Nicole Hetherington, Assoc. AIA

Associate Director (2024)

Nichole is a project captain at ZDS. As Growing member of ZDS Team gaining experience in a range of architectural fields, her current primary focus is on boutique hotels and smaller multi family buildings. While at ZDS and pursuing her path to licensure, she is also active member in the local architecture community and was named a 2019 Rhode Island Wavemaker Fellow.

Nicole’s previous professional practice has encompassed research-dense projects including a community master plan in Fond-desc-Blanc, Haiti, where she travelled frequently as well as a ferry infrastructure network along the Ganga River in India.

Having a unique background in maritime industry, Nicole’s professional practice has been shaped early on by her previous experience of working on merchant ships. For over two years she was the Third Engineer (Unlimited Horse Power) abroad the NOAA Ship Henry B.Bigelow home ported in Newport’s Navy Base.it was here in this environment. She still holds her USCG Third Assistant Engineer license as active and has sailed two sea terms abroad NY Maritime’s Training Ship as Engineering Officer & Watch-Stander where she was an engineering instructor to 2nd class cadets.

Throughout Nicole’s diverse career she has developed strong ability to synthesize ideas and her knowledge and background of systems has enabled her to develop a strong ability to communicate complex concepts and conclusions.

Nicole graduated magna cum laude from Boston Architectural College in 2017. She holds a Master of Architecture as well as Bachelor of Engineering from New York Maritime College(2012).Her graduating master’s thesis, which focused on designing an artist village on Block island, won the 2017 Alumni Thesis Award and was commended as a 2017 Thesis Prize Nominee.in the summer 2016 she won a full scholarship to attend Fontainebleau school to Music and Architecture in France where she studied art, music and architecture in an intensive 6 week studio. She is an active alumnus, returning to the BAC as a thesis critic to senior students every summer.

Nicole resides with her husband, Justin ,and their shetland sheepdog, Aida, in a duplex style home the couple designed and built in Providence’s West End neighborhood.