Mia Kaplan Studio

05/21/2026

Countdown to construction for this wonderful project for the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. Loved working with this team and am looking forward to seeing shovels in the ground soon.

Coushatta Tribe Educational Building | Elton, LA

This project includes a new educational building for the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. The building will house administrative offices, a tech lab, classrooms, a commercial kitchen, a break room, storage, and multipurpose rooms. An exterior talking circle area will be located adjacent to and east of the building.

Design Architect: Full Circle Indigenous Planning + Design

Architect of Record: Nelson Worldwide

Local Architect: Mia Kaplan Studio (MKS)

Landscape Architect: Dana Brown & Associates

MEPF Engineering: Windward

Structural Engineer: Marais Consultants

Civil Engineer: Qk4, Inc

Food Service: Maynan Consulting, LLC

(Rendering by Full Circle IP+D)

05/17/2026

Our nomination of West End Lake Shore Park in New Orleans was completed earlier this year and was submitted, but did not make it to the state review committee. The nomination wasn’t tabled because the site is ineligible, but because there was concern from public officials about how being listed on the national register might limit planned developments in the area. This is an important conversation for a number of reasons. But what stays with me is a core belief that preservation should not stop progress, but facilitate a more respectful and sustainable way to move forward. I hope to see the Darlington Prismatic Fountain, built in 1915, pictured here, restored to the marvel it once was.

Read more about the West End Lakeshore Park nomination here: https://miakaplan.com/ #/west-end-lake-shore-park-national-register-nomination/

Image credit: The Historic New Orleans Collection.

05/12/2026

It’s been just over a week since we said goodbye to Rosita. I was looking at some old drawings and found her in there. Rest in peace Rosie, aka Beef, Baby Fox, Hamburgler, Chispa, Shanini, and Pitter Patter.

05/09/2026

05/06/2026

So proud of my husband, Cedric for being nominated by the James Beard Foundation for an award in Narrative Photography. Those who know Cedric know of his humble nature, sense of humor, tremendous talent, love of food, and unshakable passion for photojournalism. When he gets recognized, it means so much for both of us because I see the work he puts in on every assignment. We’ve been together through the vicissitudes of our creative practices for eighteen years. Please join me in congratulating him. We love you so much, Cedric! Well-deserved. Congratulations as well to his co-nominee Alex Lau, and the other photographers nominated. ❤️

03/29/2026

Yesterday was the perfect day for an outdoor community service project. Under the creative direction of artist Joshua Wichterich , our Leadership Northshore group completed this mural for Rainbow Childcare in Slidell, LA. 🌈❤️

03/18/2026

Lincoln Beach Redevelopment. Rendering by Sasaki from the masterplanning phase of the project. MKS is continuing to support Lincoln Beach’s return to the public as the historic preservation consultant to Digital Engineering & Imaging in the current construction phase. Something we are tracking from the prior phase is the production of the state historic marker sign, and our general role for the current phase is reviewing design work for historic preservation best practices so permitting goes smoothly when it’s time for a cultural resources impact review. Having a preservation professional looped in during design phases is a smart efficiency move, because it prevents cases where developers fund a full design package only to be sent back to the drawing board when the regulatory agencies check for compliance. Lincoln Beach is historically significant under Criteria A for its role in the development of social history in the area of Ethnic/Black Heritage as a once-segregated Black amusement park. So it’s less about who designed the buildings, and more about the cultural role of the site as a whole. There was no other place like Lincoln Beach in New Orleans during the time it operated from 1941-1965. According to federal guidelines for the treatment of certified historic sites, the general rule in redevelopment is to repair what can be repaired, and if alterations are proposed they should be done in a way to promote life safety while remaining sympathetic to the historic resources. This includes using similar or in-kind materials, or using new materials that clearly delineate the difference between old and new. This boardwalk design was my favorite part of the new interventions proposed in the prior design phase. It’s a boardwalk structure built on top of the compromised pool deck structure below. Much like in Europe when viewing ancient ruins via platforms above, it allows the visitor a safe way to experience what is real. As always, I recommend following New Orleans for Lincoln Beach for the latest community updates.

03/16/2026

Prior to starting my firm, I had the opportunity to do some Historic Structure Reporting and Conditions Assessments at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The project manager on the client side, John, was a wonderfully educated gentleman who introduced me to the work of Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter (1869–1958), the mother of “Parkitecture” who designed many buildings at Grand Canyon National Park. There is a special language in building that comes about when listening not just to a material but also to the people who inhabit the space it creates. The buildings at Yellowstone were not by Colter, but the language of the buildings was very much in the spirit of Parkitecture. Details within the building echoed the building’s natural setting. It was a wonderful lesson in assessing regional conditions because water damage, for instance, is caused by a variety of different scenarios like snow, ice, and the salt that melts it, which we rarely encounter in southeast Louisiana. Driving in the snow was another experience. Our team finished in time for the arrival of the first snow. Yellowstone had been closed for the winter, so it was just our group. My coworkers were from Montana and had chains on their massive truck tires, and seat warmers. I had a compact SUV rental. That day I felt as close to God as I could have been without meeting him directly. It was humbling, terrifying, and exhilarating to be out there. I pulled over and opened my windows to listen for a moment to how quiet the world had become. It was one of the most beautiful places I had ever been.

12/25/2025

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/architect-mia-kaplan-active-in-preservation-projects/article_4a92db11-93c7-4015-93cf-a306e4ff610b.html

Editor's note: "I'm a Preservationist" is a Preservation Resource Center column profiling someone active in community preservation efforts. This month's interview is with architect and architectural historian Mia Kaplan.