Presentation: Lawrence Scarpa

Brooks + Scarpa - Salty Urbanism

Exhibition on view November 11 – 21

Lawrence Scarpa will present on his latest book Salty Urbanism.

Salty Urbanism Brooks + Scarpa is an exhibition of research that examines the wicked problem of sea level rise and flooding in coastal cities. This is a critical concern since nearly half the U.S. population lives within 50 miles [80 km] of the coast and involves most major commercial, leisure, and import/export enterprises. Hence, much of the economic activity of the nation is tied to coastal communities. Various researchers have already noted impacts on coastal and island environments and most coastal communities are cognizant of the ongoing discussion about a threefold threat: sea level rise, the associated loss of soil storage capacity, and more intense storms overwhelming the current “stormwater” infrastructure. As a result of these environmental threats, critical infrastructure, both horizontal and vertical, is at immediate risk.

“Salty Urbanism” establishes an interdisciplinary team to develop a coupled research methodology and pedagogical approach that envisions and quantifies the experiential and ecological outcomes of alternative ways forward for the neighborhood in response to climate instability, disruption and rising sea levels. These outcomes consider an inevitable future of saturated landscapes and, as a result, integrate research models that accommodate a variety of best management practices (BMP), low impact development (LID), green infrastructure (GI), and other alternative concepts to be implemented over time in the neighborhood adaptation plan.

Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA
Principal, Brooks + Scarpa Architects

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.

In 2022 Mr. Scarpa received the National AIA Gold Medal, the institutes most prestigious honor. He is also the recipient of the ACSA Tau Sigma Delta Gold Medal and has received more than 200 major design awards including twenty-nine National AIA Awards, Architect Magazine’s Progressive Architecture and R+D awards, the HIVE 50 Innovator Award, National AIA Collaborative Achievement Award, AIA Los Angeles Chapter Gold Medal, Architect Magazine’s Top 50 Architecture Firms (ranked 2nd, 4th and 9th respectively), AIA California Council Lifetime Achievement Award, Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, Record Houses, Record Interiors, Rudy Bruner Prize, six AIA COTE “Top Ten Green Building” Awards and was a finalist for the World Habitat Award, one of ten firms selected worldwide. His work has been exhibited internationally including the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, MOCA Los Angeles, 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. His firm Brooks + Scarpa was awarded the National and State of California Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects.

He 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 the A+D Museum, Los Angeles, Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute and Livable Places, Inc.; a nonprofit development and public policy organization dedicated to building mixed-use housing and to help develop more sustainable and livable communities.

https://arch.usc.edu/events/presentation-lawrence-scarpa