[1] Her grandfather was a building contractor and her father worked in the concrete industry, and Merwood-Salisbury wanted to be an architect from childhood.
[3] Prompted by the 1992 recesison and encouraged by the newly-arrived Canadian professor Clarence Aasen, who had more of a design focus, Merwood-Salisbury headed overseas to continue her training.
[4] This was followed by a PhD from Princeton University under the supervision of Beatriz Colomina, focusing on Chicago skyscrapers and how they changed to public space.
[3] Although she had originally intended to become a professional architect, Merwood-Salisbury enjoyed academia, and joined the Parsons School of Design in New York in 2003 as an architectural historian.
[7][3][8] Merwood-Salisbury returned to New Zealand to join the faculty of Victoria University of Wellington as Head of the School of Architecture, rising to full professor in 2018.