Lauren Harness - Programs Director

Lauren Harness is a licensed architect dedicated to designing spaces that strengthen communities and foster meaningful connections. Growing up in Western Kansas as the daughter of a jewelry designer and a city mayor, she developed a passion for creativity, civic service, and community building.

Lauren earned her architecture degree from Kansas State University, where she discovered her love for the early ideation and pre-design phases of capital projects. This passion was ignited during her work with a small town to reimagine their city park, leading visioning efforts and a successful capital campaign to bring the project to life.

After graduation, Lauren moved to Kansas City and joined el dorado, contributing to adaptive reuse projects in the Crossroads Arts District. She then relocated to New York City, where she worked with Ennead Architects on higher education projects, including campus master plans and strategic visioning documents for the University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University. During her time in New York, Lauren also led and planned multiple service projects in partnership with the Center for Architecture, a leading cultural venue for architecture in the city. These experiences deepened her commitment to social impact design and collaborative pre-design processes.

Seeking to align her work more closely with mission-driven efforts, Lauren joined MASS Design Group in Boston, focusing on Capital Project Readiness Assessments and Purpose-Built visioning for nonprofits and community organizations. Additionally, she managed and designed K-12 projects with the award-winning William Rawn Associates in Boston, further honing her expertise in socially impactful design.

Now back in Kansas City, Lauren serves as the Director of the Kansas City Design Center (KCDC). In this role, she strives to deepen students’ understanding of the forces shaping the built environment while simultaneously expanding community access to design and democratizing the urban design process. By leveraging design as a tool for community building, Lauren aims to equip the next generation of professionals to think critically, communicate effectively, and make meaningful contributions to the future of Kansas City and beyond.