Principal
The work of Lawrence Scarpa, and the firm which he founded together with Gwynne Pugh in 1991, Pugh + Scarpa, has redefined the role of the architect to produce some of the most remarkable and exploratory work today. They do this, not by escaping the restrictions of practice, but by looking, questioning and reworking the very process of design and building. Each project appears as an opportunity to rethink the way things normally get done – with material, form, construction, even financing – and to subsequently redefine it to cull out to latent potentials – as Lawrence aptly describes: making the “ordinary extraordinary.” This produces entirely inventive work; work that is quite difficult to categorize. It is environmentally sustainable, but not ‘sustainable design;’ it employs new materials, digital practices and technologies, but is not ‘tech or digital;’ it is socially and community conscious, but not politically correct. Rather, it is deeply rooted in conditions of the everyday, and works with our perception and preconceptions to allow us to see things in new ways.
Over the last seven years Mr. Scarpa’s firm Pugh + Scarpa has received forty-two major design awards including eleven National AIA Awards, 2005 Record Houses, 2003 Record Interiors, 2003 Rudy Bruner Prize, 2006 and 2003 AIA COTE “Top Ten Green Building” Award and was a finalist for the World Habitat Award, one of ten firms selected worldwide. In 2004 The Architectural League of New York selected him as an “Emerging Voice” in architecture. His work was recently exhibited at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.
He has taught and lectured at the university level at numerous schools including UCLA, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Florida, Mississippi State University and SCI-arc. He was the 2007 Eliel Saarinen Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, 2005 Max Fisher Visiting Professor at Taubman College of Architecture at the University of Michigan, 2004 Friedman Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley.
Registration and Professional Affiliations
NCARB Certified
Registered Architect, California C21812, 1989
Registered Architect, North Carolina 8534, 2000
Registered Architect, Florida, AR 00132227, 1988
Advisory Board Member, Woodbury University School of Architecture, 2008 - present
2007 Monterey Design Conference, Organizing Committee Member
GSA Peer Review Committee, General Services Administration, 2004 - present
American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter, Board of Directors, 2002-2004
Society of Architectural Historians, Life Member
Green Sandwich Technologies, Advisory Board, 2003 - present
The National Association of Educators, 1990-1999
Southern California Association of Non Profit Housing, 1991-2001
Livable Places, Inc., Board of Directors (Co-Founder), 2000 - 2008
A+D Museum, Los Angeles, Co-Founder 2003
LA Architect Magazine, Editorial Board, 2000 – 2004
CityWorks, Advisory Board of Directors, 2003 – 2007
Academic Positions
2008 Ruth and James Moore Visiting Professor, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
2007 Eliel Saarinen Visiting Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2006 Visiting Professor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, NC
2005 Max Fisher Visiting Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2004 Friedman Professor in Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, CA
2002 Visiting Studio Faculty, Woodbury University, Burbank, CA
2000 Visiting Adjunct Faculty, Otis College, Los Angeles, CA
1998 Visiting Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
1992-96 Adjunct Graduate Faculty Member, SCI-Arc, Los Angeles, CA
1991 Visiting Professor, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS
1986 Adjunct Faculty Member, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
1985 Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Education
Bachelor of Design, 1981
University of Florida
Master of Architecture, 1987
University of Florida
