THEME 1
Embodiment, Sensory Experience and Emotion
Topics: Body Conscious Design; Peripersonal Space and Affordances; Multisensory Experience: Emotion, Mood, Enactivism
March 23 | Session 1: Embodiment; Body Conscious Design
Faculty: Galen Cranz and Raymond Richard Neutra
Team: Sophie Schuller
March 24 | Session 2: Peripersonal Space; Body in Space and Behaviour
Faculty: Francesca Ferroni and Andrea de Paiva
Team: Kate Mishchenko
March 25 | Session 3: Multisensory Experience: Emotion, Mood, Enactivism
Faculty: Giovanna Colombetti and Luis Othon Villegas
Team: Mark Rego
THEME 2
Placemaking and Community
Topics: Building Bridges with Our Environment; Culture and Placemaking; Regionalism; Community Design
March 27 | Session 4: Building Bridges with Our Environment
Faculty: Giovanna Colombetti and David Dorenbaum
Team: Mark Rego
March 28 | Session 5: Culture and Placemaking, Regionalism
Faculty: Andrea Chiba and Raymond Richard Neutra
Team: Andreia Schmidt
March 29 | Session 6: People - Place Dialogues
Faculty: Tatiana Berger and Itai Palti
Team: Luís Carlos Bucha
Ph.D., Designer and Sociologist, Author, Professor, UC Berkeley, USA
Galen Cranz is a designer, a consultant, and a Professor of the Graduate School in Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, where she taught social and cultural approaches to architecture and urban design, and established the field of Body Conscious Design, which she taught for 30 years. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago and was certified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique mid-career in New York. Cranz has lectured widely on her perspective on Body Conscious Design and taught her unique approach at craft schools in the US and abroad. Her research on the chair has attracted print and media attention nationally and internationally. The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design (Norton 1998) received a 2004 Achievement Award from the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA).
As a designer she has been part of significant park design competition teams for Spectacle Island, Boston Inner Harbor; Olympia Fields, Chicago; Tschumi’s Parc de LaVillette in Paris, and lead designer for and winner of the St. Paul Cityscape competition. She holds two US patents for body-conscious bathtub and chair designs. In 2005-2007 she designed and built a residence for the elderly following universal design principles.
Raymond Richard Neutra
MD Dr.PH
Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design USA
Dr. Neutra is the President of Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design and the last remaining son of Austrian-American architect Richard Neutra. Inspired by his father’s 1954 book Survival Through Design, Dr Neutra embarked on a career in medicine and environmental epidemiology and public health. Being involved with contentious environmental and occupational health policy discussions taught him that some perfectly valid evidence may be insufficient to guide policy when other ideological or economic interests make that evidence inconvenient to some stakeholders.
He continued to be involved with the work and thoughts of his architect father and brother and their faith in a research inspired architecture that serves people and the planet. He has written articles on their ideas and a book “Cheap and Thin: Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright”.
Built Environment
Neurophysiology Researcher - PhD Student - Lecturer
The Netherlands
Sophie Schuller, a Neurophysiology Researcher specialising in the Built Environment, is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the Technical University of Eindhoven. Sophie’s research explores the impact of office design on neurophysiological stress and cognition, considering the mediating role of sensory perception. Her research encompasses the convergence of architecture, sensory perception, cognitive neuroscience, stress physiology, and the history of work and the city.
Despite her architectural focus, Sophie approaches her research through the lens of Commercial Real Estate Development, examining the industries’ role in shaping human experiences within buildings and cities. With over 18 years of experience in consulting, finance, and research, including leading Global Applied Research for Cushman & Wakefield, Sophie’s expertise extends to understanding how urban systems influence society and public health.
Sophie holds an MSc in Neuroscience from King’s College London, an MBA from London Business School, a BSc in Urbanism and a CFA. Sophie is a soughtafter speaker at global conferences on real estate, construction, design, and the built environment. She has authored and contributed to numerous papers, articles, and books, recently collaborating with The Royal Institute of British Architects on a book on the future of work and workplace, ‘Reworking the Workplace’.
PARTICIPANTS
Rebecca Fairman is a licensed Interior Architect who specializes in Well-being Design & Neuroaesthetics. She firmly believes that physical space goes beyond just looks, that environments shape our thoughts, actions, and identities. This perspective drives her multidimensional approach, combining Environmental Design Psychology, Neuroscience, and Interior Architecture to enhance our mental, physical, and emotional well-being.
Currently, Rebecca manages global Architecture & Interiors at Airbnb, where she leads the design of the company’s “physical product” in relation to space. Her responsibilities encompass a wide range of projects, including hospitality, workplace, and residential design worldwide. Her primary focus is on fostering connection and a sense of belonging for Airbnb employees, guests, and hosts. In addition, Rebecca has had the privilege of creating meaningful spaces for refugees in support of the vital initiatives undertaken by Airbnb.org, the company’s non-profit sector.
Sam Gosling is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. His research focuses on the psychology of physical space, how personality is expressed in everyday contexts, and on new methods for collecting data in the behavioral sciences. His approach is ecological, emphasizing the importance of studying individuals in their natural habitats.
Sam’s current work aims to use psychology to inform architectural practice. His book “Snoop: What your stuff says about you” is based on the idea that we deliberately and inadvertently express our personalities in the environments in which we live and work. Clarivate have identified him as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world.
San Rafael, CA, USA
Rebecca is also the Chief Design Officer for the non-profit Flip4Good. They upgrade transitional housing for people facing homelessness, utilizing traumainformed design principles to create safe spaces & opportunities that pave the way for long-term success and independence.
Rebecca also held the position of Senior Hospitality Designer and Health & Wellness Practice area leader at Gensler, a renowned architecture firm. She is currently authoring a comprehensive how-to design guide for modern homes, based on the principles of Environmental Design Psychology. Rebecca’s deep belief in the transformative power of design underlines her commitment to enacting positive change, regardless of the space or budget at hand.
Neuroscientist
New York, USA
Austin, USA
Researcher
San Pedro, California, USA
Renata Koglin , a Brazilian-Swiss interior designer, is the founder of RK Interiors, a Switzerland-based studio specializing in neuro-architecture and biophilic design. Renata’s approach to design focuses on creating spaces that enhance emotional well-being, harmony, and connection through the thoughtful integration of sensory and nature-inspired elements. Her mission is to transform both residential and commercial interiors into environments that positively impact daily life by blending aesthetics with functionality and emotional resonance.
Renata brings a unique perspective to her work, thanks to a strong foundation in engineering and a successful 15-year career with multinational corporations like Nestlé and General Mills. During her corporate tenure, she led innovation and renovation projects, managed cross-functional teams, and developed global strategies for product and ingredient portfolios. Her contributions earned her several prestigious awards, including recognition for leading cost-avoidance initiatives and implementing innovative solutions that generated significant financial and operational value.
Nuria Muñoz is an international Well-being Interior Designer, Consultant, Speaker, and Educator, based in Valencia, Spain. She believes that our quality of life is closely tied to our connection with nature, a belief that fuels her mission to create healthier, more appealing living and working environments. Through her work, she passionately shares the benefits of biophilic design worldwide. With a multidisciplinary background, Nuria holds degrees in Business Administration from UPV/EHU, Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in Bilbao, and Interior Architecture studies in Belgium. Fluent in five languages, she brings her expertise to a global audience. After 15 years of owning various fashion and design businesses in Belgium, she returned to Spain with her husband and three children to pursue her true passion: creating well-being environments based on science.
Allaman, Switzerland
In 2022, Renata transitioned from the corporate world to pursue her passion for design. This shift allowed her to combine her technical expertise, project management skills, and creative vision to establish RK Interiors. The studio is at the forefront of introducing neuro-architecture and biophilic design principles in Switzerland. These innovative approaches focus on how the built environment influences emotions, productivity, and overall well-being by incorporating natural elements, light, textures, and carefully curated materials.
At RK Interiors, Renata works closely with her clients to understand their needs, preferences, and aspirations, ensuring that every project reflects their unique personalities and enhances their quality of life. Her services include space planning, material selection, custom furniture design, and 3D visualization, all delivered with a focus on sustainability and local sourcing. Whether designing a serene home, a productive office, or a cozy hospitality space, Renata strives to create environments that are both functional and transformative.
Renata’s engineering background provides a methodical and analytical approach to design, while her experience leading global projects equips her to handle complex challenges and deliver results with precision. Fluent in Portuguese, English, and French, she works with a diverse range of clients and partners, bringing a global perspective and a collaborative spirit to every project.
Through RK Interiors, Renata collaborates with a network of like-minded professionals who share her vision of creating impactful, sustainable spaces. Together, they aim to redefine interior design by focusing on the intersection of beauty, functionality, and well-being.
Renata’s work reflects her dedication to improving lives through thoughtful design. Her ability to merge creativity with technical expertise has positioned RK Interiors as a leader in innovative, client-centered interior design solutions.
To fulfill this mission, Nuria founded Habitarmonia, a consulting, education, and design studio offering services for both businesses and individual clients. Her work has earned multiple recognitions, including customer service awards on Houzz and being a finalist at the Golden Trezzini Awards 2022 for Biophilic Interior Renovation and the Wintrade Global Awards for Best Design Entrepreneur of the Year. Most recently, Nuria was a finalist at the Stephen Kellert Awards 2023, Europe’s most prestigious biophilic design accolade.
An active advocate for biophilic design, Nuria has delivered masterclasses for schools (UPValencia, MasterD), companies (Cosentino, Yource), and networking organizations (EWA, Wintrade Global, VIBS, Z KV). She has also organized summits, including the 2022 Science in Design Summit in the United States, to raise awareness among interior designers and professionals. Additionally, she founded the Biophilic Society of Living Future Europe, where she promotes a biophilic culture, and regularly writes as a columnist for a Spanish magazine, raising awareness about sustainable lifestyles.
Nuria sums up her philosophy: “Nature is the ultimate master of beauty and harmony, and the key to our health and happiness.”
Nuria is also the co-founder of the Sustainable Design Council and a member of a think tank working on implementing biophilic design in India. Her commitment to promoting sustainable and healthy environments transcends borders, as she seeks global collaborations to drive positive change in design and construction.
In 2021, Nuria launched Habitarmonia Academy, a platform dedicated to providing education and resources for professionals in the well-being and biophilic design fields. Through the Academy, she offers courses and training to help designers, architects, and business owners integrate biophilic design into their projects, promoting health and well-being in built environments.
Last year, she founded the Habitarmonia Ecosystem, a collaborative platform designed to inspire and connect professionals in the well-being design and construction industries. Habitarmonia Ecosystem fosters innovation, creativity, and the sharing of ideas among experts worldwide, creating a global community dedicated to advancing sustainable and biophilic design.
Through Habitarmonia, Habitarmonia Academy, and Habitarmonia Ecosystem, Nuria continues to drive the biophilic design movement forward, helping to shape environments that prioritize human well-being and sustainability.
Oleg Raspopov
Urban Designer, Landscape
Architect
Budapest, Hungary
Camila
Ruiz Figari Architect, Urban Designer, Interior Designer Lima,
Peru
Camila Ruiz Figari is Co-Founder, Architect, and Innovation & Creative Director at HAS - Hausstudio an Architecture, Design, and Consultancy firm based in Lima, Peru, since 2004. An architect by Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, she is certified in System Design Thinking by Cornell University and holds a Master’s in “Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design – NAAD” from Universitá Iuav di Venezia. She is an active member of key professional organisations, including the American Institute of Architects (Int’l Assoc. AIA), the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture LATAM Chapter, and the Peruvian Association of Architectural Firms (AEA).
Through her leadership at HAS, Camila integrates system design thinking and neuroscience into the design process, combining research and evidencebased practices with creative problem-solving to shape environments that enhance human health and experience. Her projects span institutional, cultural, recreational, commercial, gastronomic, hospitality, and residential sectors. Her research explores the intersection of emotions, feelings, and the built environment. Currently, she is investigating the potential of the built environment to help reduce student violence in public schools in Peru. Her co-led project, The Path: How to Foster Children’s and Adolescents’ Emotional Well-Being through Architecture, was presented at the Biennale Architettura 2023: The Laboratory of the Future. As of 2023, she is part of the team of curators of the new section on Neuroarchitecture in Il Giornale dell’Architettura, Italy. Since May 2023, she has been part of the Journal of Biourbanism & Neuroarchitecture editorial team. In June 2024, Aalto University published her co-research. She also teaches the Diploma in Neuroarchitecture for Interior Spaces at Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD) in Chile.
Camila is dedicated to advancing human-centred architecture that addresses the emotional, cognitive, and physiological needs of users. As a practitioner, speaker, and educator, she combines continuous research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and evidence-based design to advocate for the transformative potential of architecture. Through the creation of enriched environments, her work seeks to enhance individual and social well-being and contribute to meaningful, positive change in society.
FACULTY TEAM
Dr. Francesca Ferroni is an accomplished neurobiologist currently affiliated with the University of Parma, Italy. She undertakes research in intricate areas such as the bodily self, schizophrenia, multisensory integration, and peripersonal space. Dr.Ferroni is recognized for her significant contributions to Cognitive Neuroscience and Neurobiology. In her current role as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Parma, Dr. Ferroni’s insightful work has garnered global recognition, evidenced by over 309 citations in scholarly publications. This points to the far-reaching impact and ongoing relevance of her research within the scientific community. Dr. Ferroni has an extensive portfolio of 24 scholarly publications, a testament to her profound understanding of her field and her consistent commitment to furthering knowledge within it. These works provide a comprehensive overview of her academic exploration, reaffirming her position as a key contributor to the field of neurobiology.
Kate Mishchenko is an architect, she graduated from Moscow School of Architecture MARCH, and has a double Bachelor’s degree at MARCH and London Metropolitan University. During her studies she spent a year in London as an exchange student, took part in Compostela summer school organized by Compostela Architecture institute and other international workshops. Originally from Russia, she is now living in Spain where she pursues her studies in a Master’s program at Barcelona School of Architecture ETSAB of Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya.
On her way to a deeper understanding of human interaction with the built environment, Kate joined Moving Boundaries course teams in Iberia and Mexico.
Before starting her career in architecture, Kate obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and worked as a consultant and a project manager.
University of Parma, Italy
Andréa de Paiva Architect,
Architecture and Design Italy / Brazil
Andréa de Paiva is a Master of Arts (Middlesex University, London) and architect (University of São Paulo) from Brazil. In her work, she seeks to bridge research, education and design. Her research interests involve the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science, applied to architecture and urbanism in order to understand how the physical environment affects individuals and society. Her research included such topics as short- and long-term effects of the physical environment, environmental enrichment and brain plasticity, how space affects memorization of experience, cognitive restoration and multi-sensory experience of places.
Andréa is the co-author of the book Triuno: Neuro-business and Quality of Life. She is the creator of NeuroAU (neuroau.com), which is an online space for discussion and dissemination of knowledge about links between cognitive science, architecture and design. NeuroAU has more than 29K followers on Instagram (@neuro_au) and it has numerous articles published about intersections of cognitive science and architecture, in English and Portuguese. The site also hosts an online courses on these topics, with students coming from more than 26 different countries.
Andréa works as a professor of neuroscience for architecture in two Brazilian universities: Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) and Faculdade Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP). At FAAP, she has created a course Neuroscience Applied to Environments and Creation. She is a member of ACE (ANFA Centre for Education ) and she was invited to speak at Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation; Varna Free University (Bulgaria), the Institute for Challenging Disorganization in the US, DP Architects London, SECOVI-SP and SESC-SP in Brazil.
Andréa also serves as a consultant on neuroscience for architecture, having consulted at Athié Wohnrath (one of the most successful architecture offices in Brazil, according to Forbes, 2016), where she was involved in projects about schools and workplaces. She was a consultant at FGV (the best think tank in Latin America, according to the Global Go To Think Tanks Index, 2020).
Jason Farina
PARTICIPANTS
Erika Ashauer
Neuroscientist, Psychologist, Researcher
Fort Collins, CO, USA
Erika Ashauer is a cognitive neuroscience and psychology specialist passionate about integrating evidence-based insights into architectural and design practices. Her interdisciplinary expertise bridges the gap between science and design, focusing on cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and sensory wellness to create spaces that enhance human experiences. With a particular interest in learning environments and a broader commitment to life-centered design, Erika’s work reflects a dedication to innovation and human-centered solutions.
Working at an architecture firm in Colorado, Erika leads research initiatives, collaborates with project teams, and pioneers ways to translate academic expertise into practical design strategies. Her approach blends scientific rigor with imaginative thinking to shape environments that prioritize well-being, inclusivity, and meaningful connections.
Beyond her focus on life-centered design, Erika investigates how interdisciplinary collaboration can elevate the design process and foster human flourishing. By integrating scientific understanding with creative practices, she challenges conventional design norms to prioritize connection, growth, and resilience.
A firm believer that design should delight as much as it serves, Erika brings curiosity, humor, and a touch of irreverence to every project. Whether she’s pioneering new ideas or just navigating the occasional design hiccup, Erika is dedicated to creating spaces that inspire and elevate everyday life.
Educator
Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
Ashlie Boelkins, AIA, is a tenured Professor at the University of Louisiana –Lafayette and founding principal of the award-winning ARCH&also practice.
Ashlie is a licensed architect in Louisiana where her work expands the boundaries of architecture and the role of architects while operating at the fringes through multi-scalar projects: at large, with master planning efforts in underserved communities, and the small, through residential works, exhibitions, and collaborative installations. Her installation projects truly embody her passion towards her interdisciplinary research exploring relationships between architecture, movement, and performance.
Ashlie is currently the Graduate Coordinator of the ULL Masters of Architecture Program, founder of the Program’s Internship Exchange Experience, and holds the College of the Arts Board of Regents / Coca-Cola Endowed Professorship in Architecture and Mid-Career Faculty Fellowship through her University. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate studios alongside graduate seminar research-focused coursework.
Locally, she has been recognized for her exceptional leadership through the University’s Outstanding Masters & Undergraduate Research Mentor Awards from the Office of Research. Nationally, Ashlie was the recipient of the New Faculty Teaching Award from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Young Architect Award, and most recently selected as an At-Large Director on the Board of the international cohort, Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC).She has held leadership positions with AIA Louisiana and currently serves as a delegate for the Louisiana State Selection Board – awarding state-funded projects to architects across the U.S. She has served as a peer-review critic for the EAAE, ACSA, jury member for AIA North Carolina, and invited design critic for studio reviews across the U.S.
Mexico City, Mexico
Alejandra Díaz Ibargüengoitia is an architect with 20 years of experience in Mexico City. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico, a degree in photography from the Centro Internacional de Fotografía y Cine in Madrid, Spain, and an art diploma from Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico. Additionally, she holds a master’s degree in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design from IUAV in Venice, Italy. Her experience encompasses a range of design scales, including urban planning in Mexico City, medium-scale projects such as hotels and housing, and small-scale designs for mobile medical clinics in Mexico. Alejandra founded A+N STUDIO, an architecture firm in Mexico City that specializes in interior architecture for residential and work environments, as well as public open spaces. The firm’s design approach is informed by a deep engagement with neuroscience, environmental psychology, and art, aiming to create usercentered projects and spaces that are not only functional but also enrich the lived experience. Alejandra is particularly interested in perception and movement through space, as influenced by the sequence of materiality, light, and proportions that can shape behaviour. She believes that architecture and design should address all aspects of human experience: physical, perceptual, cognitive, social, cultural, and emotional. She looks forward to expanding her practice to consultant and teaching her passion.
Jason Farina GMP Manufacturing Manager, Process Engineer San Francisco, USA
Jason Farina is the design director at Thoughtscape LLC, founded to set research directions in the field of Learning Architecture – the physical and social structures that support the development of human agency – with a special focus on applications in public education. Thoughtscape’s first project is the creation of public experiential art masquerading as a business. Your Next Brick Idea was opened as a brick-and-mortar storefront in a small exurban downtown in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States. Operating a LEGO® Museum, a bookstore, and an activity space, the store seeks to encourage deep interaction with other people’s designs to inspire visitors to nurture and promote their own nascent ideas.
Jason has a background in Mechanical Engineering in aerospace and pharmaceutical manufacturing and has served as a high school mathematics teacher in the New York City Public Schools and as a neuroscience researcher in human vision at UC Berkeley. Your Next Brick Idea is his current project to start executing ideas he has carried with him since adolescence. Moving from a life of pragmatics to purpose, he is devoting himself full time to artistic endeavors and will pursue a PhD in Education Design starting in the fall of 2026.
Maria Claudia Faro
Architect, Interior Designer, Lighting Designer Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Maria Claudia Faro graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from FAU/UFRJ, she has been working for over 20 years on projects and overseeing their realization. Passionate about quality living, she believes that well-designed and meaningful spaces can transform lives, enhance experiences, and bring daily pleasure, finding fulfillment in bringing this change to her clients’ lives.
Maria Claudia worked with major architecture firms, the most notable being that of architect Oscar Niemeyer. In her graduation year, 1994, she was part of a team of young architects that won the Favela Bairro competition and received an honorable mention in the Vilas Cariocas competition, both held by the Rio de Janeiro city hall.
After winning the competition, they founded ArquiTraço Arquitetura e Urbanismo, which has become a reference in the country for slum urbanization projects.
In 2000, she spent time in New York taking a summer course in interior planning at the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and transitioned to the residential market. In 2020, she found her passion in Neuroarchitecture, a field that materialized her belief that spaces influence people’s states of mind. She became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Neuroarchitecture, completed its two-year continuous education program, and is currently pursuing an MBA in Neuroarchitecture from the same institution.
Maria Claudia participated in the Moving Boundaries in Mexico and will soon be a lead professor in the Extension Course – Introduction to Neuroarchitecture at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC/RJ).
Feng Shui Practitioner
Canada
Sachiko Kiyooka has always been drawn to spaces, art, architecture, organizing and design, attentive to and fascinated by how physical environments impact us. She has a deep curiosity about mind, body, spirit and human well-being and loves to learn about the body, mind and consciousness, and how we create meaning and experience different states and emotions.
She has a feng shui practice and organizes business of accompanying people in their spaces to help them intentionally create the conditions in which they can thrive and live the way they truly want to live.
Giovanna Colombetti is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology of the University of Exeter (UK). She was educated in Italy and the UK, and after getting a DPhil from Sussex in 2004, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the universities of York (Canada), Trento (Italy), and Harvard. Since 2007 she has worked and lived in Exeter, temporarily visiting various research centers in Europe, Australia, and Asia.
At Exeter she is also member of EGENIS (The Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences), where she leads the Mind, Body, and Culture research cluster. She is further affiliated with the University of Southern Denmark, where since 2021 she has been Adjunct Professor in Philosophy at the Faculty of Health Sciences and collaborates with its research cluster on Movement, Culture, and Society.
Her primary research interests lie at the intersection of philosophy of cognitive science (especially embodied and situated cognition), philosophy of emotion, phenomenology, and material culture studies. She has worked in particular on the notions of emotion and affectivity, and on their relation to theories of embodiment, enaction, and extended mind. She is author of several articles and chapters in which she argues that, from a dynamical and embodied-mind perspective, cognition and emotion are not separate mental faculties, and rather emotion is a primordial and all-pervasive dimension of the mind.
In 2010-2014 she was Principal Investigator of a Starting Grant funded by the European Research Council, titled “Emoting the Embodied Mind”, during which she wrote The Feeling Body: Affective Science Meets the Enactive Mind (MIT Press, 2014). Since then, she has worked on the notion of “situated affectivity” and is currently writing a second monograph on our affective relation to material objects.
Luis Othón Villegas-Solis
MdesS - Architect -
Consultant
Mexico
Norten and artist Lawrence Weiner at the Snow Show in Finland. He is the former director of the School of Architecture and Interiors at CEDIM Monterrey, Mexico. Luis has made written contributions to various publications, websites, and magazines such as The Architects Newspaper in New York, Connections 360, 10Deco, CoolhunterMX, Mexico Design, and BLINK. Luis Othón is also the founder of Design, Belly, and Brain, a lab of ideas exploring and investigating the intersection between design and brain and architecture perception and human behavior. Mr. Villegas collaborated with Dr. Michael Arbib, and Meredith Banasiak in a chapter called “Systems of Systems: Architectural Atmosphere, Neuromorphic Architecture, and the Well-Being of Humans and Ecospheres” for Mitra Kanaani’s forthcoming Book The Routledge Companion to Ecological Design Thinking: Healthful Ecotopian Visions for Architecture and Urbanism. His latest project is the INPAD Institute of Neurosciences for Architecture and Design co-creation, where research in neuroscience and cognitive science is promoted to inform architecture and design.
Luis Othón Villegas-Solis is an award-winning designer and architect. He received a Master’s Degree in Design Studies from Harvard University in 2003 and a degree in Architecture from Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in 1997. He is the founder of LVS Architecture, a firm that explores the connections between behavioral psychology and built spaces. His firm aims to transform sensory experiences in users through design and architecture.
Luis Othón has been a guest speaker at several national and international universities such as the NewSchool of Architecture and Design, Harvard University, School of Visual Arts, and Pratt Institute. In 2021 he was selected to present his research work on a Neuroarchitectural Interpretation System at the Neuroscience and Architecture Symposium of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the ANFA Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture in La Jolla, California. Luis Othón has been a teaching assistant for Paola Antonelli. He researched and contributed to the exhibitions: Design and The Elastic Mind and Safe: Design Takes on Risk at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. At the beginning of his career, Luis Othón worked for Enrique Norten Architects in New York and Rockwell Group, one of the leading experience design firms in the United States. He participated with Enrique
TEAM
Mark Rego is a qualified architect in Ireland and Portugal and has worked on projects in the USA, Portugal, South America, Africa and the United Kingdom. He has a Professional Diploma in Heritage Conservation from the Escola Profissional de Recuperação do Património de Sintra, an undergraduate architectural degree from the Boston Architectural College, undertook postgraduate studies in architecture at the University of Porto, a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Glasgow, a Professional Diploma in Architecture from the University College Dublin, and is currently working on PhD research at the Glasgow School of Art – Mackintosh School of Architecture.
He currently lectures at the Boston Architectural College and the Glasgow School of Art. His main interests lie in the intersections and interrelationships between philosophy, architectural theory, and practice. The title of his PhD research is: Architecture of Time / Time in Architecture: Bergson and the Philosophy of Architecture.
PARTICIPANTS
Pedro Araújo Napoleão
Architect, Researcher
Vila Nova de Famalicão, Portugal
Pedro Araújo Napoleão, author of the book “As Sensações e as Emoções na Arquitectura”, holds a PhD in Architecture and has published several articles in specialized journals. Throughout his career, he has coordinated and managed construction companies both in Portugal and abroad. He worked in Paris for four years as a technical director for a group in the construction sector. He supervises several internships and has coordinated various projects and public tenders. He frequently travels for research purposes, having visited world-renowned architectural works. He regularly participates in national and international conferences and seminars. Since 1997, he has been practicing at Panatelier, with projects in Portugal and abroad.
Valentina Fesenko
Azuka Odiah
Valentina Fesenko
Architect, Urban Designer, Researcher Budapest, Hungary
Brian Feagans Architect Bangalore, India
Brian Feagans has always been curious about how life works. Curiosity led him to explore how good design can support life at all scales: from a piece of furniture to a prototype classroom, to a building or a campus. It also led him to start and manage a K-8 school, giving him unique insight into the conditions required to support and celebrate the life of a community.
He also works on sustainability at the local and global scales, designing a future condition where Climate and Change are inspiration for new ideas that can increase the quality of life.
His personal interests in music, dance, art and travel allow him to explore the beauty and diversity of life, informing the future environments he imagines and shapes with his clients.
His work focuses on creating healthy, supportive environments for kids. He started with libraries, then schools, and now mental health.
He feels most at home in a forest, but also loves the diversity of experience available in dense urban environments.
Since 2014, he’s lived with his family in Bangalore, India.
Azuka Odiah
Psychologist, Architect, Researcher Texas, USA
Valentina Fesenko is PhD/DLA student and teaching assistant at the Department of Urban Planning and Design of the Faculty of Architecture in Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Her research is focused on teaching approaches towards understanding of multisensory experience of public spaces.
Valentina has twelve years of professional experience in architecture in various architecture and construction companies. She has been responsible for design of residential, industrial, and public buildings at various stages from the development of sketches to execution plans.
Her background education include BArch and MSc of Architecture at Voronezh State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering and MSc of Architecture Engineering at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Valentina continuously participates in workshops and architectural contests with winning prizes.
Azuka Odiah is a Ph.D. candidate in Social and Personality Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where he works with Prof. Sam Gosling. He is currently exploring the Psychology of Architecture and the Built Environment, drawing from his training in Architecture at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. His current work centers on ambiance, and explores the interaction between design elements within the built environment and human emotion and behavior, using generative AI models to visualize virtual environments that can be used to study these behaviors to deepen our understanding of the psychological aspects of design - specifically, the nuances of ambiance, the language used to describe it, and the measurable factors that influence it.
Pamela Ospina
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Pamela Ospina, WELL AP, NCIDQ, is a versatile interior designer located in New York, specializing in the commercial workplace sector. She graduated from New Jersey Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design. The diverse experience has shaped the focus on human-centric design, prioritizing the needs and well-being of the people who inhabit these spaces. Her portfolio showcases a range of achievements, including the development of inclusive, sustainable, and health-conscious environments that enhance user experience.
She is highly motivated and driven by curiosity, constantly exploring innovative ways to incorporate evidence-based research into designs. Her goal is to create tailored solutions that not only meet aesthetic and functional requirements but also enrich the lives of the end users.
Ioana Pieleanu Acoustician, Musician
Cambridge, MA, USA
Antonia Pellegrini is an architect and project director with more than 15 years of experience. Since the founding of her office Contexto in Santiago de Chile in 2008, she has led projects of various scales, managing works throughout Chile. Currently, Antonia is based in Lisbon, from where she continues to develop projects with a presence in both Portugal and Chile.
A graduate of the Pontifical Catholic University of Santiago de Chile, Antonia has specialized in the use of wood as a material in architecture, at the intersection of neuroscience and the perception of spaces, and the role of art in creating architectural environments. These approaches have enriched her professional focus, enabling her to create sustainable solutions closely connected to the sensory and cognitive experience of her works.
Lisbon, Portugal
Recently, her project TAWA Refugio was shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in the Hotels & Leisure category, and also made it to the nominations of the Dezeen Awards 2024. This recognition underscores her innovative approach to architectural design, which not only seeks functionality and aesthetics but also places special emphasis on the well-being and mental health of those who inhabit the spaces.
Paige Elizabeth Ragan Psychologist, Master of Public Health student Riverside, CA, USA
Ioana Pieleanu is a multifaceted acoustician and accomplished musician with a rich background in piano and music theory studies. She brings a musician’s ear and an artist’s mindset to her architectural acoustics consulting practice. Ioana enjoys guiding clients through master planning and feasibility studies, as well as working with architects on full building designs. She acts as an effective interpreter between end-users and the design community. Her project experience includes performing arts centers and music schools, auditoriums, critical listening spaces, K-12 schools, university buildings, as well as civic and commercial facilities.
Ioana believes that an acoustically cohesive building results from a deep understanding of acoustics, of human perception through our combined senses, and from a strong empathy with the end users. She is adept at combining classical acoustics concepts and methods with the latest computer modeling technologies, leading to shared design experiences through 3DListening simulations.
Ioana is Director of the Architectural Acoustics group at Acentech, and serves as the Market Leader of Acentech’s Studio A/Performing Arts practice and Co-Leader of the firm’s 3DListening® Services, providing marketing strategy, client development, and industry thought leadership.
Ioana earned her BA in Music from Berklee College of Music, and her MS in Architectural Acoustics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is fluent in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian.
Paige Elizabeth Ragan is a Master of Public Health student with a concentration in Health Education and Promotion, dedicated to integrating design for wellbeing into public health practice. With an undergraduate background in psychology, she brings an understanding of cognition and human behavior to her work. Her personal experience has fueled her passion for promoting equitable, person-centered design, especially for individuals who may struggle to articulate their needs or access environments that support their healing.
Paige is exploring the intersection of psychology, neuroscience, and design to promote public health, particularly within the behavioral health sector. Her working thesis ideas aim to consider how design principles from mental health facilities and hospitals can benefit broader environments, like educational or corporate spaces, and vice versa. She has a special interest in sensory regulation design within acute psychiatric facilities.
In addition to her focus on behavioral and psychiatric facilities, Paige is interested in exploring environments for aging centers and end-of-life care. Examining how design strategies bolstered by neuroscience can promote comfort in hospice and palliative care settings as well as combat increasing loneliness. Her third area of interest lies in developing conceptual frameworks that explore how the aesthetics of religious and spiritual spaces can influence virtue development such as gratitude, positive effect, and patience. She aims to contribute to projects that support human thriving while connecting with professionals to further the conversation on creating spaces that support holistic well-being and resilience.
Jill Snyder is an institution builder with a proven record of leading innovation, growth, and change. As executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland she leveraged moCa’s beginnings as a small but influential arts center to become a vital civic hub and emblem of Cleveland’s cultural renaissance. Along the way, Snyder shaped conversations about the public value of museums and contemporary art.
In 2012, Snyder completed a Farshid Moussavi designed, internationally acclaimed, debt-free building in University Circle. She led a successful $35M building campaign and established the museum’s first endowment.
Since 2020, based in Chicago, Snyder has served as a museum consultant with a focus on equitable museum design and strategic planning. In 2021 she produced a think tank to explore how museum design can be more empathic and equitable: www. dontcallitamuseum.org. More recently, she has pursued studies in neuroarchitecture, an interface between architecture, design, and the human sciences.
Chicago, IL, USA
A museum professional for over 30 years, Snyder has held administrative and educational positions at the Guggenheim Museum and Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and served as Director of The Aldrich Museum and Freedman Gallery at Albright College. Snyder is co-founder of the Contemporary Art Museum Directors (CAMD), a critical platform for developing leaders in contemporary art institutions. She has participated in numerous leadership programs. In 2013 Snyder received the Ohio Governor’s Award for Arts Administration and the Cleveland Arts Prize Martha Joseph Award.
Snyder earned her BA in dance from Wesleyan University and conducted graduate studies in art history at New York University’s Institute of Fine Art.
Nicolette Watson is an interior architect, project manager, consultant and Master’s graduate in interior design. She has run her own business and successfully practised in the field for the past 25 years.
Her experience in the luxury design industry specialises in turnkey interior architecture and a full project management service across residential, commercial, industrial, banking, retail and school sectors. Her preference is a coordinated effort between architect, builder and designer where collaboration underscores every step of the process. The implications of this are far reaching and the benefits many especially from a mental health, wellness, sustainability, budget and efficiency perspective.
Fundamental to any project are the unique visions of the client being used to inform all decisions and for them to ultimately be reflected in the final product that bears testament to the clients wishes at every turn.
Reigate, United Kingdom
However, key to her philosophy, is the enormous responsibility that lies at the door of architects and designers’ alike to inform all participants throughout the process as to the impact of the built environment on human health and well-being. The world’s we build can be shown to ‘actively direct’ cognitively constructing ourselves as people, other people as human beings and our relations with one another.
Nicolette is actively pursuing her knowledge in the field of neuroscience and architecture not only for the benefit of her clients but also because of her passion for and belief in the subject.
FACULTY
Professor, Adult Psychiatry and Health Systems, Univ. of Toronto, Canada
David Dorenbaum, MD (México, 1956), is a psychoanalyst, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association and the Lacan Clinical Forum at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. His essays appear in various publications that have resulted from collaborations with artists and museums. He is a regular contributor to the newspaper El País. His most recent essay appears in the book Kings Road Mona Kuhn (Steidl, 2021).
This project is the result of a collaboration with photographer Mona Kuhn, and the Department of History of Art and Architecture at UC Santa Barbara. It lyrically reconsiders the realms of space and time within the architectural elements of the Schindler House, built by Austrian architect Rudolph M. Schindler in 1922, in Los Angeles.
TEAM
Mark Rego is a qualified architect in Ireland and Portugal and has worked on projects in the USA, Portugal, South America, Africa and the United Kingdom. He has a Professional Diploma in Heritage Conservation from the Escola Profissional de Recuperação do Património de Sintra, an undergraduate architectural degree from the Boston Architectural College, undertook postgraduate studies in architecture at the University of Porto, a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Glasgow, a Professional Diploma in Architecture from the University College Dublin, and is currently working on PhD research at the Glasgow School of Art – Mackintosh School of Architecture. He currently lectures at the Boston Architectural College and the Glasgow School of Art. His main interests lie in the intersections and interrelationships between philosophy, architectural theory, and practice. The title of his PhD research is: Architecture of Time / Time in Architecture: Bergson and the Philosophy of Architecture.
Giovanna Colombetti is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology of the University of Exeter (UK). She was educated in Italy and the UK, and after getting a DPhil from Sussex in 2004, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the universities of York (Canada), Trento (Italy), and Harvard. Since 2007 she has worked and lived in Exeter, temporarily visiting various research centers in Europe, Australia, and Asia.
University of Exeter, UK
At Exeter she is also member of EGENIS (The Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences), where she leads the Mind, Body, and Culture research cluster. She is further affiliated with the University of Southern Denmark, where since 2021 she has been Adjunct Professor in Philosophy at the Faculty of Health Sciences and collaborates with its research cluster on Movement, Culture, and Society. Her primary research interests lie at the intersection of philosophy of cognitive science (especially embodied and situated cognition), philosophy of emotion, phenomenology, and material culture studies. She has worked in particular on the notions of emotion and affectivity, and on their relation to theories of embodiment, enaction, and extended mind. She is author of several articles and chapters in which she argues that, from a dynamical and embodied-mind perspective, cognition and emotion are not separate mental faculties, and rather emotion is a primordial and all-pervasive dimension of the mind.
In 2010-2014 she was Principal Investigator of a Starting Grant funded by the European Research Council, titled “Emoting the Embodied Mind”, during which she wrote The Feeling Body: Affective Science Meets the Enactive Mind (MIT Press, 2014). Since then, she has worked on the notion of “situated affectivity” and is currently writing a second monograph on our affective relation to material objects.
Christine Bruckner
Problem-solving has been a passion for Annette Bajema since she was young. Recognizing a kindred spirit, her father gave her a pencil, a sketchbook, and the opportunity to join him in the woodshop. From encouraging her to build furniture, to guiding her through design solutions in the world around us, he passed on his passion for seeking out quality solutions to difficult questions, which continues to drive her forward.
She graduated from Texas Tech with an architecture and business degree, an enthusiasm for client-centered design, and a desire for adventure, so she set off for the east coast. In Charlotte, she worked both in historic renovation and urban planning while earning her architectural license. These opportunities fostered her drive to find the balance between beauty, function, and funding to craft the perfect solution for a client. Now, she runs her own firm called Reframe Design Collaborative to work together with a team of talented builders to bring her clients dreams to reality.
Architectural historian USA
Dr. Barbara Lamprecht is the author of “Neutra: Complete Works”; “Neutra”; and “Richard Neutra: Furniture: The Body and the Senses”. She is a qualified architectural historian specializing in the rehabilitation of modern buildings and in preparing technical evaluations and designations.
Lamprecht earned her M.Arch. at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and her Ph.D. at the University of Liverpool, where her dissertation explored the basis for Neutra’s philosophy of biorealism expressed in the relationship between body, brain, and the environment. Supported by the Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design, she is developing the dissertation for publication in 2025. Lamprecht has served as the historical consultant in the rehabilitation of many Neutra properties including the former Garden Grove Community Church, the Jardinette Apartments, and the Lovell Health House, and has evaluated or nominated buildings by Modernist architects including Walter White; Buff, Straub, and Hensman; and Smith and Williams. She contributed a chapter for William Krisel’s Palm Springs: The Language of Modernism, 2016; “The Landscape Architect Cannot Come Later!”, Eden, 2021; and a chapter “The Desert Dialogues: Schindler, Neutra, Frey” for Albert Frey: Inventive Modernist, 2024. Lamprecht has taught all periods of architectural history and has lectured at venues such as the National Building Museum, SF MOMA, LA MOCA, and the Getty Conservation Institute. The California Preservation Foundation presented her with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
Christine Bruckner
Architect, FAIA, Interior
Architect, Urban Designer
Hong Kong
Christine E. Bruckner, FAIA, is an architect with extensive credentials, including HKIA, R.A., HKIUD, LEED AP, BEAM Professional, BREEAM AP, RESET AP Fellow, WELL AP Faculty. She serves as an IWBI Community and City Concept Advisor, Fitwel Ambassador, LBC Ambassador, BG-EHS Practitioner, GBCI TRUE Advisor, Blue Consultant. Christine held the position of President of AIA International. Currently, she is a Director at M Moser Associates.
Christine is an architect actively implementing best practice, sustainability, and wellness in design. As a Director at M Moser Associates, she brings her experience with urban integration, revitalization, and design excellence to guide the development of our built environment at all scales.
Her focus is working with client and community stakeholders to encourage deep dive investigation, coordination and holistic life-cycle considerations.
Christine leads M Moser’s global integrative sustainable and wellness design solution initiatives and is passionate that architectural solutions be:
- Relentless in the design of spaces that heal, inspire, and empower.
- Inclusive in the engagement of all stakeholders to create life-affirming, creativity-provoking, healthy places for people.
- Responsible to create equitable, vibrant, safe communities that touch lightly on our shared planet.
Alba Méndez García Architect Barcelona, Spain
Alba Méndez García is an architect specialized in Neuroarchitecture and MBA, founder and CEO of Qualia Estudio.
Alba Méndez trained as an architect at UPC-ETSAB (2008) and further developed her skills working at the studio of Lluís Clotet and Ignacio Paricio. In 2012, she founded her own architecture studio alongside Miquel del Pozo, a project that concluded in 2022 to evolve into Qualia Estudio, an architecture and consultancy firm specializing in applied research in the field of neuroarchitecture based in Barcelona. She also holds an MBA from ESADE and serves as a board member of Arquipensiones S.A. She continues her research and studies in Neurosciences applied to architecture at the University of Venice.
Alba is distinguished by her commitment to developing more human-centered architecture. Her vision goes beyond conventional boundaries, aspiring to create a better world for everyone. To achieve this goal, Alba employs three key drivers of change: First, she applies the principles of neuroarchitecture in projects and consultancies, integrating the latest technologies and knowledge into her work. Second, she is engaged in constant research to incorporate the latest scientific advancements into architectural design, developing new metrics to evaluate the social impact of architecture. Lastly, she shares her experience and knowledge as a speaker and lecturer at national and international universities, fostering the exchange of ideas and training new generations of architects. She is notable as the creator and co-director of the Postgraduate Program in Neuroarchitecture at Escola Sert and has designed the content and coordinates the first official Master’s degree in Neuroarchitecture at the University of Alicante’s School of Architecture.
Alina Osnaga
Architect, Researcher
Munich, Germany / Detroit, USA
Alina Osnaga, AIA Associate, NOMA member, is a Master of Architecture candidate at Lawrence Technological University, where she integrates her diverse academic background into her architectural learning. With a Master’s in Neuroscience Applied to Architecture and a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics and Computer Science, Alina approaches architecture from a multidisciplinary perspective. Her unique combination of skills allows her to translate empirical science concepts into innovative design solutions, particularly in educational facilities and pediatric healthcare environments.
Alina’s professional journey has taken her across various countries, her experiences have supported her ability to analyze the differences between architectural practices in Europe and the United States, particularly regarding user requirements and design processes. This global perspective shapes her work where she emphasizes the human experience in every design iteration.
Alina’s research and insights have gained recognition in several prestigious forums. Her work has been presented at numerous conferences and published in notable journals, including IEEE, EDRA, ANFA, European Healthcare Design. Among her contributions is the one to the article “How Trauma-Informed Design Can Create Healing Architecture,” featured in Bloomberg- City Lab.
Alina actively participates in professional organizations. She serves as a Director on the AIA Detroit Board and is involved with the Practice and Resilience Task Force. She is a Board Member and Chair of Student Affairs for the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) and is proud to be part of the 2025 AIA National Next to Lead cohort.
Martina van Schoote
Architect, Interior Architect, Illustrator Antwerp, Belgium
Martina van Schoote is a dedicated architect, interior architect, and illustrator with a unique approach to design that blends aesthetics, neuroscience, and social awareness. She holds a degree in architecture from KU Leuven Ghent (2020) and a degree in interior architecture from Sint-Lucas Ghent (2008). Additionally, she has developed her skills in illustration at the academy SASK.
Throughout her career, Martina has done several projects researching the impact of architecture on well-being, both in the health, university and residential sectors. During these work experiences, she became more passionate about neuroscience. Her work emphasizes well-being through the use of colors, light and natural elements to create a coherence between the individual and the collective space. Her projects span various healthcare environments, including neonatal care, child psychiatry and elder care.
Her passion for exploring different kinds of boundaries, both mental and physical, is evident in her work. Martina’s projects, such as “Museum N,” “Home for Alex,” “Errors for Learning”, demonstrate her exploration of these themes. Her thesis, inspired by nomadic thinking, focused on the facade as a medium for interaction, aiming to merge life inside and outside through architectural design.
Since 2020, Martina has been working at BLAF Architects. She has been involved in diverse projects, from residential homes and repurposing initiatives to heritage projects. At BLAF, Martina also works on research projects on ecology and well-being in housing. Amongst other worlshops and courses, Martina participated in the winter course of Moving Boundaries 2023.
FACULTY TEAM
Andrea Chiba is a Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science and in the Program for Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Chiba earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently taught high school math. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Utah. She is Co-Director and the founding Science Director of the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center, an NSF Science of Learning Center. The Center research is focused on the importance of time and timing in various aspects of learning, from the level of the synapse to social interactions. Chiba is involved in many Center projects that allow crossspecies comparisons of learning and memory, bridging from rodent to human.
Dr. Chiba’s Laboratory is focused on gaining an understanding of the neural systems and principles underlying aspects of learning, memory, affect, and attention, with an emphasis on neural plasticity. Work in her laboratory is highly interdisciplinary, using a variety of neurobiological, neurochemical, neurophysiology, computational, robotic, and behavioral techniques.
Dr. Chiba has authored dozens of papers and other publications and has organized and participated in international workshops to help educators and policy-makers understand how the science of learning provides a strong foundation for educational excellence.
Raymond Richard Neutra
MD Dr.PH
Neutra Institute for Survival
Through Design
USA
Dr. Neutra is the President of Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design and the last remaining son of Austrian-American architect Richard Neutra. Inspired by his father’s 1954 book Survival Through Design, Dr Neutra embarked on a career in medicine and environmental epidemiology and public health. Being involved with contentious environmental and occupational health policy discussions taught him that some perfectly valid evidence may be insufficient to guide policy when other ideological or economic interests make that evidence inconvenient to some stakeholders.
He continued to be involved with the work and thoughts of his architect father and brother and their faith in a research inspired architecture that serves people and the planet. He has written articles on their ideas and a book “Cheap and Thin: Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright”.
For the last 15 years Andreia Schmidt had her own school where she developed a teaching methodology based on art, cooking, and gardening. She then went back to college and graduated in Architecture and Urban Planning and completed a postgraduate master’s degree in Neuroarchitecture at IPOG. Nowadays, she studies Interior Design at the Lisbon School of Design.
She is a member of ANFA (USA) and ANFA (Brazil chapter).
She has been working in the development of an intentional intergenerational community, seeking for local identity and involving people’s affective memory, implementing in this space the possibility of bodily activation for good aging.
After being part of the first Moving Boundaries in Iberia, her project underwent profound transformations, as well as her way of approaching the design act.
In the last edition of Moving Boundaries in Italy, she defended significant changes in the environments of the project, offering spaces that can provide autonomy, independence, and better health condition for its users, improving human well-being at all ages.
Yohany Albornoz is a Venezuelan architect specializing in the intersection of neuroscience and architecture. She holds a Master’s degree in Neuroscience for Architecture from the Universitat Iuav di Venezia (2021), a postgraduate degree in Visual Design and Branding from Artidi, Barcelona (2018), and a Master’s degree in Architectural Acoustics from Universidad Ramon Llull (2011). Her architectural journey began at FAU UCV in Caracas, Venezuela, where she graduated in 2008.
As an independent researcher, she collaborates as a consultant with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, contributing to the Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research, Neurosciences, and Human Genetics, under the leadership of Dr. Gladys Maestre.
In addition to her research, Yohany has served as a guest teacher in neuroarchitecture courses and co-founded several ventures, including:
- Discover Neuroarchitecture, Human Sensory Studio & Consulting, focused on research, consulting, and raising awareness of neuroarchitecture.
- Building Art X, bridging the gap between artistic creation and technical implementation to integrate public art into architecture.
- The Marketer Architect Agency, dedicated to designing commercial interiors that foster well-being and drive economic growth.
Over her career, she has contributed to over 350 projects in the United States, spanning commercial interior design, public art, and consulting. Earlier in her career, she worked on more than 50 music schools and concert halls across Venezuela as part of her role with “El Sistema,” where she served as an architect for five years. Before embarking on her architectural journey, she was a musician with “El Sistema” from the age of 8, an experience that profoundly shaped her appreciation for the interplay between art, design, spaces and emotions.
Yohany is also a speaker, passionate about communicating the importance of applying neuroscience to architecture, design, and environmental psychology. She highlights how creating spaces with meaning, alongside this understanding, can foster social and economic development across various real estate sectors. In 2025, her speaking engagements focus on two key themes: how spaces with meaning can foster a sense of belonging and drive social and economic growth in commercial spaces and corporate offices, and how understanding human behavior can foster wellness and positively impact retail sales.
Through her ventures, Yohany combines her expertise in neuroscience and architecture to design environments that foster creativity, well-being, and economic growth. Known for her ability to communicate complex concepts in relatable terms, she engages diverse audiences, from design professionals to the general public.
Beyond her professional endeavors, she is a devoted wife and mother of two and an advocate for maternal health, actively promoting breastfeeding awareness.
Sara Vieira Borelli is a Brazilian Architect and Urbanist focused on adaptive reuse, innovation ecosystems, and sustainable corporate environments. Since 2022, she has been a partner architect at ALTA Architecture Studio, bringing strategic expertise to projects that merge function and social impact. As cofounder of Nau Live Spaces, Sara led the retrofit, adaptation, and interior design of a historic building, transforming it into a vibrant coworking and event hub that emphasizes preservation, community, and urban renewal.
Sara holds a degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, an MBA in Office Management (IPOG), and a specialization in Workspace Design (Mensch&Büro-Akademie), along with additional expertise in Building Adaptation Management and Biophilic Design. Through her consultancy, sara.archi, she creates environments tailored for innovationdriven businesses in different Brazilian cities, applying New Work principles to design spaces that culturally resonant and work-life balance oriented.
As an active member of Porto Alegre’s Municipal Committee for Creative Economy, Sara advocates for the crucial role of creative industries in driving economic growth and sustainable urban development. She also dedicates part of her work to pro bono planning and physical improvements for small businesses and purpose-driven spaces, reflecting her belief in architecture’s potential to make a meaningful difference in underserved areas, fostering social impact through strategic, thoughtful design.
Tuwanda Green
Architect, Adjunct Professor, Managing Principal Chattahoochee Hills, GA, USA
Dr. Tuwanda Green has over 32 years of architectural experience and holds her doctorate in Architecture & Design Research from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in the United States. She holds credentials with AIA, NCARB, PMP, LEED BD+C, and WELL AP, and maintains architecture licenses in three states. Dr. Green is an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech teaching her self-created course “Human-Centric Design: The Art and Science.” Her teaching philosophy encompasses human centered and environmentally conscious design based in scientific research. She manages her firm “human.” which translates her research and nature-based artistic principles into design solutions that inspire and optimize human performance. Collaborating with experts from diverse fields, she shares her expertise through various mediums such as writing, podcasts, conference presentations, and community engagement. Dr. Green’s work is supplemented by previous government design projects which span multiple locations both in USA and abroad. She contributes her architecture expertise as a board member at the Biophilic Institute promoting biophilic concepts and professional networks. Dr. Green’s research endeavors include a biophilic framework for making informed design decisions regarding the occupant’s health. The research examines Isolated Controlled environment spaces in medical buildings that have limited exposure to nature or biophilic elements. Key research results intend to yield a design process based in art and scientific methods that help substantiate design decisions. This results in a strong financial business case for biophilic design. She is also collaborating with her colleagues on the impact of aloneness in the built environments on children’s neural development, and the scientific convergence of mindfulness and architecture concepts into design elements.
Yelena McLane
Interior Designer, Researcher, Educator
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Yelena McLane is an Associate Professor in the Department of Interior Architecture & Design at Florida State University, where she teaches design history, studio courses, and research methods. Dr. McLane graduated from Moscow State University, Russia, with a degree in Russian Literature and Linguistics. After moving to the United States, she studied interior design and received her Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at Florida State University. She is NCIDQ certified and has worked as a museum exhibition designer for 20 years.
Yelena’s research interests lie in two substantive areas: interior spatial analysis and design history. She applies a combination of space syntax methods and ethnography to explore relationships between interior configurations and users’ experiences within spaces, and institutional, social, and cultural influences upon these relationships to inform interior design practice. Her historical research focuses on mid-twentieth-century modernism in the Soviet Union.
McLane’s research on the design of shelters, day centers, and permanent supportive housing was published in the book Homelessness and the Built Environment: Designing for Unhoused Persons, which she co-authored with Jill Pable and Lauren Trujillo, and which the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) awarded its 2022 Book Award. She is the revising author for the fourth edition of Foundations of Interior Design (2025). Current research projects include a study of family life in homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and a non-profit partnership focusing on trauma-informed housing design.
Architect, Interior Designer Lisbon, Portugal
Lúcia de Soveral Vaz Pato is a Portuguese architect with interests in interior and light design and Neuroarchitecture.
She graduated from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), University of Lisbon, studied at ETSAB - Barcelona School of Architecture, under the ERASMUS Program and was a post-graduate Research Fellow at IST in the “Learning Environments” project. At the moment she is a participant at the programme Neuroscience for Architecture from NeuroAU, and recently took part in the Moving Boundaries – Nordic X Scandinavia 2024.
From 2011 to 2017, she lived in Rio de Janeiro and worked as an architect for the renowned Brazilian director and set designer Bia Lessa, designing several museums and exhibition.
In her private practice, some of the highlight are projects for the POÇAS Winery and the Swiss watch’s brand CAUNY, developing interior and lighting design projects, furniture design, branding strategies. Her projects encompass interior renovation in listed buildings and heritage sights.
Currently she has been serving as both architect and coordinator at the nonprofit organization CAuSA, which aims to provide architectural solutions for disadvantaged communities. She holds a position on the organization’s board and develops projects based on the knowledge of Neuroarchitecture in Seniors Homes. The first pilot project called Dar Cor (Assigning Color) won the BPI Senior prize in 2023 by La Caixa Foundation.
Tatiana Berger
Architect, Professor, Consultant Founder and Director of MB Collaborative Porto, Portugal and San Diego, USA
Tatiana Berger (Princeton University, UC Berkeley) is an architect, urban designer, entrepreneur, consultant and educator. She has worked for over 35 years in the U.S., Portugal, Spain and Austria. Her built works, collaborations and community plans were published in international periodicals and presented in exhibitions in Europe and U.S. Berger worked with Richard Meier in New York, was Director of the Sochi Olympics 2014 project for ILF Engineers and project architect for Baumschlager-Eberle in Bregenz, Austria. From 1997-2004 she worked as project architect and manager in the office of Alvaro Siza in Porto. Berger’s built work, designed in collaboration with architects named above, is found in Porto, Lisbon and Viana do Castelo in Portugal, and also in Austria, the Netherlands, China, Russia and the U.S. In addition to architecture, her experience in professional practice includes landscape design and urban planning, furniture/product design, and construction administration. Berger is Founder of Moving Boundaries Collaborative, which provides educational services and design/consulting services. She is guest lecturer at NAAD in Venice, ETH Zurich, NeuroArq Brazil, NAD Chile, and the BAC. She was Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the NewSchool of Architecture & Design in San Diego and Professor of Architecture at the Boston Architectural College. A member of the Advisory Council of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA), she developed a new curriculum in architectural theory and studio with a focus on ANFA themes as faculty in the pioneering Neuroscience for Architecture Program at NewSchool. In her role as Liaison for Education and curator of lecture series and symposia, she led for three years the ANFA Center for Education (ACE), an international forum for educators dedicated to reimagining design education. She is co-founder of the Compostela Institute, a laboratory for research and education in environmental design, providing courses and workshops since 2010 in anthropology, cultural studies and building crafts in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She has lectured internationally on topics in architectural theory, urbanism and health, regionalism, and transdisciplinary design education. She is increasingly involved in research in dynamic sensory experience of the built environment informed by knowledge from the human sciences.
Itai Palti is a practicing architect, researcher, and multidisciplinary artist focusing on the relationship between people and place. He is the Founder of The Centre for Conscious Design, and Director of Hume – a Science-Informed architecture and urban design practice.
In 2015, Itai founded the Conscious Cities movement; a new field of research and practice for building environments that are aware and responsive, using data analysis, AI, tech, and science-informed design. For his work in advancing changes in the design profession, he was named by Metropolis Magazine as one of 2020’s ‘Game Changers’ in transformative ideas in Health, Social Justice, Technology, and Urbanism.
Itai carries out thought leadership and advisory roles in a number of other research and policy bodies, contributing to strategies that focus on systems change and the promotion of design as a socially conscious profession. His work and writing has been featured internationally and he is a regular speaker at events focused on the built environment and human impact.
Luís Carlos Bucha (Lisbon, 1992) is a Lisbon-born Portuguese qualified architect since 2019, a PhD student in Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts at Lusíada University, Lisbon [FAA-ULL], and a research fellow at the Research Centre in Territory, Architecture and Design (CITAD) at Lusíada University, Lisbon. In 2023, Luís was granted a PhD research scholarship and began working at CITAD. At this research centre and within the Architecture and Urbanism Research Group, Luís is a member of several research projects, such as “Architecture and Transdisciplinarity [ArT]”; “Meta-Baroque: Towards an Architecture of a Future [metA]”; “Mapping the Architectural Inter-Relationships between Portugal and Japan in an International Context [JAPOm]”; and also “Filming Álvaro Siza [FILMs]”.
As a PhD student, his research aligns with the inter- and transdisciplinarity of architecture, with a particular interest in understanding the transversal and interconnected nature of architecture, cognitive neuroscience and philosophy, through phenomena such as empathy, embodiment and emotion. Luís holds an M.Arch degree in Architecture from the Lusíada University, Lisbon (2018).
William Dodge
Karolina Kovarova
PARTICIPANTS
William Dodge Designer, Conceptual artist Raleigh, NC, USA
William H. Dodge is a multidisciplinary designer, design strategist and conceptual artist based in North Carolina (USA).
He is Founder and Design Principal of p-u-b-l-i-c (strategy), Co-founder of A Gang of Three (public art), and Founder and Director of The Vernon Pratt Project (art non-profit). He has both led and collaborated on projects at nearly every scale and has served as a key advisor to some of the world’s premier design firms. He regularly serves as a visiting critic and lecturer on the subjects of art, architecture, design, technology, and innovation at various institutions internationally.
His recent work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors by Google, Fast Company, the Architect’s Newspaper, the American Planning Association, the American Institute of Architects, the World Architecture Festival, and the Institute for Public Art, among others.
He currently sits on Fast Company’s Impact Council and the Advisory Board of the Gregg Museum of Art & Design.
Engineer, Designer Basel, Switzerland
Karolina Kovarova Psychologist
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK / Prague, the Czech republic
Karolina Kovarova is a Master of Research in Psychology (Northumbria University, UK) from the Czech republic. In her work, she focuses on building a foundation for understanding how feelings of ownership impact human engagement with physical environments. Her research interests include bridging psychology with architecture and urban design, to create spaces that will promote wellbeing as well as sense of community and human diversity. Her research experience includes topics of psychological ownership, neurodiversity in higher education, workplace satisfaction, and body image perception.
Karolina also teaches cognitive psychology and research at Northumbria University at undergraduate and masters levels. She also works as a researcher in the area of Neurodiversity and entrepreneurship.
Teresa Ribeiro Architect Lisbon, Portugal
Teresa Ribeiro
Kornelius Reutter is an engineer in mechatronics (Stuttgart / Germany) who did further graduate studies in design engineering (Lucerne / Switzerland) and industrial design (Milano / Italy).
After constructing medical devices and micromotors and designing furniture he entered the domain of lighting. Now he is in design & innovation for future concepts of lighting and luminaires.
Kornelius is based in Basel / Switzerland and working with the Swiss luminaire company Regent Lighting. He did research in material technology of optics as well as in the application field of lighting, investigating the relationship between outside and inside light and lighting.
He is fascinated by the effects of light on people and the environment. His interests lie in exploring these effects physiologically, psychologically and architecturally.
His passion lies in holistically connecting values for new lighting and luminaires which significantly improve how light in the interior affects us and how we experience the interior space.
His works include several design luminaires which are successfully sold on the market. Kornelius holds 15 patents in the illumination field and he won design awards like the Red Dot, the German Design and the Good Design Award. A swiss government funded research project resulted in a light shaping layer which is sold on the market. It won the Best of“ Design Plus award of the fair Light and Building 2022 in Frankfurt / Germany.
With over 20 years of experience in residential, urban, and rehabilitation architecture, Teresa Ribeiro has shifted her focus to Neuroarchitecture. Her aim is to integrate insights from this emerging discipline into architectural education and practice in Portugal. A member of the ANFA UK Chapter, she presented a poster at ANFA’s 20th-anniversary conference, highlighting the impact of the work environment on the physical and psychological well-being of employees, with a focus on the influence of the workplace on the health of permanent workers, using Braga Stadium as a case study.
Teresa holds a degree in Architecture from Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa and completed her final year at Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza. She earned a master’s degree in Monument Rehabilitation from UPC, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, in Barcelona and holds postgraduate degrees in Project Management from ISEG (Lisbon) and Real Estate Investment Analysis from Iscte (Lisbon). She participated in the REM 2022 course at Harvard Business School, completed the Applied Neuroscience to Environments and Creation (Neuroau) course and online course Sustainable Real Estate: Analysis and Investment (MIT | SA+P). She also took part in the Moving Boundaries Italy 2023, and Nordic 2024. Currently, Teresa leads the project management and quality control department at Irmãos Mota Lda, making significant contributions to urban design and community creation. With four years of experience at Carlos Ferrater’s architecture firm in Barcelona, she collaborated with Architects Without Borders and contributed to housing projects in Mozambique and collaborated with NGOs. Teresa is a member of the ANFA UK, ACE (ANFA Center for Education), ULI Portugal, Global Wellness Institute, Flourishing by Design, The Centre for Conscious Design, Social Value Portal, GRI Club, WIRE (Women in Real Estate), Women In BIM, and APPII (Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and Investors).
Julie Rucker graduated from the University of California San Diego, BS in Applied Physics & Information Science/Computer Science. Julie was Microcomputer software company executive, now retired. She’s advocating and volunteering for music and science education for elementary and middle school students and invloved in design and construction of small accessory dwelling units.
Born and brought up in Sao Paulo - Brazil, Daniela Coppola graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie in 1999, continuing her education in Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Architecture at Universidade de São Paulo as well as in Engineer Evaluation and Expertise at Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado.
She moved to the USA, where she earned a Master’s in Architecture from the University of Florida being laureated with the Design Honor Award and the Research Prize for Original Research and Academic Writing with the Master’s Research/Thesis Project.
The notion that architecture has the power to influence people in the short and long term even affecting their behavior and health intrigues her to understand the practice of meaningful architecture, which inspires and promotes the well-being of those who engage with it.
Daniela’s work was always defined by a thoughtful creative approach grounded in art and human experience. With over 25 years of experience leading her architectural firm in Brazil, Daniela and her partner, Cesar Coppola, were recipients of national and international awards and had their work published in more than 25 countries. In 2015, their firm Coletivo Arquitetos was recognized as one of the five best young architectural companies in Brazil by Casa Vogue. In 2017, they were awarded the best apartment interior design of The American Master Prize. In 2020, Daniela officially immigrated to the USA as an Allie of Extraordinary Ability in Architecture further strengthening her commitment to the future of architecture and to positively influence new generations.
Omar Oropeza
Alzheimer Disease Research
Center Director USA
Omar Oropeza, MBA, is director for the Alzheimer Disease Research Center for Dr. Gladys Maestre at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His passion, goals, and visions toward the improvement of quality of life and social integration for a better world are complemented by his diverse educational background and robust grant management experience.
Omar completed his post-graduate degree in software engineering and earned his master’s in business administration from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley both with Scholastic Excellence Awards.
Omar amassed over 20 years of professional experience in grant management and customer service. During this time, he managed under different roles federally, state, local funded programs, and post-higher education awards such as National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Agriculture (DOAG), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Education (DOE), National Institute of Health (NIH), National Institute of Aging (NIA), among others. He was the recipient of The Senate Proclamation by The Senate of the State of Texas for excellent customer services for military veterans.
With his multidisciplinary experience, he is currently exploring the association between the social and the built environment of different neighborhoods and AD like cognitive trajectories and the impact of design standards, accessibility, health benefits, and amenity spaces in a multicultural community and its diversity.
Aside from doing financial administration, grant management, IT consultation, and research, Omar, as a semi-professional dancer, is also interested in the science of dance and dance as a critical component to improve quality of life and aging well and community integration.
Neuroscientist USA
Gladys E. Maestre, MD, PhD, is Professor of Neurosciences and Human Genetics at the School of Medicine at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in the United States of America, where she is the Director of the Rio Grande Valley V Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (ADRCMAR), and co-Director of the South Texas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Zulia in Venezuela. Dr. Maestre´s interests focus on the roles of gene-environment interactions during aging, with an emphasis on blood pressure’s impact on cognitive function. Recently she has incorporated methods to detect the presence of non-random spatial characteristics of neighborhoods on phenotypic/disease risk variation. Her participation in the Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design (IUAV) and the Moving Boundaries Programs have motivated to include architectural features as part of her research. Her clinical practice has included care of older adults with memory disorders, depression and multiple chronic health concerns, particularly hypertension. Dr. Maestre is the author of several peer-review scientific publications and books devoted to strengthening care for older adults.
