Former faculty members Denise Scott Brown (MCP'60 and MArch'65), Hon. FAIA, and Robert Venturi, FAIA, have been awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal for their scholarly writings and built work, which inspired a generation of architects. The partners in work and life have numerous ties to PennDesign.
Scott Brown and Venturi began their teaching careers at Penn and met at a meeting of the faculty in 1960. The Architectural Archives at Penn holds the Venturi, Scott Brown Collection, which is the primary repository for materials related to their professional work. In addition, Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates completed preservation work on the landmark Furness building, which now houses the Fisher Fine Arts Library and Kleinman Center for Energey Policy, on Penn's campus. Among other projects at Penn, they worked on the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories, the Clinical Research Building, and the Pereleman Quandrangle. In the Perelman project, they deftly renovated and altered five existing buildings to create a new student center.
According to the AIA's announcement, Scott Brown and Venturi "have long enhanced the popular appreciation of architecture, with their whimsical forms that play off historical precedents and their writing in support of everyday building types that might otherwise be disregarded." The announcement continues, "Scott Brown’s 1972 book Learning from Las Vegas (with Steven Izenour) remain more than required reading for every architecture student. They are touchstones for three generations of architects in thinking critically and designing thoughtfully."
Acquired by Penn's Architectural Archives in 2006, the collection contains extensive documentation related to architectural and planning projects, writings and teaching materials, and is open to the public for research.
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