David was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, where his father, a mechanical engineer, operates his own metal fabricating company. David learned the trade as a teenager, and found that he enjoyed welding and putting things together with his hands – except for “the greasy part.”

He also liked to draw and in high school his godfather recommended him to a friend who ran an architectural firm. David taught himself AutoCad, an early design technology, and shared his knowledge with his older colleagues. After high school, he attended the Caribbean School of Architecture at the University of Technology in St. Andrew, earning his Bachelors and Masters in architecture. He continues to be in the first wave of those who embrace emerging and evolving design technologies and 3D software such as Revit.

After working for firms in Jamaica and Florida, he joined Centerbrook in 2006 and has contributed to academic, cultural, and corporate projects, among them the national headquarters of Welltower in Ohio, the Addison Gallery of American Art in Massachusetts, and more recently the Outpatient Pavilion and Academic Entrance Building at UConn Health. He was named an associate principal in 2019.

In Jamaica, one of his most successful projects was for a friend: “I enjoy residential design because you interact directly with the people who will be using the building. In this case it was with a friend. I was in the field while the house was being built, working with the carpenter and the mason, and it really opened my eyes to how your design gets implemented on the ground. To me the spaces inside are the most important because that’s where people live. The best part is that the homeowner and I are still friends.”

• LEED AP BD+C accredited, 2007
• JIA (Jamaican Institute of Architects) professional, 2012
• Races circuit cars
• Black belt in Karate