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
Multifamily Housing | Jan 20, 2021
Abandoned Miami hospital gets third life as waterfront condo development
The 1920s King Cole Hotel becomes the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami in the largest residential adaptive reuse project in South Florida.
Market Data | Jan 19, 2021
2021 construction forecast: Nonresidential building spending will drop 5.7%, bounce back in 2022
Healthcare and public safety are the only nonresidential construction sectors that will see growth in spending in 2021, according to AIA's 2021 Consensus Construction Forecast.
Multifamily Housing | Jan 14, 2021
The Weekly show, Jan 14, 2021: Passive House innovations, and launching a design studio during the pandemic
This week on The Weekly show, BD+C editors speak with AEC industry leaders about innovations in Passive House design, and the challenges of building a design team and opening a new design studio during a pandemic.
Multifamily Housing | Jan 8, 2021
Student housing development in the time of COVID-19
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, many college and university residences were completed in time for classes, live or virtual. Here are 14 of the best.
Contractors | Jan 7, 2021
The Weekly show, Jan 7, 2021: Preconstruction boot camp, and leadership strategies for navigating a challenging market
The January 7 episode of BD+C's The Weekly is available for viewing on demand.
Architects | Jan 5, 2021
Ware Malcomb finds itself in the mix for multiple diverse projects
Its latest completion is an office/factory/warehouse combo for one of Marvin Window’s brands.
Architects | Jan 4, 2021
Moody Nolan receives 2021 AIA Architecture Firm Award
Founded by Curt Moody, FAIA, NOMA, and the late engineer Howard E. Nolan, the firm’s work is centered on the belief that diverse perspectives foster creativity and more responsive solutions.
AEC Tech | Dec 17, 2020
The Weekly show: The future of eSports facilities, meet the National Institute for AI in Construction
The December 17 episode of BD+C's The Weekly is available for viewing on demand.
Multifamily Housing | Dec 16, 2020
What the Biden Administration means for multifamily construction
What can the multifamily real estate sector expect from Biden and Company? At the risk of having egg, if not a whole omelet, on my face, let me take a shot.
Giants 400 | Dec 16, 2020
Download a PDF of all 2020 Giants 400 Rankings
This 70-page PDF features AEC firm rankings across 51 building sectors, disciplines, and specialty services.