David was an art student, standing on the shore of Lake Michigan, when he realized that architecture was what he was about. At the time he was working on a video art installation – camped out with a tarp and blanket, in the fall, on a public beach – and had ample time to contemplate the vast organic form that is Chicago.

"I saw that architecture could collapse the distance between object and patron," David says. "Something I had been working toward previously through video, installation, and sculpture."

David proceeded to earn his bachelor's degree in architecture at Cooper Union and his master's at the Yale School of Architecture, where his interest in the relationship between the built and the natural world led him to take a number of courses at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (in a building that Centerbrook helped to design).

After working for two Connecticut firms, he joined Centerbrook in 2013 and has been on design teams developing a three-campus master plan for Quinnipiac University and sports facilities for field hockey, lacrosse, and soccer.

He continues to sculpt, paint, and plan installations, including one that would combine design with one of his pastimes: beekeeping.

• Has worked as a carpenter and a mason
• Conversant in the latest digital design programs
• Overly ambitious gentleman farmer
• Enjoys longboarding and Tai Chi