about

Michelle Todd

Principal Architect

Michelle Todd is an architect and urban community activist who has a longstanding passion for socially responsive, innovatively progressive and restorative preservation design. Michelle grew up in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in the 1970s before it was hip, in one of Mayor John Lindsay’s modular housing developments. She knew she wanted to be an architect at ten and had big plans for the empty lot across from her apartment building.

It was the beginning of her interest in Urban Planning and how socially responsive architecture can do something positive for people and the planet. After a brief stint at Perkins Eastman, she opened her own firm M. Todd Architect, in Brooklyn in 2008 working on historic renovations and additions in order to work more directly with clients and be closer to the construction process. She has worked on landmark designated buildings, bakeries, restaurants, school projects and completed dexterous renovations which push the envelope of the expected, creating simple beautiful spaces. M. Todd Architect is an award-winning design firm which received the New York Landmark Conservancy 2024 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award for the Ridges Residences.

Michelle has a Master of Science from Columbia University GSAPP in Architecture and Urban Design where she was awarded the Lucille Smyser Lowenfish Honors Award for work in Urban Design. Master Planning of Community Developments is an initiative she is well versed in accomplishing. She has a Living Future Accreditation (LFA) with the International Living Future Institute. In addition, the firm is a member of USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council). She also studied classical design elements at École de Beaux-Arts in Fontainebleau, France. She is an adjunct Professor at New York City CUNY College and a licensed architect in New York State and Maryland.