DAVID W. McCULLOUGH, PLA, ASLA

Principal

A graduate of Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, David formed McCullough Landscape Architecture as a sole proprietorship in 1999 while consulting for another San Diego firm. After wife and partner, Catherine joined the business in 2001 and became Chief Executive Officer and President in 2002; the firm became a woman-owned corporation and a certified Small Business by the State of California. 

As principal landscape architect, David oversees all aspects of the design and production of firm projects at McCullough. He serves as head designer on all projects and maintains quality control on all work completed. Previous projects have earned awards and recognition in several national publications. 

David finds time in his schedule to take leadership in creative organizations such as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) San Diego Urban Design Committee. He finds it inspiring to take part in such a diverse mix of creative minds while bringing them together to share with the public their wild ideas. 

In addition, David was appointed by Mayor Kevin Faulconer to serve on the Historical Resources Board as Chair, which governs the identification, protection, retention and preservation of historical sites in San Diego. In addition, he has been invited to serve on the city’s Code Monitoring Team (CMT).

Residents of San Diego for over 24 years, David and wife, Catherine live in the community of North Park. Family life is important for David in order to keep a work/life balance. In addition to spending weekends going on desert dirt-bike rides or hikes throughout San Diego County, you can find him backpacking all over the beautiful state of California.

A little known fact about David is he has had a life-long goal of climbing all 12 of California’s Fourteeners (peaks at 14,000+ feet). So far, he’s accomplished just about half of them!