050: Angela Brooks: An Architect's Impact on Policy, Sustainability, and Community

Jan 13

On today’s episode we interview Angela Brooks. As managing principal at Brooks + Scarpa, Angie is responsible for growth in the firm’s housing and policy sectors, leading the firm’s sustainable initiatives, and overall firm management.

Angie Brooks was the first woman ever to receive the Maybeck Award in 2021. She was also awarded the AIA Young Architects Award in 2009. Her firm won the 2022 AIA Gold Medal, 20+ National AIA Awards, the State of California and National AIA Architecture Firm of the Year Award in 2010 and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture in 2014. Angie was also a co-founder and past President of Livable Places, Inc., a non-profit development company dedicated to building sustainable mixed-use housing in the city of Los Angeles.

We talk about:

- How Angie Brooks’ early career in community planning, zoning codes, and nonprofit development set the foundation for her current focus in architecture. She shares an anecdote about her bold job application strategy after grad school.

- We discuss how architects can influence policy and development, highlighting Brooks + Scarpa’s leadership with Livable Places, the Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute, and LA’s Small Lot Ordinance.

- Angie next shares insights into affordable housing. We cover funding and budgets, energy efficiency and sustainability, design theories, user outreach, and the awards that recognize Brooks + Scarpa’s outstanding work.

- Later, we unpack the complexities of getting affordable housing projects approved and Angie explains the realities of NIMBYism and BANANAS (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything).

- The episode wraps up with a look at the partnership of Angie Brooks and Larry Scarpa and the significance of receiving the AIA Gold Medal as a team.

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Links:

Brooks + Scarpa Website: ⁠www.brooksscarpa.com⁠

Instagram: ⁠@brooks_scarpa ⁠

Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/brooksscarpa/⁠

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