Derek joined The Freelon Group in 2002, where he has led numerous large scale commercial, institutional and cultural projects first as an Associate and then as an Associate Principal since 2007. By melding design excellence with strategic planning, Derek helps clients realize their vision, exemplified by many of Freelon’s award-winning projects, including The Museum of the African Diaspora, the Central Regional Hospital, and Durham Station Transportation Center.
As head of Freelon’s Project Management Group, Derek oversees the service and execution aspects of our practice, ensuring that management continuously supports superior design and personalized attention to our clients. Derek brings to Freelon years of high-profile international design work with prominent multinational clients from Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to Hewlett Packard and Universal Music Vivendi. Derek’s hands-on approach ensures that a project’s strategic vision is effectively realized.
With his years of international service and cross-cultural knowledge, Derek has a particular expertise in cultural and museum project types. Whether bridging cultural differences for transnational clients or translating cultural diversity and questions of identity into the architectural experience of a museum, Derek is dedicated to building collaborative solutions to complex issues.
Derek earned his Master of Architecture from Princeton University and his Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University. Derek has served as an adjunct teacher at Princeton University and continues to teach at Duke University.
Prior to joining Freelon, Derek worked in the offices of Aldo Rossi, Daniel Libeskind, Michael Graves, David Chipperfield, and Gensler’s Tokyo and Hong Kong offices. Derek’s language proficiency in Chinese and Japanese and international perspective facilitate his ability to guide and execute projects for clients with broad regional or global strategies. Derek is a LEED Accredited Professional, and a member of the American Institute of Architects and the American Association of Museums.