“Confluence” is defined as a flowing together of two or more streams. Today’s journey for yet another magnificent OOTW begins with the lovely left OESH of Karen Van Lengen in a photo taken this summer:
Karen happens to be a very wonderful friend to all of us here at OESH hq, perhaps due to her remarkable capacity to listen to 5 different voices simultaneously and offer a unique blend of compassion and analytical savvy to each. Multi-tasking, thy name is KVL!!!
In her free time away from her equally awesome family–Karen manages to teach here at the University of Virginia as the distinguished Kenan Professor of Architecture, a school she lit up for the generations (n.b. plural form of the word) to follow in her previous role as Dean. Her professional work is the essence of the velvet glove–deceptively powerful in its synthesis of meaningful change in a structured boundary, presently focused on sound and the public realm.
Let’s pause to wrap our heads around that one–understanding the whys and hows of our aural sense as influenced by where we live and work & vice versa. Is that freaking cool, or What? And she loves wearing OESH! As does her Daughter Kiri, as well as her Mom, Brother, and Sister-in-Law.
Oh…and we mentioned confluence…that meeting of “two”…the other time you might have seen the glorious beach Karen was strolling upon this summer? It was St. Andrews, Scotland in July–and Can’t you hear the music from 1981’s Best Picture now? Let’s turn up the Vangelis, Ms. Conductor!
