Kara is an Architect and Founder of TerraLupa, a platform for ecological regeneration and re-establishing our connection to nature, encouraging design that promotes positive integration with local communities and ecosystems. She is determined to initiate a more sustainable and regenerative reaction to rapid development, especially in areas of particular environmental interest where communities are more vulnerable.
Her current work bridges design, community, and ecologically-focused themes, including running the Co-Lab Studio for AWW Architects in Bristol (U.K.), being a part-time Associate Lecturer at University of West England, and a visiting lecturer and external examiner for University of Leeds and the Welsh School of Architecture Cardiff University. She is a Fellow of The Bioleadership Project, and through this fellowship, is consulting on a Masters Course for Strathclyde University that involves systems-based design thinking and ways of being in leadership. Her other work includes facilitating stakeholder and community engagement sessions, training, and strategy meetings. She was the Founder and Director of Little Bim Studio Ltd (2011-2015) consulting for architectural practices on their adaptation into Building Information Modelling following a U.K. Government directive that required public buildings to use BIM.
Kara has also been a Board Trustee for Artspace Lifespace since 2018, an organisation that supports regeneration of communities through arts and culture in Bristol, U.K. In 2013, she founded the Coron Ecovillage Initiative, which stemmed from a relief effort in the Philippines following destruction from Typhoon Haiyan and coordinated donations through International Disaster Volunteers and Land is Life. Through this initiative, she was invited to become a Board Trustee for Land is Life (2017).
Her other voluntary pursuits involve consulting on a relocation project for victims of the Taal Volcano Eruption in the Philippines. Other positions and initiatives she is involved in are being Co-Secretary for The Association of Collaborative Design CIC (2021), and Sustainability Lead, Sponsor and Hospitality Coordinator for TEDxBristol (2013-2019), and formerly RIBA Southwest / Wessex Committee Member (2012-2015).
