Arts & Culture

Arts & Culture projects explore the power of design to tell collective stories. Cara’s leadership at institutions like the Guggenheim and Langson IMCA, as well as her work at Gehry Partners and Rockwell Group, centers on creating spaces for cultural dialogue. These projects connect communities through art, architecture, and experience.

Cultural District Exhibition (Prototype)

A 2022–2024 prototype exhibition for a new cultural district in the Middle East—eleven galleries tracing a journey from heritage to horizon.

From 2022–2024, Cara served as Creative Director and Exhibition Designer for a confidential prototype celebrating the architecture and art of a new cultural district in the Middle East. Commissioned by an internationally renowned curator, the project translated a developing collection and a series of landmark buildings into a spatial narrative exploring heritage, innovation, and identity.

Working within a 15,000-square-foot volume, Cara designed eleven bespoke galleries, each conceived as a distinct yet interconnected environment. Together, they charted a journey through time — from the region’s nomadic origins toward a future shaped by creativity and cultural exchange.

The prototype’s design language drew on the rhythm and geometry of the surrounding landscape, evoking intangible culture through light, reflection, and scale. Every space was a mediation between art and architecture, material and atmosphere — a physical story about transformation and belonging.

Langson Institute and Museum of California Art at UCI

Granville Redmond, California Landscape with Poppies and Eucalyptus, c. 1916. Langson IMCA Collection. (Image courtesy of Langson IMCA)

As cultural advisor to UCI’s Langson IMCA from 2019-2025, Cara guided strategy, vision, and building planning for this start-up museum devoted to California art, leveraging her Guggenheim expertise to align institutional aspirations with capital “A” architecture.

At UCI’s Langson IMCA, sustainability and accessibility were not abstract ideals but guiding project values. As advisor and building consultant, she worked within a progressive design-build framework that prioritized energy performance, resource-conscious construction, and long-term adaptability. Equally important, the museum’s diverse student body and community shaped conversations about inclusion — from multilingual wall texts and ticketing practices to broader questions of cultural representation. Cara translated these priorities into actionable design strategies, collaborating closely with campus planning, design and construction, and museum leadership to ensure that the new institution would be both environmentally responsible and welcoming to all audiences.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

A global museum reframed from a Middle Eastern perspective. (Image courtesy of Gehry Partners)

Shaping one of the world’s most ambitious cultural institutions, Cara served as the Guggenheim’s Director of Architectural Projects from 2009-2014, liaising with Frank Gehry and global museum teams to redefine the story of modern and contemporary art from the Middle East. In addition to overseeing the development of the building itself, she worked collaboratively with the curatorial team to iteratively shape the museum’s curatorial narrative and acquisition strategy for a landmark new art collection. She also developed the site-specific art commission strategy, featuring twenty monumental works — the smallest the size of the Statue of Liberty and the second largest as long as the Flatiron Building is tall. Beyond the artistic and architectural frameworks, Cara co-led the project implementation plan across all museum disciplines, ensuring alignment between design, curatorial, operational, and institutional goals.