PDT Architects Names Brian Curley as New President
As part of a long-planned transition, effective March 14, Brian M. Curley, AIA, LEED AP, is assuming the titles and duties of president and managing principal of PDT Architects. He succeeds David C. Webster, AIA, LEED AP, a founding principal who has led the firm for 38 years. Webster will continue in an advisory role, running the federal/VA healthcare market sector while Curley heads the corporate/financial/housing sectors.
Both principals are active in the community. Curley is a vice president of the Maine Real Estate and Development Association (MEREDA) and received its President’s Award in 2013 and 2015. Webster is a past president of the AIA Maine chapter and current president of the board of directors of GrowSmart Maine, where he has been a member of the board since 2012.
Brian Curley holds a B. Arch. from the Boston Architectural College and worked at several Boston and Portland architectural firms before joining PDT in 1996. He was named principal in 2003. His most prominent local projects include Meetinghouse Lofts, a condo conversion of the former Roosevelt School in South Portland; 179 John Roberts Road, the Sappi corporate headquarters; Gorham Municipal Center; and new and renovated branches for Cumberland County, TruChoice, and Casco Federal Credit Unions.
Webster holds a B. Arch. from Miami University and a certificate in mediation from USM. His most prominent local projects are the renovation of Portland’s U.S. Marine Hospital for Martin’s Point Health Care, for which he received a Special Preservation Honor Award from Greater Portland Landmarks and a State Historic Preservation Honor Award from Maine Preservation; the Scarborough (Maine) Public Library; the Androscoggin Valley Medical Arts building in Livermore Falls; and the OA Sports Center in Saco.
David C. Webster founded the firm (then known as Portland Design Team) with Lyndon D. Keck, AIA, LEED AP, in 1977 on Exchange Street in Portland. Keck continues as a principal of the firm and leader of the education studio, as do Alan G. Kuniholm, AIA, LEED AP, education and courthouses, and Ann Fontaine-Fisher, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, who specializes in healthcare design.
The firm quickly gained a reputation for participatory design of public buildings and found a strong niche in the planning and design of public schools. Under Webster’s leadership, the firm has concentrated on integrating building science with design, becoming a Maine leader in high-performance design and historic preservation. Webster began to build the health care design sector in the 1990s and has been working almost exclusively in healthcare, especially for the VA, since the early 2000s. Since being named a principal in 2003, Curley has strengthened PDT’s office/interiors/housing practices with clients such as UNUM, MEMIC, J.B. Brown & Sons, Westbrook Housing, and Anew Real Property Development.
PDT Architects is a full-service design firm with special expertise in high-performance architecture for education, health care, institutional, housing, and corporate projects. Prominent projects in planning include a new Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham; a new K-8 school in Caribou; and 2 floors of 161 Marginal Way in Portland for two local healthcare clients. Other recent built projects include the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta, which opened in 2015; Pearl Place II, a LEED-Platinum housing project in Portland; and Mt. Blue Campus, a LEED-Certified academic and technical high school in Farmington.