MIA KAPLAN STUDIO for ART, ARCHITECTURE & HISTORIC PRESERVATION
We believe that great design begins when nature, history, and people are interwoven. We seek places that have soul, and find joy in helping our clients and their communities through the creative process.
MKS LICENSURE & CERTIFICATIONS
Licensed to practice architecture in Louisiana (NCARB Certified).
Registered Architectural Firm with the Louisiana State Board of Architectural Examiners.
CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) Certified
WELL Accredited Professional
Certified Small and Emerging Business Development (SEBD) by Louisiana Economic Development’s Hudson Initiative
Certified State and Local Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (SLDBE) by the City of New Orleans, Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, and the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
Self-certified Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) with the Small Business Administration.
MKS meets the Secretary of the Interior’s professional qualifications to practice Historic Architecture and Architectural History on Federal projects.
FIRM LEADERSHIP
MIA KAPLAN
AIA, NCARB, CPTED, WELL AP, MPS
Principal, Architect & Architectural Historian
Mia Kaplan’s journey began in the visual arts. Raised on the North Shore of Louisiana, she spent over twenty years working as a freelance painter and sculptor, exploring landscape and botanical abstraction rooted in the marshes, swamps, pine forests, and bayous of her childhood. Her early art practice was not only about form and color, but about curiosity — observing the natural world, asking questions about why things are the way they are, and narrating place through visual means.
That curiosity led her into roles as art gallery director, exhibition designer, and curator — positions that deepened her understanding of storytelling, materials, and how creative works communicate. But her artist’s impulse for scale and form evolved. Working on large steel outdoor sculptures, she began to see architecture as an opportunity to build with those same instincts: rhythm, light, mass, and texture — combining spatial design with narrative.
This led her to pursue formal architecture training. Mia earned dual master’s degrees in Architecture and Preservation Studies from Tulane University, aligning her artistic background with rigorous academic and technical training. She became licensed as an architect in Louisiana, with credentials in historic architecture and architectural history. Her practice, Mia Kaplan Studio (MKS), is rooted in the belief that great design begins where nature, history, and people interweave.
Today, her work includes historic preservation, adaptive reuse, condition assessments, national register nominations, and exhibition design — every project informed by her artist’s perspective and her preservation sensibility. Whether sketching botanical forms, curating exhibitions, or detailing a restoration, Mia draws on decades of arts practice to inform her architecture — seeing each building as a collaborative sculpture shaped by culture, ecology, and time.
With over 27 years of experience in team leadership, creative production, project management, and design direction, Mia remains at the helm of MKS as an interdisciplinary practice. Outside of work, she loves being involved in community service as a member of the Rotary Club of Slidell Northshore.
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
“My husband and I had the pleasure of dealing with Mia Kaplan Studio. Her knowledge and professionalism proved to be invaluable with a renovation project and a historic property we have. We highly recommend this firm.”