Curt Fentress
Curt was born to a North Carolina farming family “between two wide spots in the road – Summerfield and Oakridge.” While in high school, he immediately gravitated to drafting and engineering. Hard work enabled him to attend the School of Architecture at North Carolina State, where he graduated with honors.
After leaving a position with I.M. Pei, Curt pursued his fascination with large-scale public projects and strove to make civic buildings more humanistic. He came to Denver in the late 1970s, tasked with design of a new Rocky Mountain headquarters for Amoco by New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox. Enchanted by Colorado’s beauty, Curt decided to stay. He founded Fentress Architects in 1980 and, not long after, was awarded design of the new Denver International Airport. His iconic, peaked-roof design – voted “Best Airport in North America” and fourth “Favorite American Architecture” – propelled him into the international realm.
The firm’s second airport project was the new Incheon International Airport (ICN) in Seoul, South Korea. Thanks to comments from close to 9 million airline passengers, ICN was voted 2009 “World’s Best Airport” by Skytrax, and has been voted “World’s Best Airport” for four consecutive years by Airports Council International. Fentress is also renowned for their design of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the greater Washington, D.C., area, which has garnered more than 20 awards for innovation and design excellence.
Fentress is known for his “Patient Search,” a meticulous process of discovery that he and his design team follow.
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Qualifications
- Doctor of Fine Arts (Hon), North Carolina State University
- Bachelor of Architecture, North Carolina State University
- Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA)
- Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
- Registered Architect: AL, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY
- Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture, AIA National, 2010
- Architect of the Year, AIA Colorado, 2012
- Silver Medal, AIA Western Mountain Region, 2010
- Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Design, North Carolina State University, 2011
- Arts Award, Bonfils Stanton Foundation, 2016
- PowerBook Newsmaker of the Year for Architecture, Denver Business Journal, 2013
- Tourism Hall of Fame Inductee, VISIT DENVER Foundation, 2010
- Leaders Council, College of Design, North Carolina State University
- Committee on Design (COD), AIA National
Notable Work
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