Catherine Wilmes

Catherine Wilmes is an architectural designer and educator who is invested in interrogating architecture's intersection with art and photography. Her designs are often derived from a photographic inquiry of the built environment and are informed by material experimentations at the scale of the model.

She practiced in several architectural offices in New York City, focusing on residential and educational projects across master planning, building design, interiors, and furniture. Her area of expertise is adaptive reuse, with projects in the United States, South America, and China. Currently, she is working on post-industrial adaptation projects in Texas and New York.

Identity Crisis (2024), her research as part of the Design Teaching Fellowship, was recently exhibited at Cornell University's Bibliowicz Gallery. Her architectural media work has also been featured in group exhibitions, including In the Round, On the Flat (2022), and Aesthetics of Prosthetics (2019) at Pratt Institute's Siegel Gallery.

Catherine holds an M.Arch from Pratt Institute Graduate Architecture & Urban Design and a B.S.Arch from Ball State University College of Architecture & Planning.

Academic Research/Specialty Areas

  • Architectural design
  • Digital media
  • Housing
  • Photography
  • Print media
  • Visual representation
  • Montage

Related News

Classes (Selected)

  • The Back Wall – ARCH 3308/6308/4509/6509, Seminar, Special Topics in Theory of Architecture/Visual Representation
  • Geologies of Making – ARCH 1101, First Year Design Studio
  • Hybrid Assemblages – ARCH 1102, First Year Design Studio
  • Mixed Mannerisms – ARCH 3308/6308/4509/6509, Seminar, Special Topics in Theory of Architecture/Visual Representation
  • A Chair, A House, A Signature – ARCH 2101, Second Year Design Studio

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)

  • Design Teaching Fellowship/Research Grant 2023-2025

Exhibitions and Presentations (Selected)

  • Identity Crisis, Design Teaching Fellowship Exhibition (2024)
  • In the Round, On the Flat, contributor featuring "Breuer Variations" (2022)
  • Aesthetics of Prosthetics, contributor featuring "Cenotaph for Paul Virilio" (2019)

Selected Work

  • A wall with a mounted acrylic model, highlighted by teal string.

    Identity Crisis (2024) image / provided

  • A collection of white 3D-printed models showcasing hybrid architecture, presented on wooden pedestals.

    Identity Crisis (2024) image / provided

  • Digital rendering of a museum situated within the context of a city setting.

    New Museum Addition (2019). image / provided

  • Digital rendering of a glass pavilion in a wooded setting.

    Glass Pavilion (2019). image / provided

  • Model that consists of a series of forms that are connected, displaying pink and cyan hues.

    Vertical Bazaar (2018), in collaboration with Amir Ashtiani. image / provided

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