Curtis started his career at Wells + Associates after graduating top of his class from Iowa State University in 2007. While there,  he helped lead over a dozen major educational institution projects across the spectrum of K-12 schools. He also worked on several single and multi-family residential projects, and became knowledgeable of state-licensed daycare, nursing facilities, assisted living, and other related healthcare clinics.

Curtis became a LEED accredited professional in 2008 and received his architectural registration in 2011. He is now a licensed architect in Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Curtis has been involved in several boards and local organizations, including serving as the recent president for the Central Iowa Architects Section and as a member of the editorial board for Iowa Architect magazine.

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Since forming Studio MELEE in 2014, Curtis has led multiple projects of various types, including libraries, offices for both public and private organizations, retail, restaurants, bars, churches, synagogues, single-family residential, multi-family residential, and educational institutions. Having now worked on over 250 projects of varying size and scope, he has become efficient and skilled at delivering functional and code-compliant designs that exceed expectations for our clients. His proficiency in creative design implementation has given him the ability to consistently deliver solutions to our clients that are budget conscious, efficiently managed and beautifully executed.

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Curtis’ core design belief is that every project and solution he provides is a design opportunity, no matter the scale, context, client or budget. Many times, a simple gesture or detail can become the most inspirational and delightful piece within a project that might otherwise have no inherent elegance or reason to peak someones interest.