Co-owner of the Marietta, Georgia-based Design Directions International (DDI)—which he started with his partner, Sherry Decker, in 1991—the ASID-accredited designer has personally overseen more than 400 hotel- and country club-related projects, and his firm is consistently listed among the top 50 hospitality-design firms in the United States. It’s an achievement brought about in part through McDowell’s passion for his life’s work and his sensitivities to the world’s various regions and cultures. Here he speaks candidly with gb&d about what fuels his drive.