FUTURE EXPANSION - Key Persons
Deirdre McDermott (AIA) received her B.Arch from the Cornell University School of Architecture. Prior to establishing FE, she worked in the offices of SOM, CCS and, most recently, as a Director at Moed de Armas & Shannon (MdeAS). At MdeAS, she led projects for major developers in New York working on commercial properties and privately owned public spaces throughout the city. Deirdre is a registered architect in New York State.
Experience
Future Expansion has an enthusiastic attitude for the creation of new architectural and urban possibilities and a desire to generate a new body of work for, and from, a changing city. The firm's work has won awards locally and nationally and FE is a 2023 recipient of Architectural Record's Design Vanguard.
In the early days of independent practice the office won an open RFP from the Brooklyn Academy of Music to develop an empty lot in the BAM Cultural District with a large-scale public art installation. The project, which involved collaborations with structural consultants, a contractor, an upstate sustainable materials start-up, a Brooklyn based painter, and a team of first year architecture students from Pratt, opened in June 2012. The office was also a finalist for adAPT NYC, an open RFP issued by the New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to build a high quality and affordable housing model for New York's growing population of single-person households and was the winner of the Van Alen Institute's annual invited competition for a temporary installation at the Flatiron Building's north plaza.
Nicholas McDermott (RA, LEED AP) received his BA in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.Arch from the Yale University School of Architecture. At Yale he was awarded the James Gamble Rogers Fellowship and the David Taylor Memorial Prize. He is currently on the faculty at Yale where he teaches graduate level design studios. Nicholas is a registered architect in New York State, is a LEED Accredited Professional, and serves on the Board of Directors at Design Advocates.