Taryn Kinney is a Principal, and K-12 Education Studio Leader at DLR Group. Taryn is a native Texan who has successfully led the strategy, visioning, planning, and design of more than two million square feet of learning space, both nationally and internationally. She enjoys sharing her knowledge from her experiences and creating connections to implement exceptional learning environments. During her 15 years of developing facilities to support new educational models she has seen her clients face increasingly complex challenges. Taryn joins her clients in their journey to define unique responses to external and internal challenges through evidence-based practice.  She incorporates current developmental research, environmental psychology, and organizational psychology to design facilities that respond to human learning and behavior.

In this episode, Taryn shares how she went from loving studying architecture in college, to wanting to explore other career options, to finally creating a role for herself that incorporates her interests in architecture, research, the social sciences, and the design of learning spaces. Taryn talks about how she has developed and implemented a comprehensive planning process that empowers students, educators, parents, school boards, and community members to craft a vision for future learning in their community. We discuss how buildings can be a catalyst to help clients achieve their vision, but that buildings can’t change human behavior on their own. Taryn also gives some great advice on what to do if you realize a traditional architecture career isn’t for you.