Emily Rose Vanags

Emily’s professional background includes being a former exhibition designer in galleries and museums, as well as an Adjunct Professor of Architecture. She has a specialized background in historical renovations and additions to residences and public buildings. Emily’s skills include design development, construction documents, navigating historical review boards and permitting, architectural education, and exhibition design.

During her studies in art history and studio art during undergraduate education, Emily fell in love with the process of artistic creation. She quickly realized her passion extended to designing exhibitions for herself and her classmates, and soon decided to explore curation in a MA Art Museum and Gallery Studies. While she loved designing exhibitions, it felt limiting. Emily wanted to design entire museums, and this interest led her to earn an M.Arch. After graduation, it was a smooth transition into historical renovations and additions, as she could utilize both her spatial planning and education in art history to develop mindful approaches to changing buildings of historical significance.

Emily says that working with artists in the past – specifically, learning how essential it is to understand their unique perspective in designing an exhibition that accurately reflects their point of view – has allowed her to grow into the designer she is today. She loves the puzzle-solving aspects of finding a great design, and how it very much feels like a discovery when all the pieces come together. Emily’s hobbies include archery, pottery, watching MMA, reading, and most recently – Pickleball!

“Good design, to me, is an exercise in empathy. As a designer, I strive to understand as much as I can about the client and their needs to enhance the experience of an existing space or develop something new.”