Sarah Ghorbanian

Sarah has dedicated over 25 years to cultural projects of various scales. "My main focus has been on bridging the gap between the exhibits and the base building design in large, complex museum projects," Sarah explains. She is also a founding member of the Cultural Planning Collective, a group of colleagues and museum professionals who teach workshops on planning, designing, and building museums. One of her notable projects at SmithGroup was the Museum of the Bible, an award-winning 8-story museum housed in a renovated 1920s warehouse. Starting as an exhibits coordinator, Sarah eventually became the primary project manager, a role that encapsulated all the expertise she had developed throughout her career. Sarah's academic background is in economics, where she studied the sociology of economics—understanding why people make certain choices and how these decisions impact society. "I see parallels in architecture as well. The sociology of architecture fascinates me," she says. "And my children inspire me to constantly want to make this world a better place – to promote communication, understanding and build communities that promote learning and acceptance."