David Pillsbury, FAIBD, is the principal designer and leads the design division for the Total Solutions Group in Maitland, Florida. He holds Certified Professional Building Designer (CPBD) and Certified Green Professional (CGP) designations.
The Total Solutions Group combines Keesee Associates and FDS Engineering and both companies are in Metro Orlando. The Total Solutions Group is a full‐service A&E studio serving the Southeast Builders since 1992.
Before joining Keesee Associates in 2005, David owned and operated his firm in Ocala, Florida, from 1994 to 2005.
Drafting and Design is the only profession David has ever had after entering the workforce in 1984. His knowledge of construction and the importance of communicating the Design through clean, accurate plans was learned in the field as he watched the masters of trades. With his experience drafting, David provided estimating, purchasing, field observation, and building code alignment as a project manager and was responsible for constructing over two‐hundred homes.
AIBD Involvement
David joined the American Institute of Building Design in 2001. He served on the AIBD Florida Society board of directors for 14‐years, with 5‐years on the executive committee and 3‐terms as society president.
David then served on the AIBD National Board of Directors with 2‐terms as AIBD National President. David was recognized as the 2015 Designer of the Year for the American Institute of Building Design.
He served on multiple AIBD committees through the years, most notably the AIBD Student Chapter Committee. He helped usher in the next generation of building designers by developing student chapters across the United States. David was honored to be conferred to the AIBD College of Fellows in 2016.
Background
David’s journey in design started early through art and music. He learned to play the keyboard and first performed live to a crowd at age‐6. David’s grandfather taught him the art of pastels, where he won his first art competition in the third grade with pastel on canvas of Jonathan Livingston Seagal.
As David’s design interests deepened, he constantly searched for ways to improve and become better every day. Then, the Florida Society AIBD partnered with the Institute of Classical Architecture (ICA) in 2001 for lectures and hands‐on field instruction. This instruction taught the importance of massing, scale, and proportion and forever changed how David thought about design. He continues today to utilize his classical training in every aspect of his work.
David’s areas of expertise:
- Home Design ‐ utilizing the best flow and space management, enabling the most efficient design regardless of size.
- Classical Design and Aesthetic – making the overall design a little bit better using twenty years plus of training with classical systems.
- AutoCAD – with over 30‐years experience with the program, David uses AutoCAD as freely as the air he breathes for schematic design, space planning, proportion studies, and documentation.
- SketchUp – since the 3d program was introduced in the early 2000s, David has utilized the workspace for everything from early massing studies and communicating the design intent, all of the ways through to photo‐realistic renderings.