With a strong passion for travel in tow, when Karen Cvornyek was young she dreamed of being a flight attendant. While her career may have taken another path, she certainly didn’t fall short of her desire to fly. Constantly shuttling throughout Asia, to Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, China, Macau, Hong Kong and Vietnam, she’s been racking up Air Miles for years. Upon reflection, she realizes that while visiting other areas of the world is inspiring and interesting, she’d prefer to have her feet planted firmly on the ground more often than not. Luckily, her position includes more than just climbing onto planes and flying the skies so she’s convinced she made the right career choice.

Karen has practiced architecture in Canada, England, Japan, Italy, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. Having worked around the world, she truly enjoys exploring the diverse cultures of different countries and the distinctive challenges that arise from various assignments. Focused, collaborative and direct, she’s committed to understanding what success means to each client to understand how she can meet and surpass their expectations. Inspired by travel and history, Karen recognizes how important experiences are to creating innovative and inspiring design.


Inspiration comes from experience complemented with innovations in our rapidly evolving world.

Having joined B+H as a Partner in 2002, Karen found herself heading to China the very next year. Overseeing an unprecedented period of growth in Asia, Karen led the charge and took the reins of the Shanghai studio long before many architecture firms had claimed stake. She currently oversees nearly 300 staff members at B+H’s operations in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. Involved in design and project management, Karen helps to establish design concepts to clearly direct architectural, consultant and client teams in the completion of projects.