Denise Scott Brown, Hon. FAIA, and Robert Venturi, FAIA, were announced the winners of the 2016 AIA Gold Medal Award.
The award, voted on by the AIA’s Board of Directors, is the highest award the association can offer to an architect, and it “acknowledges a significant body of work that has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture,” according to a statement.
Scott Brown and Venturi, a team that has been married since 1967, have influenced up-and-coming architects over the years through their built work and writings.
Some notable projects that their firm, VSBA Architects and Planners, have worked on are the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, the The Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London, the Provincial Capital Building in Toulouse, France, the Seattle Art Museum, and buildings for several universities, including Brown, Ohio State, and Yale.
Venturi wrote the book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture in 1966, and worked with Scott Brown and architect Steven Izenour on Learning from Las Vegas in 1972. The pair also wrote Architecture as Signs and Systems: for a Mannerist Time in 2004.
“This recognition will resonate with generations of architects,” 2015 AIA President Elizabeth Chu Richter, FAIA, said in a statement. “What Denise and Bob have done for the profession far exceeds the completion of a great building or two. Through a lifetime of inseparable collaboration, they changed the way we look at buildings and cities. Anything that is great in architecture today has been influenced in one way or another by their work."
The duo has won 17 state and local AIA awards and nine national AIA awards. In 1991, Venturi won the Pritzker Architecture Prize but Scott Brown was excluded; they sought to have Scott Brown honored retroactively in 2013. They will receive the 2016 Gold Medal at the AIA convention in Philadelphia in May.
Related Stories
Regulations | Oct 4, 2023
New York adopts emissions limits on concrete
New York State recently adopted emissions limits on concrete used for state-funded public building and transportation projects. It is the first state initiative in the U.S. to enact concrete emissions limits on projects undertaken by all agencies, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
Architects | Oct 4, 2023
Architects and contractors underestimate cyberattack risk
Design and construction industry firms underestimate their vulnerability to cyberattacks, according to a new report, Data Resilience in Design and Construction: How Digital Discipline Builds Stronger Firms by Dodge Construction Network and content security and management company Egnyte.
Luxury Residential | Oct 2, 2023
Chicago's Belden-Stratford luxury apartments gets centennial facelift
The Belden-Stratford has reopened its doors following a renovation that blends the 100-year-old building’s original architecture with modern residences.
Giants 400 | Oct 2, 2023
Top 30 Data Center Architecture Firms for 2023
Corgan, HDR, Gensler, Page Southerland Page, and HED top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest data center sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Market Data | Oct 2, 2023
Nonresidential construction spending rises 0.4% in August 2023, led by manufacturing and public works sectors
National nonresidential construction spending increased 0.4% in August, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.09 trillion.
K-12 Schools | Oct 2, 2023
4 design strategies for successful K-12 magnet schools
Clark Nexsen's Donna Francis, AIA, Principal, and Becky Brady, AIA, share four reasons why diverse K-12 magnet schools require diverse design.
Architects | Sep 28, 2023
Nashville architecture firm ESa adds 14 principals
ESa has announced that 14 new principals have been added to the firm’s leadership. “As ESa continues to grow, we are excited to celebrate our newest ESa principals. These individuals embody the characteristics of a quality leader and have shown great leadership in client and team member relationships, project management and mentoring roles,” said Kevin Harney, ESa vice president and principal.
Construction Costs | Sep 28, 2023
U.S. construction market moves toward building material price stabilization
The newly released Quarterly Construction Cost Insights Report for Q3 2023 from Gordian reveals material costs remain high compared to prior years, but there is a move towards price stabilization for building and construction materials after years of significant fluctuations. In this report, top industry experts from Gordian, as well as from Gilbane, McCarthy Building Companies, and DPR Construction weigh in on the overall trends seen for construction material costs, and offer innovative solutions to navigate this terrain.
University Buildings | Sep 27, 2023
Top 170 University Building Architecture Firms for 2023
Gensler, CannonDesign, Page Southerland Page, SmithGroup, and Ayers Saint Gross top the ranking of the nation's largest university sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Affordable Housing | Sep 25, 2023
3 affordable housing projects that serve as social catalysts
Trish Donnally, Associate Principal, Perkins Eastman, shares insights from three transformative affordable housing projects.
