Fentress Architects - Awards and Honors

Awards and Honors

Highest award for public architecture: Curtis Fentress will be honored in 2010 by the American Institute of Architects AIA Awards website with the highest award for public architecture, the Thomas Jefferson Award. The Jefferson Award recognizes Fentress for “a portfolio of accomplishments that evidences great depth while making a significant contribution to the quality of public architecture.” The award is a testament to Fentress’ vision, design philosophy and excellence in public architecture for the past 40 years. In the last 18 years since the Jefferson Award was first bestowed, only 7 architects have been recognized in the ‘private-sector architect’ category.

Best Firm to Work For: Fentress ranked as a “Hot Firm” and a “Best Firm to Work For” finalist by ZweigWhite.

Best Managed: Fentress ranked as 1 of only 11 best-managed architecture firms, the “Circle of Excellence,” by PSMJ | Resources Inc.

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.

World’s Most Beautiful Airports:

• Incheon International Airport

"Since its opening in 2001, Incheon, designed by Denver's Fentress Architects, has been a frequent presence at the number one spot on lists of the world's best airports. Not only is it efficient and welcoming, it is intended to be a showcase of Korean culture. The bow of the roofline emulates a traditional Korean temple, the arrival hallways are lined with 5,000 years of Korean artifacts, and the airport's wildly biomorphic train terminal is one of the few places on earth that still looks genuinely futuristic."

• Denver International Airport

"Denver's airport, routinely voted the best airport in North America by business travelers, is beloved for its billowing roofline. The product of a hasty sketch by Denver-based architect Curtis Fentress, who had three short weeks to cook up a design concept, the airport features a Teflon-coated tensile fabric roof—the world's largest when the airport opened in 1995—and looks like a village of giant white tepees. The airport is at its most beautiful when you approach by air from the east and see the glowing man-made peaks silhouetted against the Rockies."

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. Arraya is one of 14 high rises in Fentress’ design portfolio in the Persian Gulf.