“An Interview w/ an Architect” – an outreach campaign to amplify the voices of AIA|LA members.

If you’d like to participate in this outreach campaign, please email will@aialosangeles.org and we’ll add your voice to the queue.

Featuring Carlos Augusto Garcia, AIA, NCARB, WELL AP – Associate Principal, BROOKS + SCARPA

AIA|LA: You’re involved with the Leadership Group of AIA National’s Committee on the Environment (COTE):  What are some of the initiatives you’re working on and how can more LA-based architects get involved to help advance these initiatives?

CAG: We’ve really been working to empower the local AIA components by providing resources, advocating for policy change, and elevating success stories about design excellence. It’s important for all AIA members to know that they’ve got the tools to support their own action in the climate space, no matter where they practice. We’re privileged to live in a place where we’ve got very active COTE chapters in both the state of California and the city of Los Angeles. 

Members should sign up AIA|LA COTE’s newsletter for information on their programs and partner events. To get involved, reach out to the local chairs for information on monthly meetings and other gatherings. They offer great guidance for educators, students, public and private institutions through symposia (like 1.5°C), lecture series, and educational programs. Talk to your firm leadership about signing onto the Architecture & Design Materials Pledge and the AIA 2030 Commitment to demonstrate your dedication to design healthy spaces and reaching carbon neutrality.

Los Angeles is already at the intersection of design excellence and environmental stewardship, and in many ways at the forefront of these movements. I’d encourage AIA|LA members in both practice, and academia, to submit for the COTE Top Ten awards and COTE Top Ten for Students. These award programs are AIA’s most rigorous, and many of Los Angeles’ projects could be formidable competitors. Year over year, these winners have set a benchmark for high standards of design and sustainability.

AIA|LA: As it relates to the AIA|LA Strategic Plan (Value, Relevancy, Inspiration, Inclusivity, & Advocacy): What is an example of a program and/or initiative (existing or prospective) that you’d like to prioritize and support? 

CAG: Our membership needs to be prominently positioned in the eyes of the public in order to demonstrate our utility in contemporary society. As quickly as our community can recognize challenges, we should identify experts who can provide potential solutions. We are the stewards of the built and natural environments, and as such, our community needs to look to – and trust – the voices in the design sector.

We must also continue to be advocates, pushing legislation to incentivize the construction of affordable housing, while continuing progress with LADBS on how to remove the barriers. We need to make it easier and more sensible to process permits, and get projects in the ground more quickly and efficiently. We need to be actively involved in community planning, providing elected officials with the knowledge to avoid exclusionary practices. One of my favorite experiences has been attending AIA|LA’s Legislative Day, sharing the values of our organization with our building and planning officials in the spirit of true collaboration.

We have also been further developing the AIA Framework for Design Excellence, a COTE-developed tool for architects and our clients to ask what it means to design responsibly. The building sector accounts for approximately 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the impacts of climate change disproportionately affect our marginalized and vulnerable communities first. The Framework is a living set of principles and recommendations to help promote zero-carbon, resilient, equitable, and healthy projects.

AIA|LA: When it comes to the core values of the architecture profession, what personally drives you on a daily basis to help lead your fellow architects to action?

CAG: I’ve never really viewed architecture as a job. It is a way of life, a practice that affects our own context, and it is more than just making buildings. We have such an enormous impact on the fabric of our own environment that being an architect comes with a responsibility to our community. As with any civilization, our structures communicate stories about our history, culture, and purpose in the world. 

WIthin our office at Brooks + Scarpa, we use storytelling to design buildings that are both functional and emotionally resonant. I’m driven by this process, where millions of big and small, but important, ideas coalesce into quality design. It’s necessary for these structures not only to be beautiful, but also community contributors. It’s inspiring to see how even small, incremental change can create the momentum to drive entire movements. 

More than two decades ago my colleagues at Brooks + Scarpa, Lawrence Scarpa and Angela Brooks, co-founded Livable Places, a non-profit dedicated to building sustainable mixed-use housing on under-utilized parcels in Los Angeles. Along with their collaborator Joan Ling and others, they wrote policy about an idea that was eventually adopted by the City of Los Angeles. This idea became the Small Lot Subdivision ordinance, later examined by HUD’s Office of Policy Development & Research as a case study for improving access to housing. This is precisely the type of grassroots movement that inspires me to rally fellow architects into action.

AIA|LA: Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusive & Belonging: From your perspective, how can architecture and design more directly empower equitable and ‘just’ outcomes?  

CAG: It is heartening to see the progress the industry has made over the past decade or so, prioritizing conversations about equity in the built environment. However, the actions taken within the practice of architecture have a lot of room for improvement. To truly address these issues at large, we need to “start at home,” in our own places of architectural practice and education. We will only have true diversity in design thinking when we have a greater diversity of designers.

Earlier this year, NCARB and NOMA released a joint study, Baseline on Belonging, exploring the experiences of underrepresented groups in the early stages of their architecture careers. It is important for our membership to utilize resources like this to understand why, of the nearly 120 thousand licensed architects in the United States, only 4.9% are Hispanic and only 1.8% are Black. These are not impossible problems to rectify, but they take work. 

At Brooks + Scarpa, I take special care in our hiring process to ensure we review the whole candidate when we review applications, but not all equity issues magically resolve themselves once we account for someone’s ethnic or gender identity. This has resulted in our staff having a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities, and being more than 50% women.

AIA|LA: Do you remember when you first wanted to become an architect? What was that moment like? Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in architecture? Any insight or guidance for future generations?

CAG: I was an artist before I wanted to be an architect, but the kernel of creation and concept implementation was always there. I was fortunate enough to have members of my family who were architects, so I was able to see what the lifestyle was like. This is another reason why I believe early exposure to design is important. 

In my current work with NCARB and the AIA, I’ve started discussions to create programs where volunteer work with K-12 programs can earn Continuing Education credit. Afterall, the W of “HSW” stands for “welfare” to, in part, enable equitable access, elevate the human experience, and encourage social interaction. Getting architects into the community not only creates trust and good will, but also provides would-be designers with an opportunity to interact with someone who has the career they aspire to hold.

As for advice, I will say architects are great problem solvers, and I find great value in making connections between seemingly disparate ideas to find creative solutions to make progress on complex problems. In our profession, many of these challenges span decades or lifetimes, so it’s not always about solving one problem and moving on. Sometimes, the best solutions are measured, deliberate, and long-term. This isn’t always going to result in immediate gratification, but the impact on your community will be far greater and hopefully more positive.

Carlos Augusto Garcia, AIA, NCARB, WELL AP – Associate Principal, BROOKS + SCARPA

Carlos Augusto Garcia is a designer, artist and Associate Principal at Brooks + Scarpa where he is responsible for managing and hiring staff, managing projects and developing office operations and procedures. He has 15 years of industry expertise, specializing in strategic planning, design research, sustainability, wellness, and carbon reduction. His global outlook manifests through work with UIA World Congress of Architects, New Buildings Institute, National Endowment for the Arts, and Los Angeles City Planning’s Urban Design Studio. Carlos serves on AIA National COTE Leadership Group, ICC, NCARB, and ASHRAE committees, influencing climate action, greenhouse gas standards, and inclusivity in the industry of architecture. His passion was ignited by his start in emergency management and disaster recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans, where he completed B.Arch and M.Arch degrees from Tulane University. He is committed to pursuing dignity in practice, promoting equity in both membership and leadership.