AIA Los Angeles Celebrates Presidential Honorees

The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles announced a slate of individuals and projects honored with the prestigious 2020 Presidential Award. Michael B. Lehrer, who founded his eponymous Los Angeles-based firm in 1985, took the top honor as gold medal recipient. Also cited was the team responsible for the Santa Monica Services building, a ground-up, eco-conscious construction designed by Frederick Fisher and Partners to meet the standards of the Living Building Challenge. As such, it will be certified as a net-zero water and net-zero energy building.

Andre Herrero and Adam Charlap Hyman, founders of Charlap Hyman & Herrero, were given the emerging practice honor for their “spare, carefully considered spaces reinvigorating the midcentury modern aesthetic,” according to the citation. Angie Brooks, well known to Interior Design’s readers for Brooks + Scarpa’s award-winning buildings and sensitive housing solutions, took the citizen architect award for her advocacy as well as built work. R. Steven Lewis, a national voice speaking for greater opportunities for Black architects and people of color, was given the Robert Kennard award for equity, diversity, and inclusivity. Suitably, the community contribution award went to USC Architecture’s Operation PPE. The educator award, meanwhile, went to UCLA’s professor of architecture, urban planning, and urban design, Dana Cuff, who is also director of the university’s cityLAB.