VILCEK FOUNDATION PRIZE GOES TO  DENISE SCOTT BROWN  OF VENTURI SCOTT BROWN ASSOCIATES Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA _________________________   Philadelphia, PA – Denise Scott Brown has received the 2007 Vilcek Foundation Prize for outstanding achievement in the arts and humanities. At the Foundation’s second Annual Awards Dinner, held March 14, 2007 at New York’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel, she accepted the honor in the presence of leading scientists, architects, artists, patrons, and the recipient of this year’s Vilcek Prize for biomedical science, Rudolph Jaenisch. The Vilcek Prize is bestowed each year upon two foreign-born Americans who have profoundly benefited society through their work in either the arts or the sciences. The award expresses the spirit and passion of its founders, Dr. Jan and Marica Vilcek, themselves foreign born and major contributors to science and art in America. Previous recipients were cancer researcher Joan Massagué and artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Prize winners receive $50,000 and a trophy created by designer Stefan Sagmeister.  As an architect, planner, writer, and educator, Scott Brown has influenced architects and planners worldwide. “.…[N]o one who pays attention to the worlds of architecture and planning could fail to recognize Denise Scott Brown as a figure of extraordinary stature…” says architecture critic Paul Goldberger, who introduced Denise at the awards ceremony. “She is the person who inspired the firm on its celebrated inquiry into the impact of popular culture on architecture; she is the force underscoring the importance of urbanism in all that the firm does….And because she is always so willing to learn, she is one of the greatest teachers the profession of architecture could ever hope to have.” Denise credits her outlook to the diverse influences on her growing up in South Africa, to her architectural education at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and at London’s Architectural Association, and to her training in architecture and urban planning at the University of Pennsylvania and her teaching there in the 1960s, just as the social planning movement was initiated.  Scott Brown and Venturi have collaborated as academics and practitioners since 1960. In 1967, when they joined in marriage and professional practice, she was already recognized for her contributions to theoretical research and education on the nature of cities. Their firm, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, is regarded as a driving force in contemporary design. Denise is known for her urban research and planning of the 1970s and 1980s and, more recently, for her plans of academic campuses set in urban contexts, and her designs of building complexes, using tools evolved through a melding of the methods of planning and architecture.   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 4, 2007 CONTACT: Susan Scanlon, Public Relations Assistant Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. Inc. (215) 487-0400 scanlon@vsba.com DENISE SCOTT BROWN AWARDED VILCEK PRIZE the Fedra Sans font by Peter Bilak