LPA’s Melody Tang Receives 2022 AIA Young Architects Award
National honor recognizes architects demonstrating “exceptional leadership” and making significant contributions to architecture early in their careers
IRVINE, CALIF. - LPA project architect Melody Tang has been named a recipient of the American Institute of Architects (AIA)’s 2022 Young Architects Award, one of the highest honors nationally for emerging talent.
Tang was cited for her work on sustainability, diversity and helping to create new opportunities for young architects from under-represented communities. As a role model and leader for LPA — which earned the 2021 AIA California Firm Award, the state industry’s top honor — she has helped manage multi-disciplinary teams on a wide range of civic, cultural, educational, and commercial projects, including the multi-building, 20-year plan underway to reshape the County of Orange’s real estate and civic center in downtown Santa Ana.
Only 23 architects in the country earned the Young Architect’s honor this year.
Melody signing the "topping out" beam for County Administration South in Santa Ana, CA
“Melody’s talent, passion and commitment to excellence represent everything we are trying to achieve at LPA,” says Chief Executive Officer Wendy Rogers. “We are helping to develop a generation of architects that will change the world.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Cornell University, Tang joined LPA in 2005 and was named Associate in 2020 at the age of 40. As project manager, she often serves as the connection between the client and LPA’s inter-disciplinary team of engineers, landscape architects and interiors, helping to craft cohesive, comprehensive and high-quality results. Her talent and dedication to detail played a large role in LPA’s ability to reduce energy use in its projects over the last three years by more than 70% compared to the AIA 2030 Commitment baselines.
Melody serves as Project Manager and Project Architect for the implementation of a multi-building, 20-year plan to reshape the County of Orange’s real estate assets and how it interacts with the public.
“LPA has been a wonderful place for me to learn and grow,” Tang says. “The focus on collaboration and ability to make a positive impact in our communities through our work inspires me every day.”
Tang’s career has been heavily informed by her background growing up as an Asian American. At LPA, she helped create the firm’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Council and worked to develop the LPA Interdisciplinary Diversity Scholarship Program, which each year provides up to five students with $5,000 scholarships.
2018 AIA OC Design Awards Committee celebrates
Tang is also an active leader with AIA Orange County, California’s third-largest chapter, chairing its annual Design Awards and has helped expand statewide action on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives and developed programs to support the next generation of architects.
“Melody is a committed steward of the architecture profession through her continuous commitment to design excellence, education and equity,” says LPA design director Ozzie Tapia, the 2021 AIA-OC president and a recipient of the Young Architects Award in 2020. “She’s a champion for everyone who wants to be an architect.”
Founded in 1965, LPA specializes in creating innovative environments that work better, do more with less and change people’s lives. An integrated national design firm with six studios in California and Texas, LPA’s team includes more than 400 in-house architects, master planners, engineers, interior designers, landscape architects and research analysts, working across a wide array of sectors. In 2021, LPA earned AIA California’s Firm Award, the organization’s highest annual honor for an architectural firm. For more information, visit lpadesignstudios.com.
