AIA Wunderkind Courtney Brett Bridges Architectural Worlds

By Lamar Anderson
Curbed National, March 18, 2014

This week, Curbed National is examining what it’s like to be a woman working in architecture. Today, writer Lamar Anderson profiles Courtney Brett, who, at 24, became the youngest architect ever licensed by the American Institute of Architects in 2012.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014, by Lamar Anderson

This week, Curbed National is examining what it’s like to be a woman working in architecture. Today, writer Lamar Anderson profiles Courtney Brett, who, at 24, became the youngest architect ever licensed by the American Institute of Architects in 2012.

If you know Courtney Brett’s name, you probably remember her as the lovely but mysteriously grayscaled millennial who, at 24, became the youngest architect ever licensed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In 2012 Brett made headlines as the architectural wunderkind who began college at 14, transferred to Auburn University’s architecture program at 16, and, at 20, reported for duty at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in New York. By 21, she was working on Qatar Petroleum, an unbuilt complex for Doha that, at the time, was shaping up to be the largest construction project in the world.

In the slow-moving universe of architecture, 24 is the equivalent of a child star. And, as befalls anyone celebrated for her youth, Brett was quickly supplanted: in 2013, her former Auburn classmate Rosannah Sandoval, just 23 at the time, unseated her as AIA’s reigning ingenue. Read more…