Elizabeth Fain LaBombard and Bill Fain share a bond deeper than DNA: They are the only father and daughter to have the distinction of earning a design fellowship from the American Academy in Rome.

The prestigious fellowships, only 30 of which are awarded each year, are offered in different categories ranging from design to literature. A recipient receives financial support to pursue a proposed project in his or her field in Rome for up to a year.

Fain, a 68-year-old partner at downtown L.A. architecture firm Johnson Fain, received his fellowship in 2001 for a project that studied how the Tiber River can be reconnected with the city of Rome.

LaBombard, a native Angelena who is a landscape architect at James Corner Field Operations in New York, was awarded the fellowship this year to pursue ways to reinvigorate underused or posturban landscape, such as abandoned railroads or landfills.

Though it might seem as though Fain is responsible for his daughter’s career, the pair said the decision for LaBombard to pursue the fellowship wasn’t fatherly persuasion.

“My father never said you should be an architect or designer; he said just follow your passion,” LaBombard, 32, said. “We both got (the fellowship) and it’s a wonderful thing he can relate to and we can understand with each other.”

– Jacquelyn Ryan