Catherine Murphy

Catherine Murphy is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Architecture at Columbia GSAPP, where she teaches Healthier Building Materials. Trained as an artist and designer, Catherine is dedicated to making physical spaces healthier for everyone. Passionate about renovation and re-use, Catherine’s designs respond to the history of the place and the client, rather than adhering to a signature style. Her practice is rooted in craft, making, and the inherent potential of materials in their purest and healthiest states. Her current research explores re-use and repair and stories of place through the lens of textiles.

Catherine shares her expertise in healthier building materials at a number of leading design schools. She is a Senior Researcher at Parsons Healthy Materials Lab where she has led educational programming for five years. She also teaches at The New School, from where she holds a Master of Fine Art in Interior Design, and she holds an undergraduate degree specializing in Embroidery from the University of Ulster, Belfast . She is from Sligo in the west of Ireland.