The American Institute of Architects California Council (AIACC) has named Steven Ehrlich the 2011 Maybeck Award recipient for lifetime achievement in architecture. The award recognizes an architect’s body of work for outstanding design achievement extending over a career of 10 years or more. Named in honor of Bernard Maybeck, only 14 awards have been given since its inception in 1992.  Ehrlich joins Thom Mayne, Frank Gehry and Joseph Esherick, among others. 

Before opening Ehrlich Architects in 1979, Ehrlich served as a Peace Corps architect in Morocco and then as a professor of architecture in Nigeria. During his six-years in Africa, he began to develop his approach of “Multicultural Modernism,”  a belief that architecture should respond to the specificities of site and local culture.

Ehrlich's own house in Venice, CA. ©Erhard Pfeiffer

Ehrlich’s work spans institutional, civic, and residential projects. Noted projects include the John M. Roll Federal Courthouse in Yuma, Arizona; a Residence Hall for Pomona College; the University of California Irvine New Media Arts Center; and numerous single family homes in California, Texas and Dubai. Earlier this year, the firm won the international architectural competition to design the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council’s  Parliament complex. In addition to the Maybeck Award, Ehrlich Architects was named 2003 Firm of the Year by the AIACC.

Cronkite Building at Arizona State University. ©Bill Timmerman

Abu Dhabi Federal National Council building