Meghan Dufresne, LEED AP

Submitted by anoopa on Fri, 09/28/2018 - 15:46
Architectural Designer and Lecturer
Phone Number
Meghan Dufresne

Meghan is an architecture designer at IHCD with over 15 years of experience within the architectural realm at firms around the Boston area. Her childhood experience of using a wheelchair has driven her fascination with inclusive design and the complex relationship between people and their environment. She has experience working on environmentally and socially sustainable, multi-sensory, institutional, healthcare, commercial, religious, cultural, manufacturing, laboratory, industrial and residential projects. 

Meghan's projects at IHCD have included design of accessible units at the Mission Park apartment complex, developing a group home for formerly institutionalized people with disabilities outside of Bucharest, Romania in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, and accessibility analyses and recommendations for MBTA Green Line and Commuter Rail projects, Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts State House, Boston City Hall, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Stonehill College and Georgia Institute of Technology, DCR parks throughout Massachusetts, the City of Somerville, the College of the Holy Cross and several community colleges around Massachusetts. She has managed ADA transition plans for cities across Massachusetts, including Everett, Andover, Pittsfield and Longmeadow and worked on transition plans for Taunton, East Longmeadow, and Arlington. Meghan has worked on editing articles for the National Endowment of the Arts website, developed a course on training people with disabilities to analyze floor plans as part of the New England ADA Center, and worked as a construction monitor as part of Massachusetts' Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation. 

In 2005, Meghan received an accelerated master's degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in Architecture on a full scholarship. Prior to this degree, she received a bachelor's degree in English Literature with a minor in Visual Arts from Boston University and worked in the publishing industry. Her research into restroom design, history, psychology and culture during architecture school has been recorded into the Congressional Record and presented in several publications, including the book "Ladies and Gents: Public Toilets and Gender." She has been published in Dwell magazine online as part of a design competition, taught at Suffolk University's Interior Design Department, and is a LEED Accredited Professional. Her thesis focused on blending architecture with nature and using microclimatic strategies to enhance the health and well-being of building users.