About VIA Design, Ltd. Architecture and Sustainable Design

Registered architect Karen L. Sullivan has more than twenty years of experience in designing and managing retail, hospitality, and sustainable design projects for a range of national and international clients across numerous industries.

Karen is a LEED Accredited Professional and member of the U.S. Green Building Council. She is also a Trustee and Vice President of the Mariemont Preservation Foundation.

Karen's work has been widely praised in numerous architectural digests, including Visual Merchandising and Store Design, Lodging, Chain Store Age, and CSA by Design.

Karen is also a gifted teacher and has extensive university experience, serving as adjunct professor for sustainable design and construction at Colorado State University's Maho Bay project in the US Virgin Islands, teaching Interior Design studios at Miami University in Miami, Ohio, and as professor in the school of fine arts at the College of Mt. St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio.  She is currently teaching Biomimicry at UMASS Boston.

With a bachelor's in architecture from the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning, Karen has worked at world-class architecture and design firms. Prior to starting her own firm, VIA, she was director of Hospitality and Specialty Retail Studios at FRCH Design Worldwide (Cincinnati, OH), where her clients included Mandalay Resort Group, Marriott International, Wilsons Leather, Frisch's, Residence Inn, Karlo's Bistro and The International Spy Museum.  She also earned her Master's of Arts in Liberal Studies from the University of North Carolina, with a focus on global sustainability.

She has also worked with other Cincinnati firms and at Gazzard Sheldon Architects in Sydney, Australia as design consultant.

In addition to her work and teaching experience, Karen is an extensive world traveler. She spent six months living and working in Australia and the Pacific Rim, working on projects in Sydney, Thailand, and China.  She has spent considerable time in the Caribbean, Central America and Europe, and her dream project is to design an environmentally friendly resort in a coastal region.


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