David Coleman Architecture

DAVID COLEMAN / ARCHITECTURE is an award winning design firm focusing on distinguished projects for residential, commercial and institutional clients. Our projects are rooted in sustainability, innovation and vision. We believe that design is much more than the application of style or the simple fulfillment of basic needs. Each design is custom tailored to the sensibilities of our clients and the particularities of the site. Our goal is to create environments that transcend the mundane, inspire the senses and nurture the soul.

Three primary themes guide our work; Light, Place and Time. Together they define an architecture that is visually brilliant in its use of natural and artificial light, deeply rooted in its’ cultural and physical landscape, and highly expressive of our moment in history.

By maintaining a small studio, we are able to select the projects that best fit our skills and interests, and provide our clients with a high level of personal attention. We offer a holistic approach to design and incorporate a broad range of services, including interior, furniture, landscape and urban design, in addition to architectural design. This allows us to provide our clients with a thematic continuity of vision not often seen in this age of specialization.

Born and raised in New York, David Coleman, FAIA, studied fine arts and environmental design at Pratt Institute before taking up architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design. He completed his studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, focusing on residential and community design.

David has over 30 years of experience in the field and has completed buildings and projects in eight states. Early in his career, David worked in the office of AIA Gold Medalist Michael Graves. He started his own firm in Vermont in 1986 and in the Northwest in 1996. He is a registered architect and is NCARB certified for reciprocity in all fifty states.

David’s work has received numerous design awards and been widely published in books, magazines and on-line, including Architectural Digest, Architectural Record, Metropolitan Home, The New York Times, and Pacific Northwest. In 1990 he won a prominent commission in the highly acclaimed town of Seaside, Florida. In 1991 he was named one of the 100 foremost architects in the world by Architectural Digest. In 2006 he won the Design Achievement Award for Architecture. In 2011, he was elevated to the American Institute of Architects prestigious College of Fellows, in light of his “significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level”.

David has served on an advisory board for the “House as Architecture” program at the University of Washington, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, where he has lectured, served as guest critic and taught graduate design studio. He has served on a number of advisory boards and committees over the years including the Solar Association of Vermont, the Burlington Waterfront Board, and Allied Arts of Seattle, where he was co-chair of the Urban Environments Committee. In 1989 he was invited to speak at the Governor’s Conference on Design & the Built Environment at the Vermont State Capital. An active member of the American Institute of Architects, David has spoken at AIA events and is past co-chair of the AIA Honor Awards for Washington Architecture program.