After studying theater at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, Cotter Christian began his professional career by assuming roles in the field ranging from performing and directing to designing, scenic painting, and development. In the theater, he cultivated a love of storytelling and developed techniques to foster suspension of disbelief and ways to transport an audience through dialogue, design, and imagination. He carries these concepts into his research and teaching of interior design.

Cotter used interior design to explore the richness of scenic design as a means of affecting a larger audience. This led him to pursue a Master of Arts in Interior Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). After receiving his degree, he collaborated on healthcare and corporate, academic, and science and technology projects as an interior project designer at Perkins+Will in Atlanta. Through his practice, he earned status as an NCIDQ-registered interior designer and a LEED Accredited Professional. Simultaneously, Cotter served as an adjunct professor at SCAD, teaching construction technology, thesis preparation, interior design history, materials, and studio courses. Finding himself increasingly drawn to the theoretical and conceptual opportunities afforded by academia, he earned a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art at Georgia State University (GSU). Cotter was inspired by the interdisciplinary culture of GSU, developing a research interest in investigating interior design and its close relationship with installation art. His thesis exhibition, You are [T]here, reflected a fascination with technology and placemaking that continues to strongly influence his work.

Following his time at in Atlanta, Cotter helped start the interior design program at the Hong Kong campus of SCAD and took part in initiatives to encourage sustainable design at the university though his work as chair of the Sustainability Council and, in greater Asia, with the USGBC affiliate group Platinum. Research and writing he produced during this time include investigations of the way locative social media is affecting the interior design user journey; this interest resulted in a co-written paper and presentation at the Design Experience Conference at Hong Kong Baptist University. Cotter's interest in placemaking was reflected in “Understanding Characteristics of Citizen-driven Placemaking Endeavors Across Diverse Communities,” an article in the journal Design Principles and Practices co-authored with Catherine Normoyle that explored how ordinary citizens are creating place in their surroundings. With Catherine Normoyle Cotter also co-authored a book chapter titled “Motion Design in the Context of Place,” which will be published in Kinetic Emergence: The Theory and Practice of Motion Design.

Since returning to the United States and joining the faculty at Parsons, Cotter has been involved with the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) and is also serving on the board of Interior Designers for Legislation in New York (IDLNY). At Parsons, he is engaged with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning community and serves on the Committee for Undergraduate Education as well as the School Curriculum Committee. His current research investigates the relationship between contemplative practices, design process, and interior design education. Inspired by a deep personal relationship with mindfulness, meditation, and other contemplative practices and concerned at the way technology has disconnected us from our physical surroundings, he is currently exploring how contemplative techniques can be used in the classroom as a way for students to become more present, focused, and empathetic designers. Concurrently he is also looking at how space can be designed to elicit self-reflection and foster a sense of awe, leading to pro-social behavior. It is his hope that better understanding of these phenomena and the use of these practices in the design process will reinforce the interconnectedness between the environment, interior designers, ordinary people, and society at large can be reinforced.