Kaarin is a designer and project manager at Rowell Brokaw Architects with extensive prior experience in communications and design. Her work at Rowell Brokaw Architects most recently includes design and project management for the EWEB Riverfront Master Plan. Kaarin has also completed work on the Hult Center for Performing Arts, Silverton Senior Center, Head Start of Lane County, City of Eugene, Crescent Village mixed-use development, West Eugene Wetlands Master Plan, and a small community church in eastern Oregon.

Kaarin is a guest critic and teaches design studio as an adjunct faculty member for the UO School of Architecture & Allied Arts. Her research has been published by the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). In 2009, she completed a volunteer residency for Architects in Schools with the Arts & Technology Academy in Eugene, and has also worked as a volunteer for the Willamette Resource and Education Network (WREN), West Eugene Collaborative (WEC), DesignBridge, and local AIA-SWO chapter.

Before receiving her master’s degree in architecture, she was the director of communications for a $600-million philanthropic foundation in San Francisco and founder of a publishing company in Portland, Oregon. She holds B.A. degrees with honors in journalism and design and an M.Arch from the University of Oregon, where she was also the Jackson Award recipient and NCAA Woman of the Year.