Local architect wins national honor

Local architect Sanford Garner will be honored by the American Institute of Architects on Thursday as one of 11 recipients of the 2011 AIA Young Architects Award.

The award, given to architects licensed less than 10 years, will be presented at the AIA National Convention and Design Exposition in New Orleans, which runs through Saturday.

Garner, 41, is president of Indianapolis firm A2SO4, which he co-founded with business partner Vop Osili in 2001. The firm has worked on such projects as the Indianapolis International Airport’s midfield terminal parking garage, Lucas Oil Stadium and Fall Creek Place.

“To some degree, it feels as though it’s validation that I actually know what I’m doing now and that I actually am pretty good at this,” Garner said of the award.

Garner served as president of the AIA’s Indianapolis chapter in 2009 and is president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization of Minority Architects.

An Indianapolis native, Garner graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1993 and worked at a few Indianapolis architectural firms before a 2-1/2-year stint at the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission.

Garner became a licensed architect in 2004.

With $5 million in local billings in 2009, A2SO4 is the city’s seventh-largest architectural firm, according to IBJ statistics.

It has 22 employees and nine licensed architects.