Public Architecture. The Art Inside

Public Architecture: The Art Inside spans the 30 year history of Denver, Colorado-based Fentress Architects, an international design firm that passionately pursues the creation of sustainable and iconic public architecture. This monograph examines the creative working process, tracing artistic influences and references fashion, poetry, music, dance and related disciplines. Fentress is internationally known for an innovative, award-winning design portfolio of international airports, national museums, world-class convention centers, courthouses and government buildings, high-rise office and mixed use towers, laboratories, higher education facilities, and luxury multi-family residences.

About the Authors:

Curtis Fentress was born in North Carolina, and graduated with honors from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. After leaving a position with I.M. Pei, Fentress joined the newly formed firm Kohn Pedersen Fox to continue his pursuit of large-scale public projects while striving to bring humanism to civic buildings. In the late 1970s, KPF sent him to Denver as project designer for a 36-story tower in Denver. In 1980, Building Design and Construction magazine named Fentress “Young Professional of the Year.” Also that year, Fentress founded his own firm and later was awarded the opportunity to design Denver International Airport, which propelled him into the international realm. DIA, Incheon International Airport and numerous museums, convention centers and other civic buildings have earned Fentress Architects more than 300 awards for innovation and design excellence. Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, is the 2010 winner of the American Institute of Architects’ Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest honor in public architecture worldwide.

Mary Voelz Chandler has pursued a long career writing for newspapers, magazines and books. She worked as an editor at The Miami Herald, covered the Rocky Mountain West for People magazine, and for more than 20 years was art and architecture critic for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. Her interest in the relationship of art, architecture, preservation and people inspired coverage that has won numerous awards for reporting and criticism. A native of St. Louis, Mo., Chandler is a graduate of the journalism school at the University of Missouri.