{{Short description|Design firm in Colorado}} {{Infobox architectural practice |name = Fentress Architects | image = Fentress Architects.JPG | caption = The Denver, Colorado office. |architects = Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA |city = Denver, Colorado, United States of America |founded = 1980 |awards = Over 425 for innovation and design excellence<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.fentressarchitects.com/the-art-inside/firm-profile/ |title=Fentress Architects | the Art Inside | Firm Profile |access-date=2013-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228053854/http://www.fentressarchitects.com/the-art-inside/firm-profile/ |archive-date=2013-02-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |significant_buildings = Denver International Airport, Incheon International Airport, Colorado Convention Center, the Broncos Stadium, National Museum of the Marine Corps, Arraya Tower, National Museum of Wildlife Art, the modernized Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX (2013), and the [http://naturalsciences.org/ Green Square Complex] in Raleigh, North Carolina (2012) }}
'''Fentress Architects''' is an international design firm known for large-scale public architecture such as airports, museums, university buildings, convention centers, laboratories, and high-rise office towers. Some of the buildings for which the firm is best known include Denver International Airport (1995), the modernized Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX (2013), the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, Virginia (2005), and the Green Square Complex in Raleigh, North Carolina (2012).
Founded in 1980 by Curtis W. Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, the firm's designs, especially its airports, are often compared to the expressionist architecture of Eero Saarinen.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://calitreview.com/29170 |title=Now Boarding: Fentress Airports + the Architecture of Flight, Denver Art Museum | California Literary Review |access-date=2013-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116220459/http://calitreview.com/29170 |archive-date=2013-01-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, architectural curator Donald Albrecht has noted that within Fentress' designs is a "stiff dose of regionalism.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite web |url=http://www.surfacemag.com/blog/architecture/6423-fentress-architects-now-boarding-airport-design/ |title=Fentress Architects and the Reinvention of Airport Design - SURFACE |access-date=2013-01-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130109013119/http://www.surfacemag.com/blog/architecture/6423-fentress-architects-now-boarding-airport-design/ |archive-date=2013-01-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref> " Fentress Architects has studios in Denver, Colorado; Los Angeles; San Jose, California; Washington, D.C.; London; and Shanghai.
In 2010, Curtis Fentress was awarded the highest award for public architecture, the Thomas Jefferson Award, by the American Institute of Architects AIA Awards website.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/AIAS075273 |title=AIA Jefferson Award recipients |publisher=Aia.org |date= |accessdate=2019-07-29 |archive-date=2015-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150901181506/http://www.aia.org/practicing/awards/AIAS075273 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=http://info.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek09/1218/1218n_tjawards.cfm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219222815/http://info.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek09/1218/1218n_tjawards.cfm|url-status=dead|title=AIArchitect website|archivedate=February 19, 2012|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref> Fentress was also given the Silver Medal in 2010, which is the highest award given to an architect from the AIA Western Mountain Region for the contributions made to the region.<ref>{{cite web|title=Silver Medal|url=http://www.conventioncenterexpansion.com/Design/DesignTeam.aspx|work=Design Team Information|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002234418/http://www.conventioncenterexpansion.com/Design/DesignTeam.aspx|archivedate=2011-10-02}}</ref> In 2012, Fentress was awarded AIA Colorado's Architect of the Year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aiacolorado.org/|title=Architectural Jobs, Resources, & Education|first=A. I. A.|last=Colorado|website=AIA Colorado|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref>
Fentress Architects is the designer of the Arraya Tower in Kuwait City.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ctbuh.org/HighRiseInfo/TallestDatabase/TallestBuildingsCompleted/2009BuildingsCompleted/tabid/1353/language/en-US/Default.aspx |title=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat: Tallest Buildings Completed in 2009 |publisher=Ctbuh.org |date= |accessdate=2019-07-29 |archive-date=2012-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303013400/http://ctbuh.org/HighRiseInfo/TallestDatabase/TallestBuildingsCompleted/2009BuildingsCompleted/tabid/1353/language/en-US/Default.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> The tower is the tallest in Kuwait and the 53rd tallest in the world <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/|title=The Skyscraper Center|website=www.skyscrapercenter.com|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref>
== History ==
Curtis Fentress graduated with honors from North Carolina State University's College of Design, School of Architecture where he received a Bachelor of Architecture degree.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} Following graduation, he joined the firm of I.M. Pei and Partners in New York City. As a Senior Designer, he was responsible for the master planning of major site development plans. He became a project designer with the New York architectural firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox. During this time, he came to Denver as the Project Designer for the Rocky Mountain Headquarters of Amoco in downtown Denver.
In January 1980, Fentress formed C.W. Fentress and Associates with James Henry Bradburn. After early success, the collapse of the oil and gas industries in Colorado in the early 1980s ushered in a period of difficulty for the firm. Fentress Architects' fortunes rebounded in 1987 when the firm won a design competition for the Colorado Convention Center. The competition pitted Fentress and his partners against several better-financed and more famous opponents, including Phil Anschutz, who had partnered with the firm belonging to Curtis Fentress' former mentor, I.M. Pei.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2005/05/20/seeds-of-the-center/|title=Seeds of the center|date=May 20, 2005|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref> It was only in the 1990s that Fentress Architects rose to international fame by designing the Denver International Airport. The peaked roof of the terminal has become well known to travelers worldwide and ushered in a revolution in more expressionistic airport design.<ref name="auto4"/> Curator Donald Albrecht credits the design of Denver International Airport with bringing glamor back to the airport typology.<ref name="auto3">{{cite web|url=http://www.archdaily.com/208565/now-boarding-fentress-airports-the-architecture-of-flight-exhibition/|title='Now Boarding: Fentress Airports + The Architecture of Flight' Exhibition|date=Feb 17, 2012|website=ArchDaily|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref>
The unveiling of DIA was marked by a dysfunctional "state-of-the-art" baggage delivery system (the vendor at fault has since replaced the system). Subsequently, DIA has been voted the "Best Airport in North America" <ref>[Airport Council International's (ACI) Passenger Quality Survey of 200,000 world travelers every year for the past four years, 2006-2009]</ref> and the fourth "Favorite American Architecture" completed in the last fifteen years.<ref>[American Institute of Architects (AIA) survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 2008]</ref>
In 2001, Fentress designed the Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, voted "Best Airport Worldwide" four consecutive years by Airport Council International's Airport Quality Survey program.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.airports.org/ |title=Airport Council International |access-date=2009-04-15 |archive-date=2012-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120526062436/http://www.airports.org/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Airport Council "Best Airport in the World" in 2007 by passengers surveyed for the Official Airlines Guide.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oagairlineawards.com/ |title=Official Airlines Guide Awards |access-date=2008-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080306070649/http://www.oagairlineawards.com/ |archive-date=2008-03-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The firm designs a range of large scale projects (see listing below) from museums and convention centers, to stadiums and commercial office buildings.
Bradburn retired, and in 2007, the firm's name was abbreviated from Fentress Bradburn Architects to Fentress Architects. To date, the firm has won 425 design and innovation awards and has a design portfolio of $27 billion. Each year, more than 330 million people worldwide visit a project designed by Fentress Architects.<ref name="auto1"/>
== ''Now Boarding'' ==
In 2012, a major museum exhibition of Fentress Architects' airport designs entitled ''Now Boarding: Fentress Airports + the Architecture of Flight'' was opened at the Denver Art Museum.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/now-boarding|title=Now Boarding|website=Denver Art Museum|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref> Curated by Donald Albrecht, architectural curator for the Museum of the City of New York whose previous exhibitions include well-received retrospectives on the work of such architectural notables as Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.djalbrecht.com/|title=Donald Albrecht|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref> ''Now Boarding'' ran for nearly three months.
A travelling version of the exhibition appeared in Amsterdam in November 2012,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.westword.com/arts/now-boarding-takes-off-at-airport-exchange-2012-in-amsterdam-5809683|title=Now Boarding takes off at Airport Exchange 2012 in Amsterdam|first=Nathalia|last=Vélez|date=Nov 27, 2012|website=Westword|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref> and the exhibition's full version will open in at the Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, CA beginning in March 2013.
==Awards and honors==
'''World's Best Airports:''' Fentress-designed Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea was voted "World's Best Airport" by Skytrax's 2009 World Airport Awards, a survey of 8.6 million international travelers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards_2009/Airport2009.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805183929/http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards_2009/Airport2009.htm|url-status=dead|title=Skytrax World Airport Awards|archivedate=August 5, 2013|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref>
'''World's Most Beautiful Airports:''' * Incheon International Airport * Denver International Airport <blockquote>Denver's airport features a Teflon-coated tensile fabric roof—the world's largest when the airport opened in 1995.<ref name="auto6">{{cite web|url=https://www.travelandleisure.com/slideshows/worlds-most-beautiful-airports|title=World's Most Beautiful Airports|website=Travel + Leisure|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref></blockquote>
'''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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ctbuh.org/HighRiseInfo/TallestDatabase/TallestBuildingsCompleted/2009BuildingsCompleted/tabid/1353/language/en-US/Default.aspx |title=CTBUH website |publisher=Ctbuh.org |date= |accessdate=2019-07-29 |archive-date=2012-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303013400/http://ctbuh.org/HighRiseInfo/TallestDatabase/TallestBuildingsCompleted/2009BuildingsCompleted/tabid/1353/language/en-US/Default.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> Arraya is one of 14 high rises in Fentress' design portfolio in the Persian Gulf.
== Architectural philosophy == Fentress has developed a design process he calls the "Patient Search". He has said of the process; "I don't begin with a preconceived notion of what the building needs to be – it is not a sculpture. I patiently search, walk the site, study the culture, follow our process until I find a seam somewhere, crack it open and discover the art inside." Asked about his philosophical approach, Fentress once stated, "My philosophy is ultimately...pragmatism".<ref>[The Patient Search and Other Architectural Adventures]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quoteland.com/author/Curtis-W-Fentress-Quotes/2507/|title=Curtis W. Fentress Quotes :: Quoteland :: Quotations by Author|website=www.quoteland.com|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref>
==Rankings==
* Architectural Record's "Top 150 Architecture Firms" – Fentress Architects ranked #24 among architecture-only firms <ref>{{cite web|url=http://archrecord.construction.com/practice/top150/0706top150.asp|title=Architectural Record Top 150 Design Firms|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref> * Building Design & Construction's "Giants 300," Top Architects – Fentress Architects ranked #18 among architecture-only firms <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bdcnetwork.com/community/875/People%2FFirms/42770.html |title=BD&C Giants 300 |publisher=Bdcnetwork.com |date= |accessdate=2019-07-29 |archive-date=2009-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311150314/http://www.bdcnetwork.com/community/875/People/Firms/42770.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> * Engineering News Record's "Top 500 Design Firms" – Fentress Architects ranked #29 among architecture-only firms <ref>{{cite web|url=http://enr.construction.com/people/topLists/topDesignFirm/topdesign_1-50.asp |title=ENR Top 500 Design Firms |publisher=Enr.construction.com |date= |accessdate=2019-07-29}}</ref> * Engineering News Record's "Top Airport Design Firms" – Fentress Architects ranked in top 25 firms * In 2003, Colorado Construction ranked Fentress Architects as the Top Architectural Firm in Colorado.<ref name="auto5">{{cite web|url=https://www.construction.com/toolkit/reports|title=Reports|date=Feb 8, 2017|website=www.construction.com|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019}}</ref> Fentress ranked #14 in California Construction's "Top Design Firms" in 2005.<ref name="auto5"/>
==Sustainable design==
* 1993 Architecture and Energy Award for the Natural Resources Building in Olympia, Washington.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}} * About half of the firm's design professionals are LEED accredited.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |url=http://www.architectmagazine.com/architects/the-architect-50-introduction.aspx |title=The 2009 Architect 50: Our First Annual Ranking of Top Architecture Firms - Architects, Business, Sustainability - Architect Magazine |access-date=2010-01-29 |archive-date=2012-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610152029/http://www.architectmagazine.com/architects/the-architect-50-introduction.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> * More than 60% of Fentress' projects under construction or completed in 2009 were LEED certified or pending certification.<ref name="auto"/> * 2003 LEED Gold 2.0 award for California's Department of Education Headquarters Building, which received Platinum certification in 2006 by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. It was featured as a case study in the Fall 2009 issue of High Performing Buildings.{{Citation needed|date=January 2009}}
'''LEED certified projects include, but are not limited to:'''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Project/CertifiedProjectList.aspx?CMSPageID=247|title=U.S. Green Building Council - LEED projects directory|accessdate=Jul 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219111547/http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Project/CertifiedProjectList.aspx?CMSPageID=247|archive-date=December 19, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine—LEED Gold * Green Square Complex—LEED Platinum (expected) * Palazzo Verdi—LEED Gold * San Joaquin County Administration Building—LEED Gold * Santa Fe Community Convention Center—LEED Gold * David E. Skaggs Federal Building (NOAA) * UCI Humanities Gateway — LEED Platinum * California Department of Education Headquarters—LEED Platinum
==Projects==
'''Airports''' * Denver International Airport Main Passenger Terminal, Denver, Colorado, USA *Incheon International Airport Passenger Terminal, Seoul, South Korea * Los Angeles International Airport Master Plan and International Terminal, Los Angeles, California, USA *Raleigh-Durham International Airport Terminal 2 Redevelopment, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA * Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Central Terminal Expansion Seattle, Washington, USA * Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, Terminal B San Jose, California, USA * Sacramento International Airport, Sacramento, California, USA * Doha International Airport (Tower), Doha, Qatar
'''Civic''' * Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center, Denver, Colorado, USA * California Department of Education Headquarters, Sacramento, California, USA * City of Oakland Administration Buildings, Oakland, California, USA * Clark County Government Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA * Colorado State Capitol Renovations, Denver, Colorado, USA * Jefferson County Government Center, Golden, Colorado, USA * Regional Transportation Center and Flood Control District Headquarters, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA * Sacramento City Hall, Sacramento, California, USA * San Joaquin County Administration Building, Stockton, California, USA
'''Commercial Office & Mixed-Use''' * Arraya Class A Office Tower, Kuwait City, Kuwait -- '''World's 4th tallest building completed in 2009'''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ctbuh.org/HighRiseInfo/TallestDatabase/TallestBuildingsCompleted/2009BuildingsCompleted/tabid/1353/language/en-US/Default.aspx |title=Tallest Buildings Completed in 2009 |website=ctbuh.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323041202/http://ctbuh.org/HighRiseInfo/TallestDatabase/TallestBuildingsCompleted/2009BuildingsCompleted/tabid/1353/language/en-US/Default.aspx |archive-date=2010-03-23}} </ref> * Baitek, Kuwait City, Kuwait * Dubai Mixed-Use Towers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates * Kuwait Business Town, Al Sharq, Kuwait * 1999 Broadway, Denver, Colorado, USA * 421 Broadway, Denver, Colorado, USA * Gulf Canada Resources Limited, Denver, Colorado, USA * JD Edwards & Co Corporate Campus, Denver, Colorado, USA * UniSource Energy Tower, Tucson, Arizona, USA * Palazzo Verdi Mixed-Use, Greenwood Village, Colorado, USA
'''Cultural''' * Green Square Complex, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA * Army Visitor & Education Center, Carlisle, Pennsylvania USA * Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming, USA * Draper National History Museum and Whitney Gallery, Cody, Wyoming, USA * Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts, USA * Museum of Western Art, The Navarre, Denver, Colorado, USA * National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Expansion and Renovation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA * National Museum of the Marine Corps, Quantico, Virginia, USA * National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming, USA
'''Laboratory''' * Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, La Jolla, California, USA * David E. Skaggs Research Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA * Natural Resources Building, Olympia, Washington, USA * University of Colorado Denver (UCD), Anschutz Medical Campus, Research Complex I, Aurora, Colorado, USA * UCDHSC, Anschutz Medical Campus, Research Complex II, Aurora, Colorado, USA
'''Public Assembly''' * Arvada Center Expansion, Arvada, Colorado, USA * Colorado Convention Center and Phase II Expansion, Denver, Colorado, USA * Eccles Conference Center and Peery's Egyptian Theatre, Ogden, Utah, USA * Sports Authority Field at Mile High, Denver, Colorado, USA * Palm Springs Convention Center Expansion, Palm Springs, California, USA * Pasadena Conference Center Expansion, Pasadena, California USA * Santa Fe Conference Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
'''Education''' * Tennyson Center for Children, Denver, Colorado, USA * Denver Academy High School, Denver, Colorado, USA * Mathematics Building & Gemmill Engineering Library, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, USA * Humanities Gateway, University of California, Irvine; Irvine, California, USA
'''Hotel & Residential''' * One Polo Creek, Denver, Colorado, USA * One Wynkoop Plaza, Denver, Colorado, USA * Palmetto Bay Plantation, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras * Tritch Building Renovation into Courtyard by Marriott, Denver, Colorado, USA * Watermark Luxury Residences, Denver, Colorado, USA
==Further reading==
* The Master Architect Series III, Fentress Bradburn Selected and Current Works (Australia, The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd., 1998) * Curtis Worth Fentress (Milano, Italy: L'Arca Edizioni spa, 1996) * Fentress Bradburn Architects (Washington, D.C.: Studio Press, 1996) * Gateway to the West (Australia, The Images Publishing Group Pty Ltd., 2000) * Millennium, Fentress Bradburn Selected and Current Works, Images Publishing, 2001 * Architecture in the Public Interest, Edizioni, 2001 * Civic Builders, Wiley-Academy, Great Britain, 2002. * National Museum of the Marine Corps, North Carolina State University College of Design Publication, 2006 * 10 Airports — Fentress Bradburn Architects, Edizioni Press, 2006. * Portal to the Corps, Images Publishing, 2008 * Touchstones of Design [re]defining Public Architecture, Images Publishing, 2010 * Public Architecture: The Art Inside, Oro Publishing, 2010
'''Newspaper/Magazine articles''' * "Fentress Architects' DIA work opened global doors," Denver Business Journal, December 2007 * "Fentress has designs on Denver," Denver Post, July 8, 2006 * "Civic Minded Centers," Facility Manager, August/September 2006 * "The Seoul Experience: Incheon International Airport," Airport World, summer 2006 * "Airport Architecture Taking Flight," International Airport Review, July 2001 * "Humanistic Architecture Yields Economic Benefits," Passenger Terminal World, June 2004 * "Airport Architecture: a blueprint for success," Passenger Terminal World, May 2004
==See also== * Curtis W. Fentress
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
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Category:Companies based in Denver Category:Architecture firms based in Colorado Category:American companies established in 1980 Category:1980 establishments in Colorado