Portrait Kari Nystrom

Kari A. Nystrom

PE, LEED AP BD+C
Principal
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Kari Nystrom’s exceptional design and project administration expertise drives Altieri’s success on large-scale multiphase projects with complex needs and significant design challenges.

Kari joined Altieri after receiving her Bachelor of Architectural Engineering in 1988. The firm’s first woman principal, Kari excels in large-scale, multiphase programs such as The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, as well as masterplanning and infrastructure projects including the many she has directed at the American Museum of Natural History over the past 24 years. Kari’s expertise is widely admired in the industry and is the underpinning of her long-standing client relationships. She is particularly known for her comprehensive focus on the details of a project throughout its life. In addition to leading one of Altieri’s six design studios, Kari performs electrical engineering for the firm’s most technical, challenging, and high-profile projects, and undertakes special assignments in architectural lighting design and control. She has lectured on systems integration at Yale University Graduate School of Architecture and regularly serves as a critic for review of Penn State Architectural Engineering Senior lighting and electrical theses. She volunteers with the Penn State Architectural Engineering Mentor program and NCEES, leads Altieri’s community educational outreach program, and is a member of Altieri’s Women in Engineering employee resource group.

Education

The Pennsylvania State University, 1988
Bachelor of Architectural Engineering

Pratt Institute, 2010
Sustainable Building, Infrastructure Design & Management Program

Registrations & Certifications

Professional Engineer-Electrical
CA, CO, CT, DC, LA, MA, ME, MI, NJ, NV, NY, SC, TN

Professional Engineer-Fire Protection
CT

 

Select Project Experience

American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY

Asia Society, New York, NY

Bates College, Kalperis and Chu Halls, Lewiston, ME

Brandywine Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, PA

Brant Foundation Art Study Center, New York, NY

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY

Brown University, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Providence, RI

Dartmouth College, Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, NH

The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA

Eastern Connecticut State University, Fine Arts Instructional Center, Willimantic, CT

Friends Seminary, New York, NY

Horace Mann School, Bronx, NY

The Jewish Museum, New York, NY

Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, NY

The Juilliard School, Morse Hall, New York, NY

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, Norwalk, CT

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

MIT Metropolitan Warehouse, Cambridge, MA

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, LA

New Orleans Museum of Art, Besthoff Sculpture Garden, New Orleans, LA

The Obama Presidential Center, Chicago, IL

Park Avenue Synagogue, New York, NY

Peter Marino Art Foundation, Southampton, NY

Saint John Paul II National Shrine Museum, Washington DC

Smith College, Kathleen McCartney Hall, Northampton, MA

Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington DC

The Spence School, New York, NY

Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville, TN

United States Golf Association (USGA), Far Hills, NJ

University of Connecticut, Fine Arts Instructional Center, Storrs, CT

University of Massachusetts Amherst, South College, Amherst, MA

Wildflower Studios, Astoria, NY

Yale University, Sprague Memorial Hall, New Haven, CT

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

Presentations

The Interdependence Between Building Systems and Architectural Design, American Institute of Architects (AIA) CT Conference, 2019

Professional Affiliations

Architectural Engineering Institute

Illuminating Engineering Society

Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums

National Fire Protection Association

Society of Fire Protection Engineers

U.S. Green Building Council