Karen Sutin (she/her/hers)

ksutin@pcadesign.com

Karen is motivated by socially and environmentally conscious architecture, as well as by the power of architecture to accommodate increasing city population density through the revitalization of community spaces.

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Karen in a nutshell

  • I’m from  Israel.

  • My education  M.Arch, Boston Architectural College; BSc, Business, UConn

  • Notable accomplishments/awards  Black belt in karate

  • Community service  Actively volunteer with PCA around Cambridge; also volunteer for a few Jewish organizations in Boston

  • Why PCA?  I like being a part of the PCA team because of PCA's team approach to projects. We have a strong focus on humanistic design, aiming to place human welfare at the heart of the art and science of building/environmental design.

  • A project I’m proud of  The McElwain School adaptive reuse project. I enjoy working on adaptive reuse projects. They're different than new construction because you get to learn all about the history of a building and what it provided to the community in the past. I'm also proud of this project because of the affordable housing element, and having the opportunity to support the developers in their pursuit to create more opportunities for equitable housing.

  • Building or place I wish I designed  NYC in the 1960s. I have read a lot about the stances of urban planners Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses and how they envisioned master planning in NYC should have been done. I lean towards Jacobs' ideologies, which are more humanistic and include the community in the process of planning.

  • I love Cambridge because  it's more environmentally friendly than Boston: we have better bike lanes and there is a citywide effort to compost!

  • Favorite book  Lessons of the Lotus: Practical Spiritual Teachings of a Travelling Buddhist Monk, by Bhante Wimala

  • My personal motto  “That is the key to navigating this life—don’t take it too seriously. That’s when the party begins.” ~ RuPaul (a personal hero of mine)