KAREN VAN LENGEN
RESUME | ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS | UVA DEAN | PEOPLE
Karen Van Lengen, FAIA, is the Kenan Professor of Architecture and former Dean (1999-2009) of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia and founder of Karen Van Lengen Architects.
Karen Van Lengen’s current research focuses on the exploration of sound and communication as an integral part of the architectural design process. As a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities, she and her partner James Welty developed SOUNDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE, a multidisciplinary set of projects that analyze and creatively interpret site specific sounds of iconic architectural spaces. Her animations with Welty, have been exhibited internationally and are now housed in the permanent collections of major museums.
Van Lengen began her professional career as an Associate of I.M. Pei & Partners before founding her own award-winning firm in New York City. (See portfolio of selected works)
As Dean of the School of Architecture (1999-2009), she initiated a decade long discussion on the relation between ethics and aesthetics. She created the legendary Campbell Constructions Projects that utilized her own faculty to physically transform the School, built upon the values and ethos of that community. She introduced and taught courses on communicative architecture related to space and sound. At the University level, she founded “Women’s Work, a monthly interdisciplinary group that sponsored woman’s research discussions from different University Schools. She worked with the Vice-President for University Research to launch a pan University initiative that advanced the shared research of ecology and climate change mitigation, along with the launching of University wide courses for all students.
Van Lengen has authored several books, including Cityscapes, Urgent Matters, and Vassar College: A Campus Guide, (co-author, Lisa Reilly) as well as numerous articles.
She holds a B.A. from Vassar College in Psychology, and a MArch from Columbia University.