Cathy Braasch is an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at The Pennsylvania State University and the founding principal of Braasch Architecture. At Penn State, she has taught undergraduate and graduate architectural design studios, visual communications, and collaborative master planning. Her research interests include duration and creative production in the built environment; the relationship between memory, ideation, and drawing; and intersections of architectural design and urban landscape.
Braasch Architecture’s work is comprised of commercial and residential projects that provide flexibility for the evolving needs of families and businesses.
Previously, she was an associate at Stoss, working on urban landscape projects such as the Plaza at Harvard University and CityDeck in Green Bay, Wisconsin. As a project architect at Stephen Yablon Architect and Della Valle Bernheimer, she designed numerous projects including a hotel in Soho, a residential amenity space in Brooklyn, and a condominium building in Chelsea.
She also previously taught architectural design studios with a focus on landscape and urban design at Northeastern University and the Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Braasch received a Master in Architecture at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and her B.A. from Yale University. Before pursuing architecture, Braasch designed scenery, lighting, and projections for theatrical productions.
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Education
- BA from Yale University in 1999
- M.ARCH from Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 2006
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Courses Taught
- Basic Design Studio
- Basic Design Studio
- Collaborative Master Planning
- Visual Communication I
- Visual Communication II
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Exhibitions + Productions
2019
- “Hyperdimensional Investigations: Robert Reed’s Curriculum and the Legacy of the Bauhaus Pedagogy.” Bauhaus Transfers, State College, PA.
- “Rubber Bands and Chalk Dust: A Conversation with the Students of Robert Reed,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.
- “Robert Reed Drawing Workshops.” University Park, PA (20 instructors, 180 students) New York, NY (10 instructors, 100 students).
- “Subjective Spaces: Drawings and Collages by Robert Reed.” Palmer Museum of Art, University Park, PA.
- “Daily Drawings: Accumulation of Memory and Form.” Borland Project Space. State College, PA.
2014
- “Spaces For Creative Production: Experimental Theatre, Adaptive Re-use, and Institutional Identity,” Dramatic Architectures Conference, Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo, Porto, Portugal.
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Publications + Presentations
2019
- Braasch, Cathy. “Hyperdimensional Investigations: Robert Reed’s Curriculum and the Legacy of the Bauhaus Pedagogy.” Cloud-Cuckoo-Land, vol. 24., no. 39, Bauhaus Transfers, pp. 165–183.
2018
- Braasch, Cathy. “Spaces for Creative Production: Experimental Theatre, Adaptive Re-use, and Institutional Identity.” Persona, vol. 4, pp. 25-32.
In the News
- Stuckeman School to celebrate Black History Month with digital exhibition
- Architecture professor’s Robert Reed Drawing Workshops draw praise from Yale
- Architecture faculty’s work, processes highlighted in Stuckeman School exhibit
- Bringing the spirit of a legendary artist and educator to a new generation
- Registration open for Architecture/Landscape Architecture Summer Camp
Collected Works
