Architect Curtis Fentress grew up and went to school in North Carolina and started his career in New York City at the offices of acclaimed architect I. M. Pei. While working at Pei’s office, Fentress became fascinated with large-scale public projects like city halls, judicial centers, courthouses, university buildings, and medical centers. He began working with a new studio, Kohn Pedersen Fox, and moved to Denver to work on the firm’s design of the Chase Tower, a skyscraper located on 17th street in downtown Denver. Three years later, he decided to start his own firm, C. W. Fentress and Associates, and in 1988, he launched Fentress and Bradburn Architects with partner James H. Bradburn. Their architecture firm is now known as Fentress Architects. It was likely the success of their Colorado Convention Center design—which proved their ability to work on complex civic projects with many stakeholders—that led to the commission to design the new Denver International Airport.

A team of three model makers at Fentress and Bradburn Architects made this concept model of the passenger terminal to show the innovative roof design to city officials before it was built. Most model makers come from highly skilled trade backgrounds like fabricating and woodworking, and typically apprentice with other experienced model makers. Throughout the design process, architects use various methods to test out their ideas and solutions to unique project challenges. For the Denver International Airport, architects constructed models by hand and on the computer and also built models like this one.

Denver International Airport opened in 1995, replacing Stapleton International Airport as Denver’s travel hub. It became the fifth busiest airport in the United States and the tenth busiest in the world by 2010. It is a “greenfield” airport, meaning it was a new design built on open space rather than an expansion (or modernization) of an older airport. This model represents Fentress’s first airport commission, one that led to others worldwide.

The Fentress team was originally brought on as the project architects for this airport, which meant they were primarily responsible for the construction drawings and other details. It wasn’t until the project was over budget and behind schedule that they were given an opportunity to come up with their own design proposal.

One of the design principles of the Fentress architecture firm is to “use context to create identity.” Its connection to the local setting is a central feature of this iconic airport. The dramatic peaked roof echoes the angular forms of the nearby Rocky Mountains. Huge glass window walls on either end of the terminal let in natural light and give visitors sweeping views of the surrounding landscape.

In describing the particular challenges and unique qualities of this airport, architect Curtis Fentress explains, “Yes, we created a metaphor for the mountains, and, yes, we related it to place. We had the idea of embracing the light, which was very special at this location. But there was also a lot of problem-solving. . . we flipped the building upside down to make it work.” Flipping the building upside down is quite literally what Fentress ended up doing with the design. To make the building more economically and environmentally efficient, the designers used a lightweight and relatively inexpensive material for the roof structure—which created open, lofty spaces in the interior of the building—and moved the heavy infrastructure to below ground.