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.
ABOUT OUR TEAM
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.
Ashleigh Voisin
Director of Marketing, Business Development, and Special Projects
Originally from New Orleans, Ashleigh Voisin has built a career at the intersection of design, marketing, and community impact. After spending thirteen years in Florida’s Panhandle—where she helped strengthen the region’s design community through leadership roles in civic and professional organizations—Ashleigh is grateful to be back home in Louisiana, bringing her experience and excitement full circle.
Ashleigh’s career has always been defined by a passion for connection, creativity, and community, with a sense of humor along the way. She is a dedicated designer, maker, and communicator whose professional arc spans both creative and practical realms. Her foundation in art and design informs her marketing work: she understands aesthetic impact, the power of written communication, and how visuals translate into experience. Her abilities range from connecting through narratives, curating visual identity through branding, and showcasing the culture of organizations to build engagement, to coordinating the design of physical environments that serve everyday use.
Ashleigh contributes to the collaborative architectural and cultural design team at MKS through her dual fluency: she speaks the language of architecture, visual arts, marketing, and branding, and she also understands the practicalities of property, functional programming, and client needs. Her ability to blend marketing expertise with community impact makes her a distinctive voice on the MKS team. She approaches projects with an understanding that architecture is not only about buildings but also about the stories we tell and the communities we build. By uniting strategic communication, creative design thinking, and a deep commitment to service, Ashleigh ensures that the work she contributes resonates far beyond its immediate audience—strengthening connections between people, place, and purpose.
CODY MAFFEI
Lead Drafter & Multi-Media Designer
Cody is an experienced architectural drafter whose attention to detail and capacity for complex projects make him an invaluable part of our team. For the past 8 years, Cody has worked on 50+ renovation and new construction projects including offices, commercial interiors, grocery stores, historic buildings, industrial buildings, and rooftop equipment replacements. A graduate of LSU, Cody traveled to Rome as part of the University of Arkansas Rome Center program where he took a workshop specifically geared toward learning the nuances of combining historic and new construction. Beyond architecture, he nurtures his talent for pixel art and multi-media design, music, and video game design.
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.”