As a founding partner of Gibson Taylor Thompson, Darren's work in the field mainly deals with the adaptive reuse of historic structures or contemporary additions to historic structures along with new construction work across various use types.  With over fifteen years in the design and building trade, he brings a wealth of experience to his endeavors.  Darren holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Kentucky, a Master of Architecture degree and a Certificate in Historic Preservation, both from the University of Pennsylvania.  Darren is a current Governor appointed member of the Kentucky Historic Properties Advisory Commission and serves on several local design and preservation based boards and committees. 

Darren also serves as an instructor in the Historic Preservation department at the University of Kentucky College of Design.  His pedagogy in the classroom is focused on the erosion of “glass box” preservation ideals and the theory that what is old isn’t always important and what is important isn’t always old.  Darren is always pushing his students to look at found objects as malleable elements where opportunities for contemporary space can be infused and complementary.  Darren has presented these ideals on the state level, most recently at the 2014 Governor’s Mansion symposium in his speech entitled “The Preservation and Valuation of Public Buildings as our Shared Heritage – Owning Everyone’s Architecture”.  He also pushes his students to assess and derive value out of the vernacular moments in found architectures and environments using Kentucky as a laboratory for that pursuit.