Williams became the first African-American member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In 1939, he won the AIA Award of Merit for his design of the MCA Building in Beverly Hills (now headquarters of the Paradigm Talent Agency). At one point in his career Williams became interested in prefabricated structures. He worked together with Wallace Neff to design experimental Airform structures which were small homes that only took a few days to construct using simple materials. A. Quincy Jones (1913–79) was an architect who is claimed to have hired Williams and later collaborated with him on projects in Palm Springs, including the Palm Springs Tennis Club (1947) and the Town & Country (1948) and Romanoff's on the Rocks (1948) restaurants. Lockheed and Guerdon Industries recruited Williams to design a concept for a car-alternative travel system in Las Vegas. He developed the idea of a monorail-like system called the Skylift Magi-Cab that would bring people to and from McCarran Airport and the city center. During World War II, Williams worked for the Navy Department as an architect. During his career Williams designed over 2,000 buildings. Awards, recognition and honors During his lifetime In 1948 the anthology radio drama Destination Freedom recapped his earlier life. In 1951, Williams won the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Man of the Year award and in 1953 he received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP for his outstanding contributions as an architect and member of the African-American community. Williams also received honorary doctorates from Lincoln University of Missouri (doctor of science, 1941), Howard University (doctor of architecture, 1952), and the Tuskegee Institute (doctor of fine arts, 1956). In 1956, he won an award for service, from Wisdom magazine, for "contributions to knowledge and distinguished service to mankind." In 1957, he became the first Black member to be inducted into the AIA's College of Fellows. An April 2, 1957 letter from the Executive Secretary of AIA, offered Williams the honor of Fellowship and membership in the College of Fellows "for your notable contribution in Public Service." Posthumous honors USC listed him among its distinguished alumni in the television commercial for the school shown during its football games in 2004. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) gave him its gold medal in 2017, 37 years after Williams's death. Publications Book: The Small Home of Tomorrow (1945), with a successor volume New Homes for Today (1946). Essay: "I Am