Curtis W. Fentress
| Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947 Greensboro, North Carolina |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Awards | More than 400 Awards for Innovation and Design Excellence |
| Practice | Fentress Architects |
| Buildings | Denver International Airport, Colorado Convention Center, Incheon International Airport, Arraya Tower, National Museum of the Marine Corps |
Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA (born 1947), an American architect, is the principal-in-charge of design at Fentress Architects, an international design studio he founded in Denver, Colorado, in 1980. Fentress Architects also has studios in Los Angeles, California; San Jose, California; Washington, D.C. and London, UK.
Fentress’ DIA (Denver International Airport), Incheon International Airport (Seoul, South Korea) and his in-progress modernization of LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) et al., have garnered recognition (see background below) worldwide for design excellence and outstanding “airside-to-curbside” traveler experience. Focused on the public process, Fentress’ works are in the genres of airport, museum and public buildings. A protégé of I.M. Pei, Fentress has developed a reputation as a hybrid architect, developing iconic design reflective of the region’s culture, within the cost and budgetary confines associated with high-profile public architecture. He is known among students of architecture for his observations on the process of large-scale design.
Highest Award for Public Architecture: Curtis Fentress was honored in 2010 by the American Institute of Architects with the highest award for public architecture, the Thomas Jefferson Award. Fentress was also honored in 2010 with the Silver Medal Award, the highest award given to an architect from AIA Western Mountain Region for their contributions to the region.
World’s 4th Tallest Building Completed in 2009: Fentress is the designer of the world’s 4th tallest building completed in 2009—Arraya Tower in Kuwait City, also the tallest in Kuwait.
Curtis Fentress was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame by Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce in 2017.
Curt Fentress was born “between two wide spots in the road – Summerfield and Oakridge, North Carolina” to a poor sharecropping family on a tobacco farm. His boyhood home was a sturdy two room log cabin with “outside accommodations”.
Fentress earliest memories are of playing in a sandbox in the shade of a large Umbrella tree. “I was an easy kid to watch. My grandmother was always hovering by that sandbox and I just built incessantly.” Fentress found his calling in high school where he gravitated to drafting courses. “I just ate up anything related to building – the teacher didn’t know what to do with me,” remembers Fentress, “I was through with the year’s drafting projects in two months – it gave me a clue as to what I was meant to do.”
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