Committee will be honoring Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa of Brooks + Scarpa, recipients of the 2022 AIA Gold Medal “for their “pioneering brand of architecture that profoundly enriches the human experience.”  The speakers will discuss their careers at the intersection of policy, design, and social responsibility, and how they push convention to address issues surrounding housing and homelessness and create profound impact on the practice of architecture.

Brooks + Scarpa is a multi-disciplinary practice that includes architecture, landscape architecture, planning, environmental design, materials research, graphic design, furniture desgin, and interior design services to produce innovative, sustainable iconic buildings and urban environments. With more than one hundred significant national and international awards and thousands of publications, awards conferred on the firm include the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, AIA National and AIA California Firm Awards, the Lifetime Achievement Award from AIA California Council and Interior Design Magazine, Architectural Record Houses, Architectural Record Interiors, the World Habitat Award, and the Rudy Brunner Prize.

Speakers:
Angela Brooks, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, ENV SP, Principal, Brooks + Scarpa Architects
Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA, Principal, Brooks + Scarpa Architects

About the Speakers:
Angela Brooks is a recognized leader in the field of environmental and social-equity design and is responsible for her firm’s development in the area of housing and policy, leading initiatives and overall design staff management. Brooks believes that it is not enough to create great buildings and has worked to create complete neighborhoods, co-founding the non-profit Livable Places, Inc. to promote good policy, density, and livable communities and lecturing extensively on these topics. Brooks served as 2018 Chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE), developing programs and advocating for policy changes at the federal level to promote design that achieves high levels of performance. In 2020, she received the AIA National and Local Citizen Architect Award and the AIA State of California Maybeck Award (the first woman ever to do so) for exemplary achievement in architectural design and for her advocacy work on issues that extend beyond buildings. In 2009, she received the AIA Young Architect Award and in 2010 she received the USA Network Character Approved Award for her innovative work in the field of architecture.

Lawrence Scarpa has garnered international acclaim for the creative use of conventional materials in unique and unexpected ways. He is also considered a pioneer and leader in the field of sustainable design. Scarpa’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the National Building Museum, MOCA Los Angeles, the A+D Museum, and the Smithsonian Museum. He has been featured in Newsweek and he has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show with Leonardo Di Caprio. In addition, Interior Design Magazine honored him with their Lifetime Achievement Award. Scarpa is currently on the faculty at the University of Southern California and has taught and lectured at the university level for more than two decades. Some of those institutions include Harvard University, UCLA, SCI-arc, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of Southern California, and the University of California at Berkeley. He is a co-founder of Livable Places, Inc., a nonprofit development and public policy organization dedicated to building mixed-use housing on under-utilized and problematic parcels of land. Most recently he co-founded the Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute (AHDLI) to help develop more sustainable and livable communities.

This event is offered in person; COVID-19 vaccinations and face masks are strongly encouraged for all visitors. Read our full Health and Safety Protocol here.