Archinect - News

Brooks + Scarpa completes vibrant park pavilion and sport complex in South Florida

2024-01-29T17:44:00-05:00

Brooks + Scarpa has shared photos of its recently completed design for the Youth Sports Complex in Pompano Beach, Florida.

The concept of the 10-acre project centers around The Field House, an enclosed 4,100-square-foot pavilion structure at the center of the park. Approached from the north elevation at Northeast 10th Street, visitors will be able to clearly view the signage that's encased in its yellow-painted metal lattice screens.

Image courtesy Brooks + Scarpa

Simple, cost-efficient board-formed concrete walls create the structure’s “playful and sculptural” outer facade. A wraparound porch is then formed inside the shell, capped by a sloping roofline that funnels water from its scupper into the aquifer of the rain garden below.

Image courtesy Brooks + Scarpa

Inside the porch of the pavilion, high-speed ceiling fans of varying heights that keep the space 20 degrees cooler are painted blue in contrast to the raw concrete ...

In BRUTAL DC, Brooks + Scarpa proposes adaptive reuse of Marcel Breuer's landmark 1968 design

2023-10-25T13:49:00-04:00

Brooks + Scarpa has proposed an adaptive reuse renovation of the Marcel Breuer-designed Robert C. Weaver Federal Building in Washington, D.C. in an effort to address the chronic issue of empty office space plaguing the city’s economic growth and downtown core.

The proposal is included in a new exhibition at the Southern Utah Museum of Art that examines Brutalism’s past and future potential through seven key structures and Metro station designs. The exhibition includes Diller Scofidio + Renfro's scrapped 'Bubble' reimagining of the Hirshhorn Museum and other schemes from Gensler and students from the UNLV School of Architecture.

Image courtesy Brooks + Scarpa

The inclusion of the 55-year-old Weaver Building is significant as it is the headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which wants to position itself in line with industry pushes to build a “just and equitable future for all citizens.”

Image courtesy Brooks + Scarpa

After the p...

Five unique geometries by Brooks + Scarpa: Your Next Employer?

2023-09-11T17:56:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based Marmol Radziner, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Hawthorne, CA this week to explore the work of Brooks + Scarpa.

Founded in 1991, and with offices in California and Florida, the firm has built a portfolio “with an extremely rigorous and exacting methodology, incorporating cross-discipline research and digital technologies.” A frequent fixture across our architectural news coverage, the firm was most recently named among three finalists selected to redesign I.M. Pei’s dormitory complex at the New College of Florida.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a BIM and AI Integration Manager to join their Hawthorne office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up five unique projects by Brooks + Scarpa that demonstrate their design ethos.

Southern Utah Art Museum. Image credit: Alan Blakely

Southern Utah Art...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot selects affordable housing design for city's West Side

2023-04-06T09:00:00-04:00

A $47.2 million apartment building with 100% affordable units will be built next to a Green Line stop in East Garfield Park, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday. Her administration selected the winner from three development proposals submitted for the site at 132 N. Kedzie Ave. The nearly half-acre property at the southwest corner of Kedzie and Lake street has been city-owned since the 1990s.

The development, called Hub 32, will span 78,000 square feet, stand seven stories tall, and include 63 units. It will offer apartments with rents affordable to those earning up to 60% of the area’s median income. The winning proposal was designed by Brooks + Scarpa and Studio Dwell. The site will also include ground-floor retail space, 16 exterior parking spots, and a public plaza for outdoor dining and gathering. The investors of the project include the Michaels Organization, KMW Communities, and TruDelta Real Estate. The group will be eligible for assistance from the city, including subsidies.

In 2022, the city’s planning department invited proposals for the site and received more than 30 responses. These were narrowed down to three. Outgoing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot celebrated the proposal’s inclusion of design features and amenities that reflect the desires of the community. She’s confident it will work to revitalize the surrounding area as an affordable, transit-oriented s...

Brooks + Scarpa reveals Westside LA transitional housing project inspired by Irving Gill

2022-10-24T14:38:00-04:00

Brooks + Scarpa has released images of their recently-completed Rose Apartments complex, a community housing initiative for formerly homeless teenage youths transitioning into adulthood in Venice, Los Angeles.

The 20,900-square-foot, four-story design includes some 35 units of highly affordable residences for young adults who are at risk for homelessness after being separated from the state-administered system at the age of 18.

Image courtesy Brooks + Scarpa

Located nearby Venice Beach's central retail strip, the scheme takes its cues from Irving Gill’s neighboring Horatio West Court apartments and other examples of courtyard housing that predominated the city in the years prior to the Second World War.

Image courtesy Brooks + Scarpa

Per the architects: “The courtyard is only one aspect of a successful design. By including affordable housing for transitional aged youths, it allowed the non-developer to take advantage of California State Assembly Bill AB7...

MASS Design Group wins AIA Firm Award, Gold Medal goes to Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa

2021-12-09T15:04:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects has today announced two of its major awards, with the 2022 Gold Medal going to Brooks + Scarpa founders Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa, and the annual Firm Award being given to Boston-based MASS Design Group.

The latter was awarded for their years-long commitment to social causes which began with a 2008 project in Rwanda. Since then, the firm has grown to include more than 200 different creative staffers in addition to offshoots like MASS.Made and MASS.Build that have engendered a host of design and developmental projects in addition to superlative buildings like the traveling Gun Violence Memorial project and the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice by MASS Design Group. Image: Equal Justice Initiative.

In its announcement, the AIA commended MASS Design for “[leveraging] the lessons it learned in Rwanda to shape a framework that allows the firm to inform policy develop...

Brooks + Scarpa to design Mennello Museum of American Art expansion

2019-10-15T14:01:00-04:00

Brooks + Scarpa gave a first glimpse of their commissioned design to expand Orlando's Mennello Museum of American Art. Collaborating with locally based KMF Architects, Brooks + Scarpa will add 40,000 square feet to transform the current 12,000 square-foot building into a more inclusive, welcoming space.

The $20 million expansion will allow the museum to add more public programs, amenities, and multi-functional event spaces to better serve their growing number of visitors.

Image courtesy of Brooks + Scarpa.

Lawrence Scarpa describes their vision as “futuristic and timeless. The design mirrors the objective of the artwork inside: It tells a story and furthers the Museum’s mission to be a place of education, culture, and inspiration. [...] The building is organized as a series of highly engaging spaces where the Museum’s mission of using art to connect people to the world around them c...

Brooks + Scarpa and Plant Prefab debut adaptable prefab apartment model

2019-10-05T09:00:00-04:00

Los Angeles-based architects Brooks + Scarpa and factory home builder Plant Prefab have partnered on a new line of adaptable apartment modules that aim to provide streamlined responses for creating much-needed high-density in Los Angeles.

View of unit types for the Blue Jay model. Image courtesy of Plant Prefab.

The kit-of-parts-style Nest LivingHome toolkit is a research-led design paradigm crafted to fit into Los Angeles's average residential parcels. Dimensions for the prototypes correspond to the buildable areas of L.A.'s standard-sized 50-foot-by-150-foot residential lots, for example. Meanwhile, the architects have designed a series of potential unit plans that vary between rapid-rehousing, single-room occupancy (SRO), and conventional multi-family configurations.

The team's Blue Jay configuration, for example, presents a spare 11-foot, 4-inch-wide room that's 28-feet-deep and can be laid out as a one-bedroom unit or in various multi-bed shelter designs. The Dove line groups ...

Brooks + Scarpa's LA Flower Market redevelopment takes a step forward

2019-08-21T09:00:00-04:00

Designed by Brooks + Scarpa, the redevelopment would entail the renovation of site’s northern building and demolition of the southern building. That would make room for a new 15-story building with 323 residential units—32 of them reserved for moderate-income families—plus about 64,000 square feet of office space, 64,000 square feet of wholesale space, and roughly 10,000 square feet of event space.

The city planning commission is now backing the planned redevelopment of the Southern California Flower Market in Downtown Los Angeles. "The materials and colors of the structures are intended to mimic the bright colors of flowers," Curbed reports.

Brooks + Scarpa completes bright yellow campus building for South Los Angeles high school

2018-05-31T16:47:00-04:00

Clad in a vivid yellow aluminum facade that perfectly complements L.A.'s typically sunny blue skies, Animo South Los Angeles High School's newest building signals a fresh start. After a massive fire in 2014 destroyed half of the campus, which has been around since the 1950s, locally based architecture firm Brooks + Scarpa took on the task of designing a new building for the school.

The public charter high school is known for its collaborative curriculum and strong connections to the surrounding community in South Central L.A. Located in a historically troubled area that was also a central spot in the 1964 Watts and 1992 Rodney King Riots, the new building has a visually open but secure design for the school's 630 students and faculty, the architects describe.

Photo: Tara Wujcik.

Brooks + Scarpa wanted to create a flexible teaching environment that supports parental involvement and puts student life at the center of the school. Completed this yea...

Brooks+Scarpa's new Southern Utah Art Museum draws its inspiration from the local artist that made it possible

2017-11-21T15:50:00-05:00

When the legendary artist Jim Jones, known for his painting of Zion and the Grand Canyon, died in 2009, he donated his Rockville home, and 15 of his late paintings, as well as the copyrights, to the Southern Utah University. The Cedar City native's gift was to provide the university with the seed money to eventually form the Southern Utah Museum of Art and almost eight years later, this dream has come to completion.

Brooks + Scarpa.

Ale Scarpa.

The new museum is part of the $39.1 million Beverly Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts campus—a 5.5-acre master planned complex that links downtown Cedar City with the Southern Utah University Campus. The museum itself comprises 28,000 square feet of adaptable gallery and exhibition space that will accommodate the special collection of Jones as well as regularly displaying the work of students, faculty, regional artists and juried shows.

Alan Blakely.

It has been designed by the Los Angeles-based firm, Brooks + Scarpa, who were in...

Brooks + Scarpa unveils “spinning” Gateway Sculpture in Pembroke Pines, Florida

2017-08-08T17:39:00-04:00

Brooks + Scarpa designed the Gateway Sculpture to welcome visitors to Pembroke Pines' new City Center in Florida. Painted in a bright, hard-to-miss yellow, the sculpture provides “way-finding and anchor[s] a sense of arrival.”

The steel sculpture rises as tree columns that lead to perforated plates. Located in breezy Pembroke Pines, the sculpture's plates appear to spin continuously in the wind (animation clip below).

Photo courtesy of Brooks + Scarpa.

During the day, the sculpture creates a dappled light effect on the ground, while providing necessary shaded seating. It also includes programmable up lighting at night. Working with a limited budget, Brooks + Scarpa used durable materials like stainless steel and environmentally sensitive paint that could withstand Florida's humid, coastal climate. Large planting areas that surround the structure act as “rain gardens” that can collect stormwater from the entire building and the hardscape of the publi...

Brooks + Scarpa's “The Six” offers a home to veterans in need

2017-05-22T13:40:00-04:00

Located in Los Angeles' highly dense MacArthur Park neighborhood, "The Six" is a hard-to-miss, 52-unit housing complex for veterans who are disabled and/or were previously homeless. Designed by Brooks + Scarpa for the Skid Row Housing Trust, the building gets its name from the ubiquitous military expression “I got your six” — which basically means “I've got your back”.

Brooks + Scarpa designed the 40,250 square-foot building with public and private “zones” with more emphasis on creating a community-oriented and social space, as opposed to a reclusive, isolating scheme.

Photos: Tara Wucjik. Last photo: Brooks + Scarpa.

The ground level contains offices, support spaces for veterans, bike storage and parking, while the second level features a large public courtyard. The courtyard is surrounded by four levels of housing units with balconies and green roofs to let residents share a secured, open space and connect with the larger community. The highest level features a growing edible garden...

Brooks + Scarpa's mixed-use complex featuring low-income housing to break ground

2017-03-02T13:39:00-05:00

Adding 84,000 square feet of a custom-aluminum-facade-bearing mixed-use structure to a Metro Red Line adjacent corner of North Hollywood, Brooks + Scarpa are continuing their aesthetically pioneering work in low-income housing.

The structure, deemed "NOHO on Camarillo," will defy old-school monolithic notions of affordable housing by carving out volumes on the southern and northern exposures to let light in while simultaneously creating an ample courtyard. The structure will also have a little under 3,000 square feet of retail space for enterprising types.

The five-story, 60-unit building's price tag is quoted at $13.5 million.

Take a look at these bold visions for Downtown LA's next park

2016-02-24T14:26:00-05:00

LA has few corners as prominent as First and Broadway. Directly adjacent to the art deco City Hall and across from the LA Times building, the nearly-2 acre lot stands at the center of an increasingly well-trafficked pedestrian area. Now, some of the biggest names in town are competing to transform the lot into a bold new park.

After a wider call for proposals, the LA Bureau of Engineering, in conjunction with the Mayor's Office, announced a shortlist of finalists late last year: AECOM, Brooks + Scarpa Architects, Eric Owen Moss Architects, and Mia Lehrer + Associates in collaboration with OMA. Each practice was given six weeks to produce a design, which are currently of public view.

Soon, the City will announce the winners of the competition, following input from the public, and then will proceed to finalize the designs.

Since the new park abuts the larger Grand Park (designed by Rios Clementi Hale Studios), it needs to both stand out as a unique design and seamlessly mesh with the exi...

Archinect - News

​Brooks + Scarpa completes vibrant park pavilion and sport complex in South Florida

In BRUTAL DC, Brooks + Scarpa proposes adaptive reuse of Marcel Breuer's landmark 1968 design

Five unique geometries by Brooks + Scarpa: Your Next Employer?

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot selects affordable housing design for city's West Side

Brooks + Scarpa​ reveals Westside LA transitional housing project inspired by Irving Gill

MASS Design Group wins AIA Firm Award, Gold Medal goes to Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa

Brooks + Scarpa to design Mennello Museum of American Art expansion

Brooks + Scarpa and Plant Prefab debut adaptable prefab apartment model

Brooks + Scarpa's LA Flower Market redevelopment takes a step forward

Brooks + Scarpa completes bright yellow campus building for South Los Angeles high school

Brooks+Scarpa's new Southern Utah Art Museum draws its inspiration from the local artist that made it possible

Brooks + Scarpa unveils “spinning” Gateway Sculpture in Pembroke Pines, Florida

Brooks + Scarpa's “The Six” offers a home to veterans in need

Brooks + Scarpa's mixed-use complex featuring low-income housing to break ground

Take a look at these bold visions for Downtown LA's next park

Brooks + Scarpa completes vibrant park pavilion and sport complex in South Florida

Brooks + Scarpa reveals Westside LA transitional housing project inspired by Irving Gill