Alumni Spotlight: Kirah Cahill

In December 2020, several months after graduating from IU with a degree from BEPP, Kirah Cahill began her Master of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I’ve always been artistic so after my time in the BEPP program, I wanted to do something more creative,” says Cahill, who received her master’s degree in May 2024. She plans to join an architectural firm and hopefully start her own practice in the next five to ten years.

While at IU, Cahill particularly enjoyed taking Kerem Cakirer’s class because of its interactive and engaging nature.

“That class material could have been dry, but he had a good sense of humor and made up his own problem sets with background stories, which were always entertaining,” she says.

“My time at IU was a really great opportunity for me to figure out who I was as a person and to gain more self-confidence and motivation to push the boundaries and see what I could do,” says Cahill. “I became very independent, set goals for myself, and had a sort of awakening that I could go further than I had anticipated when I first started college.”

Cahill has partnered with two online education platforms, DesignMorphine and PA Academy, to host online webinars that teach participants how to use various creative software to make innovative designs.

These organizations, which were cofounded by ex-Nike designer, Michael Pryor, aim to share knowledge and advance the field of digital design.

“My interest in teaching these webinars stems partially from my time working as a teaching assistant for K201 Computers in Business and participation as a Kelley-to-Kelley peer mentor while I was at IU,” says Cahill, who has fond memories of her time in Bloomington—particularly the energy of the basketball games and the strong sense of community that came with the experience. Her favorite memory on campus, however, is adopting her precious Australian Shepherd mix, Patch, during her junior year.

“He was six months old, so I went through all the puppy phases with him,” she says. “I loved to dress him in cute doggie jerseys and walk him all around campus.”

When Cahill lived in Bloomington, she often hiked state parks. She particularly liked to go to Hickory Ridge Fire Tower in Brown County, which is a rickety metal staircase that goes up to a platform where one can soak in the impressive view through the trees.

“It’s especially magical in the fall when all the trees change color,” she says.

Now she and Patch enjoy exploring parks around Philadelphia.

In the fall of 2023, Cahill visited Rome, Florence, and Bologna, Italy, for a tenday trip where she soaked in the architectural vibe of these historical cities.

“Everything in Rome is massive!” Cahill says. “You wonder how they made things so big back when they had such limited technologies.”

She also loved the dining.

“The food is amazing,” she says. “I’m a pasta, pizza, and ice cream person. I was eating everything there.”

She especially loved the city of Bologna as it exuded an authentic Italian, small-town community feeling.

“I’m definitely planning to do more trips abroad!” she says.

In her free time, Cahill likes dabbling in jewelry design.

“In my architectural degree, we use a lot of 3D printing to make models, so I’ve been experimenting with it to make jewelry,” says Cahill.

Cahill’s design work was recently featured in the spring edition of Metropolis Magazine, a prominent architectural design publication, as part of the Metropolis Future 100 Class of 2024. She was ranked fourth among 29 graduate-level winners.

To see Cahill’s design work, visit her on Instagram @ksc.dsn or find her on LinkedIn.