Title: DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Location Current Site: Denver CO UNITED STATES

Creator Personal Name: Fentress Bradburn Architects

Creator Assoc Person Name: Diem,Benjamin

Creator Assoc Person Role: Photographer

Date.Creation: 1989-1995

Subject.Image Description: Main Terminal

Creator.Personal Name Label: Fentress Bradburn Architects

Description.Image Comments: Shot by student Ben Diem AKA DIA

Style/Period: Constructivist

Subject Image View Type: Exterior, detail

Description.Subject Report: DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, DENVER. The Denver International Airport is actually 24 miles northeast of downtown Denver, located on what was once Adams County farmland. It opened in 1994. The terminal buildings were designed by Fentress Bradburn Architects, the largest architectural firm in Colorado. This is one of the largest airports in the country. Nearly 100,000 travelers depart daily on some 1500 flights offered by 21 airlines. The 53-square-mile site is twice the size of Manhattan Island, and 2.5 million cubic yards of concrete were used in the five runways, taxiways, and aprons. The terminal building is covered by the largest integrated tensile fabric structure in the world, covering almost 660,00 square feet. The pointed roof design echoes the snowy Rocky Mountain peaks fifty miles west of the airport. Some people have also said that it resembles white tipis, the tent structures used by the Arapaho tribes who once inhabited Colorado's eastern plains. The airport's profile nevertheless achieves the memorable image envisioned by former Denver Mayor Frederico Pena, whose role in the airport project led to his position as U. S. Transportation Secretary. The roof structure also emulates a similar design by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill for the Haj Terminal Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (1982). During its seven-year development, the Denver facility was lambasted by critics for its remote site and for its delayed opening, caused chiefly by a malfunctioning, computerized baggage handling system. The project has since redeemed itself, through its light and airy interior, abundant public art, and people-friendly design. The complex features Denver's only subway, which shuttles travelers between the main terminal and three concourses. Perhaps most striking is the facility's roof system. The anchored, tensile-membrane covering is made of Teflon-coated woven fiberglass. It withstands 100-mile-per hour winds, provides interior natural lighting, and efficiently sheds snow. Stone from all over the world was used inside the terminal. Native stone included pink and gray Pikes Peak granite, and white marble from a quarry at Marble, Colorado, that provided stone for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Lincoln Memorial. The polished stone floor pattern echoes the airport's roof design and subtly reinforces passenger flow. Works of art include kinetic and fixed sculptures, humorous murals, historic photographs, gargoyles, and brass floor inlays. Sources: Roger A. Chandler, Fentress Bradburn Architects, Washington, DC: American Institute of Architects Studio Press, 1995; DIA website: infodenver.denver.co.us:80/~aviation. (Cathleen Norman, 1999)

Creator.Biography: FENTRESS BRADBURN ARCHITECTS.
This architectural firm, headquartered in Denver, was formed in 1980. Since then, its principals, Curtis W. Fentress and James H. Bradburn, along with their large staff, have designed buildings in 33 U.S. states and several foreign countries. Among those are many of the Denver metropolitan area's most prominent new structures: Fiddler's Green Amphitheater, Englewood (1985); 1999 Broadway Building, Denver (1985); Denver Permit Center, Denver Civic Center (1989); the Colorado Convention Center, Denver (1990); Denver International Airport Passenger Terminal Complex (1991-94); the Gemmil Mathematics Library and Engineering Sciences Building, University of Colorado at Boulder (1992); Jefferson County Courts and Administration Building, Golden (1992); and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Headquarters, Boulder (1992-98). Among the significant renovated structures in Denver designed by the firm are the Kittridge Building (1982); the Museum of Western Art (1983); and the Black American West Museum (1987). Fentress Bradburn has received more than 100 design awards, honors, and citations. These include dozens of awards from the American Institute of Architects, and the 1993 award for the Natural Resources Building in Olympia, Washington, from the Architecture and Energy Building Excellence program.
Curtis Fentress, who was born in 1947, received a B.Arch. degree from North Carolina State University in 1972. He apprenticed in the offices of I.M. Pei (1972-77) and Kohn Pederson Fox (1977-1980). In 1980, he formed a partnership with James Bradburn. Fentress is the principal-in-charge of design. In 1993, he was president of the Colorado Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
James Bradburn was born in 1944. He studied at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he earned a Bachelor of Building Science in 1965 and a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1967. Prior to coming to Denver, he was a designer with Vincent G. Kling and Associates (1967-68) and a project architect with Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates (1968-1980). Bradburn, an expert in the area of architectural technology, is the principal-in- charge of production in the firm.
Source: Roger A. Chandler. Fentress Bradburn Architects.. Washington, D.C. American Institute of Architects Studio Press, 1995.
(Joan Draper, 1998)

ID Number.Former Image Accession VISC: 33726

Date.Image: 1993

Rights Description: Copyright owned by The Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate, and the photographer. All rights reserved.

Creator.Comments: Curtis W. Fentress USA B. October 26, 1947, and James H. Bradburn USA B. December 1945.

Collection Name: Architecture and Planning Collection

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