Form follows Femme

Hi, I’m Kara M. Plaxa Arxa (she/her), and I turn overwhelm into alignment—through design, decor, and damn good spatial strategy.

I hold three Master’s degrees in Architecture and am currently completing my PhD at Princeton University, where my research focuses on queer space, embodiment, and the architecture of identity. My academic work has been published in E-Flux and will appear in the forthcoming Sick Architecture book. I’ve been invited to speak at institutions including SFMoMA, Yale, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and I’ve curated internationally recognized exhibitions on gender, illness, and built environments.

Before launching ARXA Studio, I designed nuclear submarines for the U.S. Navy—so yes, I know how to read a floorplan and negotiate complexity under pressure.

But beyond credentials, I believe in something deeper: that your home should hold you, affirm you, and reflect the real you—not just the aspirational one. Whether you're building a femme-forward closet, creating a ritual altar, recovering from loss, or redefining domesticity entirely, I bring deep design expertise—and none of the ego.