Brown was born Denise Lakofski in Rhodesia, in 1931. She studied in Johannesberg, eventually receiving her AA diploma in Tropical Architecture in 1956, from the University of Pennsylvania. She emigrated to the United States in 1958, and married the architect Rober Venturi in 1967. She has been in charge of urban planning and design at Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, Philadelphia, since 1989. American architect and city planner; b. in Zambia; educated in England and U.S.; in practice with husband Robert Venturi since 1967.