Firm’s 80th anniversary inspires name change to celebrate its legacy while looking to the future

Commemorating its 80th anniversary, CTA Architects Engineers is pleased to announce that the firm is changing its name to Cushing Terrell. The name and brand refresh celebrate the firm’s legacy and core values while looking to the future. Founded in Billings, Montana in 1938 by Ralph Cushing and Everett Terrell, the firm was established on a shared belief that integrating architecture, engineering, and design would open the doors for deepened relationships and enhanced creativity. That belief continues to define the firm today.

“At our core, we help people develop solutions through the design and delivery of unique, thoughtful, responsible environments,” President Scott Wilson explains. “It all stems from our mission to invent a better way of living.”

Over the past two decades, Cushing Terrell has grown well beyond its mountain-region roots and expanded across the country, opening offices in Seattle, Washington; Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and New Orleans, Louisiana, among others. Now with 13 offices in six states (and plans to open an Atlanta, Georgia office early next year), and more than 430 team members working in 30-plus disciplines, the firm is well-positioned to meet the demands of a broad spectrum of projects in a rapidly changing world. The firm’s work encompasses a wide range of market sectors, including commercial, government, education, living, healthcare, and retail, as well as specialty services such as advanced refrigeration engineering. Offering the value of a small, local firm backed by large-firm resources, Cushing Terrell was engaged in the design of projects totaling more than $800 million in total construction in 2018.

Recognized with hundreds of awards since its founding, the firm is ranked number 17 out of forty on Building Design+Construction magazine’s 2019 engineering architecture list. Known for its focus on client relationships and an engaging approach to the design process, the firm draws upon its rich heritage for inspiration as it looks to the future, strengthening a commitment to environmental stewardship and innovative design practices. “We wanted our name and visual branding to better reflect who we are today and where we are headed,” Shannon Christensen, Associate Principal, states. “The potential for architects, engineers, and designers to positively impact our world is stronger than ever today, and Cushing Terrell team members have risen to the challenge,” she adds.

The firm supports a variety of internal and community-focused initiatives to support diversity, equity, and sustainability, including the Green Advocacy Council and Culture Ambassador program. “We see a bright future, where by working to forever improve, we are better able to help our clients realize their visions and make the world we all share a better place,” Wilson says.

Signature work from the firm’s 80 years of service includes more than three decades of healthcare design work with Billings Clinic, an increasingly progressive commercial partnership with Stockman Bank, and more recently, invaluable client relationships that helped launch the firm to a national presence such as Dell, Amazon, Target, and Google, among others. Some of the firm’s notable accomplishments include design of the first LEED v4 Platinum office building in Montana and the nation’s first ammonia/CO2 cascade refrigeration system used in a grocery store. Among Cushing Terrell’s many current projects are sustainable office environments for Google, high school and higher education facilities across Wyoming and Montana, and government projects across the United States and around the world.

To learn more about Cushing Terrell and our mission to forever improve, visit cushingterrell.com.