MOVING BOUNDARIES
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
August 12 - 20
HELSINKI, FINLAND
August 21 - 24
ABOUT
Mission Statement
Course Highlights PROGRAM
Stockholm
Helsinki
Theme 1: Ecology of Light in Space
Theme 2: Interweaving the Senses
Teaching venues
CHAIRS
MOVING BOUNDARIES
HUMAN SCIENCES AND THE FUTURE OF ARCHITECTURE
The 4th Edition of Moving Boundaries: Human Sciences and the Future of Architecture, directed by Tatiana Berger, Architect and Professor, and Co-Chaired by Architect and Professor Kurt Hunker, FAIA, and Scientist and Professor Katharina Wulff, offers an intensive 13-day course in the interface between disciplines concerned with design of the built environment and scientific disciplines concerned with human perception and behavior. These disciplines include neuroscience, neurophenomenology, cognitive science, environmental psychology, health sciences and others. The course/conference will run from August 12-24, 2024.
Grounded in the culture of Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland, participants will experience the rich cultural context of both cities, which hold many treasured works of architecture and landscape design including those by Gunnar Asplund, Sigurd Lewerentz, and Alvar Aalto. Participants will be offered tours of buildings and landscapes by these three architects and will also tour selected works by contemporary masters of landscape, architecture, interior design and lighting design such as Juhani Pallasmaa, Juha Leiviska and others. After spending eight days exploring Stockholm and participating in lectures, masterclasses, tours, workshops, craft demonstrations, sketching sessions, and social events, we will travel by night ferry to Helsinki, Finland to continue our adventure. During four days in Helsinki, lectures, workshops and tours will continue, and the program will finish with a celebration and dinner on the final evening. Participants will be offered recommendations to continue their exploration of works by Alvar Aalto in Jyvaskyla and other cities in Finland, after the program.
In the Nordic world of long summer days and equally long winter nights, place shapes space for its greatest architecture. Here, the work of Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz in Sweden and Alvar Aalto in Finland, along with that of their contemporaries, defined a special, humanistic form of Modernism recognized early in the 20th century as a distinct counterpoint to the universality of the International Style. It is an architecture rooted in Nordic traditions and local materials, responsive in a most compelling manner to the unique conditions of daylight near the Arctic Circle and the impacts of seasonal extremes. It is one of carefully
modulated light and of hapticity—truly an architecture of atmosphere, lending itself to investigations psychological, physiological, neural and biological as well as architectural. This 2024 edition of Moving Boundaries will explore the phenomenon of Nordic Architecture to uncover its paragons, lessons and inspirations towards a more meaningful—that is to say, humane— architecture and design for the twenty-first century and beyond.
The course follows the first edition of our traveling workshop in Iberia, which took place in Spain and Portugal in July/August of 2022, the second edition in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the third in Italy. It features several new distinguished faculty members, a deeper investigation of two topics studied previously, multiple interactive sessions centered on participants, embodied learning opportunities during tours and sketching
workshops in the city, and a focus on teaching practical applications of concepts from human sciences to architectural, lighting and interior design. In Scandinavia, participants will have a chance to present work and receive feedback during morning sessions. In addition to learning from the faculty and from one another during lectures and discussions, they will work on optional design exercises, in interdisciplinary small groups.
This course will feature lectures in which an architect or designer will be paired with a scientist, to promote interaction in a dialogical format. The course is open to architecture and design professionals,
The elements of architecture are not visual units or gestalt; they are encounters, confrontations that interact with memory.
- Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin
including architects, urban planners, landscape architects, lighting, interior and product designers, historians of architecture and design, artists, environmental experts, health professionals, educators, researchers in neuroscience, cognitive science, sociology, anthropology and psychology, as well as graduate and postdoctoral students in the above disciplines.
We will learn how scientific concepts and methods can help develop new tools and strategies in design. We will also explore the importance of history, regional culture and identity in the making and experiencing of architecture. Every participant will receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.
MISSION STATEMENT
What is Moving Boundaries?
Our buildings, neighborhoods, and cities directly impact our health and well-being. This basic fact is appreciated increasingly across the full range of professions involved in design and maintenance of the built environment. At the same time, we know little of how the relationship of persons and environments works in detail: how exactly our experience and behavior, emotions and engagement in the community are shaped by the built environment.
A number of scientific disciplines have been called to help us fill this gap, including most notably the disciplines allied under the umbrellas of neuroscience and cognitive science. Encounters of scientists and design professionals produce an exciting new frontier of human knowledge, and they lead to new understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the designer.
Moving Boundaries is an interdisciplinary international initiative seeking to disseminate this new understanding by means of education and advocacy. The initiative operates at the interface of science and such design disciplines as architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, and interior design. Based in San Diego and La Jolla, California, home of the venerable Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA), connected by an active network of collaborations with kindred schools of design around the world, Moving Boundaries is poised to curate a global community of students, professionals, and organizations that share our vision and values.
Our groundbreaking summer course and workshop, titled Moving Boundaries: Human Sciences and the Future of Architecture in Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland, will bring together over 22 distinguished international speakers: scientists and architects, lighting designers and health professionals, historians and philosophers, who will illuminate multiple facets of the impact of the built environment on human health and well-being. The geographical situation of this course is not accidental. One of our goals is to investigate how impacts of the built environment are grounded in the local culture. Unique atmospheres of Stockholm, Helsinki, and surrounding landscapes will give us ample opportunity for such study. The course will feature numerous tours, field trips and workshops, in which we will uncover the rich cultural heritage of both regions, illustrating sustainable and resilient relationships of people, community, and place.
What is more, the settings of Stockholm and Helsinki — both vibrant urban environments — feature an impressive array of ancient and modern architecture designed by such masters as Sigurd Lewerentz, Gunnar Asplund, Alvar Aalto and Juhani Pallasmaa. Both regions are well known for their distinctive vernacular craft, furniture design, lighting design, linguistic, musical, culinary traditions and memorable and serene landscapes.
The program will provide each participant with numerous opportunities for interaction with some of the best minds in architecture, landscape architecture, lighting, interior design, health professions and science — during classes, roundtable discussions and workshops, but also during many social events planned over these two weeks. We will learn together, from one another and from the unique environment of this course, gaining the strength for transforming architectural education and practice the world over.
Every organism is in one sense continuous with its environment across the boundary of its skin, exchanging matter and energy.
- Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin
In its larger aspirations, Moving Boundaries is designed to serve as a platform for collaboration between educators and scientists, health experts and clinicians, practitioners and students of architecture, as well as with institutions of design, research and learning. Our initiative is animated by ideas and creations of such notable architects and critics as Kenneth Frampton, Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvaro Siza Vieira, Louis Kahn, Alvar Aalto, Carlo Scarpa, Luis Barragan, Balkrishna Doshi and Juhani Pallasmaa, and also by such innovative thinkers as Maurice Merleau-Ponty in France and John Dewey in the United States. The collective legacy of these individuals demands that we view design from an uncompromisingly humanistic perspective, committed to personal enrichment, and centered on the individual’s physical health and psychological wellness.
COURSE HIGHLIGHTS
Innovative Interdisciplinary Curriculum at the Interface of Human Sciences, Architecture and Design
The Summer Course includes lectures, masterclasses, roundtable discussions, architecture tours, workshops, field trips, sketching sessions and social events in two cities. Experts in multiple disciplines collaborate to bring you a cutting-edge interdisciplinary program, curated with a dialogical format to explore the interface of sciences and design.
World Renowned Architects, Historians, Scientists and Philosophers Teach Together for the First Time Study with some of the most distinguished architects, lighting designers, theorists, ecologists, psychologists, anthropologists and neuroscientists in the world. In all, more than 22 lecturers and 110 participants will join the course. You will have a chance to interact with lecturers not only during lectures and roundtables, but also social events and field trips.
Create Friendships: Opportunities for Collaboration with Diverse International Cohort
Learn together with participants in multiple disciplines from around the globe during the course and grow your network for future collaboration. This course is geared to professionals, educators, administrators in higher education, and upper-level graduate students. Participants will be joining the course from more than 35 different countries. A number of need-based scholarships have been offered.
Experience Scandinavia: Architecture, Art, Design, Landscape and Cities
Experience the cities of Stockholm and Helsinki, learn about their cultural heritage, principles of urban planning, and the landscape and geography of Scandinavia.
Learn from local experts about placemaking, interior and lighting design, and craft traditions of Sweden and Finland.
Visit iconic works of architecture in Stockholm and Helsinki, including buildings, works of landscape architecture and design by Alvar Aalto, Juhani Pallasmaa, Tapio Wirkkala, Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerenz. Guided tours of selected buildings, as well as exhibition designed by Juhani Pallasmaa, will be offered.
Moving Boundaries has erased boundaries for me, increasing the reality of a wider-world community of interest and commitment to making lives better.
It is rare when a disparate group of experts on several subjects comes together to form a community of like-minded activists who want to improve the world for all people.
Moving Boundaries created such a community: one of the most powerful alliances of scientists and architects ever assembled.
What an inspiring two weeks! Congratulations on putting together an information-packed and fun course. There is nothing better than seeing old friends, making new ones, while sharing knowledge and endless possibilities for future activities.
I have attended hundreds of conferences and courses around the world, and this was the best in terms of both content and ambiance.
The course created an incredible sense of community and belonging. A group of talented people came together in two cities, passionate and determined to revolutionize the way architecture is created.
– the speakers and the participants of Moving Boundaries 2022-2023
STOCKHOLM
Stockholm spreads across fourteen islands where Lake Mälaren meets the Baltic Sea. As capital of Sweden, today it is the largest city in the Nordic region with over 2 million people. The city, once a medieval town and the royal and administrative center of the country, showcases a diversity of European-influenced architecture from Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, Jugendstil, and mid-20th century periods.
An architecture unique to this part of the world is Nordic Modernism, which incorporates vernacular influences. Participants will visit and study the work of Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz, whose humanistic form of Modernism was recognized early in the 20th century as a distinct counterpoint to the universality of the International Style.
During free time participants can visit the wealth of cultural heritage sites, the canals and waterfront, and discover Stockholm’s innovative and ecological contemporary architecture.
HELSINKI
Helsinki’s architecture is a blend of historic and modern buildings reflecting layers of cultural influences. The city’s predominant Neoclassical and Baroque architecture and urban planning stem from different periods of its rich history.
Finland is renowned for its distinctive form of humanist modern architecture incorporating local traditions, nature, and organic elements. We will visit and study the masterpieces of Alvar Aalto which pioneered this form of modernism, as well the projects of contemporary architects Juhani Pallasmaa and Juha Leiviska, who continue this human-centered and nature-oriented approach.
In their free time, participants can visit this cosmopolitan capital’s unique architectural and cultural history. There are examples from indigenous Finno-Ugric traditions, to a diversity of European styles, and Modernist influenced buildings which exemplify Finland’s characteristic integration of the vernacular, natural materials and surroundings.
ECOLOGY OF LIGHT IN SPACE
In simplest terms, “ecology” is the study of the environment. Contemporary usage tells us there are many, diverse kinds of ecologies, from “aquatic” to “taxonomic” to “behavioral”. And while the term is most familiarly used to describe a branch of biology, it is interesting to note that its root is the Greek “oikos” or house — thus, perhaps, the natural (is it subconscious?) connection we architects and designers make, and the easy appropriation of terminology we are responsible for.
In an expansive definition, ecology refers to relationships between organisms and their physical environments; for our purposes, substituting “people” for “organisms”. Indeed, in the Nordic X program those relationships will be examined, discussed, debated and experienced as a central activity of the first days of the schedule. And with our focus on “light in space”, we concentrate on aspects
of ecology of particular interest to the larger design community and the sciences that inform design. Space, the architect’s stock in trade, is the medium we shape with the architectonics of practice: structure, enclosure, mass, proportion, scale, profile, form. We sometimes speak of buildings being “space-making” or “space-taking”. Vernacular architecture and design with an “interiorist” attitude is about making space. On the other hand, we have come to recognize a chief failing of mainstream modernism in its emphasis instead on taking space, through an exteriorist concern with building-as-sculpture. In the work of Gunnar Asplund, Sigurd Lewerentz, Alvar Aalto and their Nordic contemporaries, a divergent strain of modern architecture, recognized early in the 20th century by Sigfried Gideon and others, balanced interiorist and exteriorist tendencies in a unique and happy relationship to place.
Light makes space palpable; all great architects have recognized this. When we say we are “visual people”, we acknowledge the central role of light in what we build and how it is perceived. In the rarified atmosphere of the northern latitudes, light has special qualities. The sun’s path is lower than that of more southerly locations. Its presence is more dramatically different from one season to the next, in the form of long summer days and short winter ones. Even dawn and dusk are different, as anyone who has witnessed, say, the long, drawn-out dusk in December at the Arctic Circle may attest. The first week of Nordic X pairs designers and scientists exploring aspects of an ecology of light in space across our first four days, from Galen Cranz’s concern for “body-conscious design” and Satchin Panda’s research into the “circadian code” all the way to the research into lighting design of program
co-host Johanna Enger and Anya Hurlbert’s studies in visual neuroscience. Workshop teams will pursue studies of light in space under the guidance of faculty throughout this week and into the next.
Two special events augment the discussions and workshops. On Wednesday, August 15th we will spend an afternoon in Stockholm’s Woodland Cemetery, a masterpiece of landscape design by Asplund and Lewerentz. This remarkable environment contains two landmarks of early 20th-century Nordic design: Asplund’s Woodland Chapel and the Chapel of the Resurrection by Lewerentz. A full-day boat trip on Saturday the 17th takes us into the Stockholm Archipelago, with commentary from Bengt Ahlin and stops at a handful of its 30,000 islands. Both excursions give us unique opportunities to experience the relationship of human activity to the natural environment of Sweden: an ecology of light in space.
Program Schedule and Roster of Speakers are Subject to Change
STOCKHOLM
Monday, August 12
Coffee
Check-In at Venue: Konstfack
Opening Remarks
Faculty Introductions
MB Mission: Tatiana Berger
Lecture 1: Galen Cranz
Q&A Discussion
Participants’ Introductions
Lunch with Groups and Introductions
Lecture 2: Satchin Panda (remote)
Q&A Discussion
Discussion / Workshop Teams introductions
Depart for Mynchen Restaurant
Welcome Dinner (Complimentary)
STOCKHOLM
Tuesday, August 13
9:00 10:00 10:15 11:30 12:15 13:00 2:00 4:00 6:15 7:30
Coffee
Poster presentations by participants
Opening remarks by Frida Brismar Pålsson
Lecture 3: Kurt Hunker
Q&A Discussion
Lecture 4: John Axelsson
Q&A Discussion
Lecture 5: Kerstin Brismar
Q&A Discussion
Panel Discussion (Kurt Hunker, John Axelsson, Kerstin Brismar led by Frida Brismar Pålsson)
Lunch, Poster presentations/Networking (Optional)
Workshop 1 (6 Teams)
Discussion in Teams
Dinner
STOCKHOLM
Wednesday, August 14
8:00 10:00 11:30 12:30 2:00 3:00 8:00
Tour: The Stockholm Public Library (by Gunnar Asplund) with Malin Alenius
Lecture 6: Katharina Wulff (at KTH)
Q&A Discussion
Lecture 7: Ute Besenecker (at KTH)
Q&A Discussion
Lunch near KTH
Lecture 8: Johan Örn (at KTH)
Travel to Woodland Cemetery (by Gunnar Asplund, Sigurd Lewerentz)
Talk: Johan Celsing
Guided tour of Woodland Cemetery
Sketching: Mark Hewitt
Accompanied by: Johan Örn
Östermalm Market Hall (Optional)
Visit and Dinner
STOCKHOLM
Thursday, August 15
9:00 10:00 11:30 1:00 2:00 4:00 6:15 7:30
Coffee
Poster presentations by participants
Lecture 9: Anya Hurlbert
Q&A Discussion
Lecture 10: Johanna Enger
Q&A Discussion
Reflection (In Teams)
Lunch
Poster Presentations/Networking (Optional)
Workshop 2 (6 Teams)
Discussion in Teams
Dinner
STOCKHOLM
Friday, August 16
Free day
Recommended visit:
Markuskyrkan Church (by Sigurd Lewerentz)
Free and optional visit (booked between 10:00 and 12:00)
Recommended in Stockholm:
Swimming in Center (cliffs or piers)
Kayaaking around Venice of the North Museums
Night Out - Meet at 7pm
STOCKHOLM
Saturday, August 17
Full Day Field Trip
Self-organized travel to Artipelag
10:30 12:30 1:00 4:15 5:00 8:00
Meet at Artipelag
Museum visit, lunch on one’s own
Board the Boats
Archipelago
Boat trip and Tours
Return to Stockholm Ytterjärna kulturhus and village (Optional late afternoon visit)
Talk: Bengt Ahlin
Sketching Outdoors
Informal Talks
James Turrell - Skyspace
INTERWEAVING THE SENSES
Contemporary neuroscience research has confirmed the fact that our senses work together; they “interweave”. And the natural bias towards vision in architecture and design has been tempered by our understanding of the role of hapticity or touch and by other, “non-traditional” senses such as proprioception (also known as kinesthesia), the body’s ability to sense movement and location. Perhaps most illuminating is the realization that perception is not a “top-down” process whereby the brain interprets stimuli back to the body, but that the body itself is a partner in the cognitive process.
Such research broadens the field, as it relates to the “neurosciences” that may inform architecture and design. Cognitive science, environmental
psychology, phenomenology and chronobiology are just a few of the disciplines in an expanded definition, and we will hear from researchers in these and other fields.
With this background in mind, Sunday, August 18th marks the beginning of Week Two and the introduction of our second theme, Interweaving the Senses. Over the next six days participants will hear from a wide variety of experts, ranging from Arne Lowden on seasonality, light and health to Tonino Griffero speaking of atmosphere and emotion to Kate Jeffery as she delivers Nordic X’s final talk, on the neuroscience of mental maps.
We will be busy beyond the lecture hall. A tour of the stunning Queen Sylvia Concert Hall on Sunday is followed by additional hands-on workshops
that build on the work of the prior week. Tuesday, August 20th is a travel day, as Moving Boundaries departs Stockholm in the afternoon via ferry or airplane for Helsinki, Finland.
A highlight of the program occurs the next morning as architect, writer, theorist Juhani Pallasmaa addresses us at Aalto University in Espoo, a short distance from downtown Helsinki. Pallasmaa is Nordic X’s special honoree, as we gather to celebrate his influence on architecture and science.
Tours of the university, home to significant buildings by Alvar Aalto, Reima Pietila and others, will include commentary from Pallasmaa himself.
The study of ecology — of human beings interacting with their environment — does not end with our change of venue. Indeed, Helsinki,
Finland’s capitol, is rooted in place. The natural environment is never far away, as we will find as we tour some of the numerous Aalto works here. We will visit his own early house of the mid-1930’s, the nearby studio and Finlandia Hall, completed one year before his death in 1976. And as we consider this architect’s many contributions to world modern architecture, we will keep in mind Giedion’s famous statement in Space, Time and Architecture: “Finland is with Aalto wherever he goes”.
The program ends with the Farewell Dinner the evening of Friday, August 23rd. For those not leaving immediately, independent tours to Aalto’s masterworks Villa Mairea and Paimio Sanatorium are available through an arrangement with the Aalto Symposium on Saturday.
STOCKHOLM
Sunday, August 18
9:00 10:00 11:30 1:00 2:00 3:30 4:50 7:30 8:00
Coffee
Poster presentations by participants
Lecture 11: Arne Lowden
Q&A Discussion
Lecture 12: David Dorenbaum and Ellen Ruge
Q&A Discussion
Reflection (In Teams)
Lunch near Queen Sylvia Concert Hall
Tour: Queen Sylvia Concert Hall
Workshop 3 (6 Teams)
Dinner
Free: Stockholm Opera
STOCKHOLM
Monday, August 19
9:00 10:00 11:30 12:45 2:00 4:00 5:30 6:00 7:30
Coffee
Poster presentations by participants
Lecture 13: Tonino Griffero
Q&A Discussion
Lecture 14: Jonas Kjellander
Q&A Discussion
Workshop Presentations (2 Teams, 40 min.each)
Lunch
Networking
Workshop Presentations (2 Teams)
Break
Continue Presentations (2 Teams)
Dinner
STOCKHOLM – HELSINKI
Tuesday, August 20
9:00 9:30 11:00 12:00 12:30 1:30 2:00
Coffee
Lecture 15: Sarah Robinson
Q&A Discussion
Lecture 16: Andrea Chiba
Q&A Discussion
Conversation: Sarah Robinson and Andrea Chiba
Remote Talk 17: Elisa Valero Ramos
Conversation with David Dorenbaum
Farewell Speech by President of Konstfack
Free Time in Stockholm
Lunch
Prepare to travel to Helsinki
Travel to Helsinki by ferry or plane
Board the Ferry by 4:30 pm
ESPOO
Wednesday, August 21
11:00 12:30 1:30 2:30 4:00 4:30 6:30 7:3010:30
Check in at Aalto University - Lumituuli Hall at Dipoli building
Lunch at Aalto University
Lecture 18: Juhani Pallasmaa
Response: Tim Ingold (remote)
Q&A Discussion
Travel to EMMA - Espoo Museum of Modern Art (walk or ride)
Visit and Talk: Exhibition Tapio Wirkkala by Juhani Pallasmaa
Board MB buses
Travel by bus (with MB) to boat landing
Banquet and Celebration in Honor of Juhani Pallasmaa (Sarkanlinna Restaurant)
ESPOO
Thursday, August 22
9:00 10:00 11:15 12:15 1:00 2:30 3:15 4:00 6:15 7:30
Coffee
Poster presentations by participants
Lecture 19: Jenny Roe Response
Discussion with Juhani Pallasmaa / Andrea Chiba / Kate Jeffery
Lecture 20: Grafton Architects (Live Streamed from Aalto Symposium)
Lunch at Aalto University
Lecture 21: Mark Alan Hewitt
Q&A Discussion with Juhani Pallasmaa
Tours: buildings of Aalto University
Discussion + Sketching
(3 Teams on Tours/3 Teams in Discussions)
Lecture 22: Alberto Pérez-Gómez (remote)
Q&A Discussion
Dinner
ESPOO – HELSINKI
Friday, August 23
8:30 9:30 11:00 12:15 1:30 3:00 7:30
Coffee
Lecture 23: Jenni Reuter
Q&A Discussion
Lecture 24: Kate Jeffery
Q&A Discussion
Lunch at Aalto University
Final Event: Panel Discussion with all Faculty
Q&A - Summarizing and Interweaving Certificates of Completion
MB Program Concludes Travel from Espoo to Helsinki Center Tours in Helsinki: Aalto House + Studio
In parallel: Self-guided tours in Helsinki, free time in Helsinki
(See List of recommendations) Dinner
HELSINKI
Saturday, August 24
9:00 9:00 10:30 3:00 7:30
Coffee in Helsinki
(Self organize in groups)
Tours
Tour 1: Villa Mairea + Paimio Sanatorium
Travel to Noormarkku
Tours in Helsinki: Aalto House + Studio
Self-guided walks in Helsinki, free time in Helsinki
Tour 2: Paimio Sanatorium
Travel to Paimio
Guided Tour at Paimio Sanatorium
Dinner at Paimio Sanatorium for Aalto Symposium Attendees and MB Group
Travel to Helsinki or stay at Paimio
There are few moments in one’s life that rise to the level of unforgettable experiences. Marriage is one, the birth of a child another. Two weeks ago I returned from a conference of architects, scientists, planners, medical professionals and psychologists that will remain one of the truly profound experiences of my life.
The knowledge and passion of the presenters, coupled with their deep excitement for sharing their insights were part of the true spirit of the conference: discovery, optimism and contribution to humanity.
Meeting and interacting with a group of spectacular international scholars who demonstrated the highest level of expertise in their areas (and beyond!) was a special treat for all participants.
The majority of the faculty are absolute world-class academics and leaders in their disciplines. It truly was an honor to watch back-toback lectures from them.
Moving Boundaries was an incredible opportunity to attend lectures by scientists, architects and authors whom I have always treasured. Listening to them present their work, that I had read before so many times, brought many unexpected insights - indeed a remarkable experience!
Participation in the Moving Boundaries course was a meaningful and empowering experience. I learned so much in just two weeks!
– the speakers and the participants of Moving Boundaries 2022-2023
Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design STOCKHOLM
Konstfack is Sweden’s largest university for arts, crafts and design. Since 1844, it has educated a diverse range of professionals within these fields as well as art and sloyd teachers. The university conducts both artistic and scientific education/research and currently has 900 students enrolled on bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes, teacher training programmes and freestanding courses. Many of them come from other parts of the world, as do their teachers. Internationalisation is helping to bring about the exchange of knowledge, prepares students for the world as a future workplace and brings new friends to Konstfack in fields other than their own: Moving Boundaries is an exemplary example of this.
Materiality and ability to imagine are the main strengths at Konstfack. They study, handle, develop and relate to materials by means of daily, practical exploration. And both education and research are expanding imaginations: this is a prerequisite for a more sustainable society, as information and knowledge are no longer sufficient as a force for change. We need to understand how things could be, engage with these opportunities and create new behavioural patterns in our dayto-day lives.
Konstfack’s campus, more than 20,000 square metres in area, is also home to some of Europe’s best, most well-equipped workshops and an outstanding art and design library. ICT suites, wood and metal workshops, screen printing, a weaving room, textile printing, a paint shop, a graphics workshop, a photo and TV studio, a glass studio, a ceramics workshop and studios for sculpture and painting. And not forgetting a superb art and design library. The university is equally proud that the QS Top University Rankings have named Konstfack the best in Sweden, third in the Nordic region, tenth best in Europe and 26th in the world.
ESPOO/HELSINKI
Aalto University and Dipoli building
Aalto University, located in Espoo, Finland, is a public university known for its excellence in education, research, and innovation. Established in 2010 through the merger of three renowned Finnish universities, Aalto University has quickly gained recognition for its multidisciplinary learning approach and commitment to fostering creativity and entrepreneurship.
The university is named in honour of Alvar Aalto, the celebrated Finnish architect and designer known for his modernist aesthetic and innovative approach to architecture. Aalto's influence can be seen throughout the university's campuses, which feature cutting-edge facilities and iconic architectural landmarks.
At Aalto University, students have access to programs across various fields, including technology, business, art, and design. The university's diverse community of students and faculty members fosters collaboration and interdisciplinary learning, providing students with a unique and enriching educational experience.
One notable venue at Aalto University is the Dipoli building, a striking architectural landmark on the Otaniemi campus. Designed by Reima Pietilä and Raili Paatelainen, Dipoli was completed in 1966 and served as the student house of the Helsinki University of Technology for many years. Afterwards, it functioned as a conference centre for several decades before undergoing a major renovation in 2017 to become Aalto University's main building.
Today, Dipoli is a vibrant hub for learning, research, and events at Aalto University. Its multifunctional spaces make it ideal for hosting a wide range of activities, from academic conferences to public gatherings. With its sculptural copper and granite facade inspired by the surrounding bedrock and forest, Dipoli stands as a Finnish architectural gem, reflecting Aalto University's commitment to innovation, sustainability, and collaboration.
Architect, Professor, Consultant
Founder and Director of MB Collaborative San Diego, USA
Porto, Portugal
Tatiana Berger (Princeton University, UC Berkeley) is an architect, urban designer and educator. She has worked for over 30 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 the 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 Artclever. 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 leads 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.
Architect, Chief Design Officer, Davy Architects
San Diego, CA, USA
Associate professor of chronobiology and sleep
Umeå University, Sweden
Kurt Hunker is Chief Design Officer at Davy Architecture in San Diego, California. In this role he is involved in all aspects of practice leadership, from firm-wide design direction to business and project development to staff mentorship. He has worked on projects across the United States at all scales and in a wide range of typologies. Many have received design awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and other organizations and have been published in state, regional and national periodicals. He is a licensed architect in California and an NCARB certificate holder. Hunker is Professor Emeritus of the NewSchool of Architecture and Design, where he also served as Graduate Program Chair, Dean and Provost in his 32 years of award-winning teaching. Numerous former students have gone on to achieve professional and academic success in their own right. In 2013 he was elevated to Fellowship in the AIA for his contributions to architectural education. Currently Hunker is a member of the Board of Directors and President of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture, a world-wide advocacy group for the promotion and application of brain research towards improving architectural design.
Kurt Hunker has been a guest lecturer for local and regional organizations, and has presented papers at international conferences in Los Angeles, London, Vienna, Moscow and Jyvaskyla, Finland, among others. Topics have ranged from the literature of architectural criticism to the phenomenon of “spectacle” in contemporary high-rise building to the work of the great Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. He received a Master of Architecture degree with Faculty Commendation from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and a B.S. in Architecture from the Ohio State University.
Moving Boundaries Nordic X will mark the third Moving Boundaries program with which he has been involved.
Katharina Wulff, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of chronobiology and sleep at Umeå University in Northern Sweden where she established the Nordic Daylight Research Programme. She earned her Master’s degree in biology at the Free University Berlin in 1996, after returning from conservation projects at the Coastal Old Growth Forests of British Columbia, Canada. Wulff completed her doctoral thesis in human behavioural chronobiology at the Humboldt-University Berlin in 2001 and moved with a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship to Imperial College London, UK in 2002, bringing human aspects of sleep and circadian adaptation to the lab of prof. Russell Foster, while working in close collaboration with prof. Derk-Jan Dijk, Surrey Sleep Research Centre and Eileen Joyce, emeritus prof. of neurology at UCL.
Wulff moved to Oxford University in 2006, where she expanded her research on how sleep and circadian phenotypes impact physical and mental wellbeing. In 2019, the family relocated to Umeå in Northern Sweden to consider subarctic climate factors as means of temporal predictors that challenge human biology and necessitates thinking of a sunlight-adapted architecture. She recently served on the ‘Sleep, Circadian Rhythms and Mental Health Advisory Committee’ of the Wellcome Trust, and is a cofounder of the Light Collaboration Network (LCN), and past speaker of the Daylight Academy (DLA).
President of ANFA
Alberto Pérez-Gómez was born in Mexico City where he studied architecture and practiced. He was awarded an M.A. and a Ph.D. by the University of Essex (England). He has taught at London’s Architectural Association and at universities in Mexico, the US and Canada. In 1983 he became Director of Carleton University’s School of Architecture and in 1987 was appointed Bronfman Professor of Architectural History at McGill University in Montreal, where he founded the History and Theory Post-Professional (Master’s and Doctoral) Programs.
He became Emeritus Professor in January, 2020. Alberto Pérez-Gómez’s research interests revolve around phenomenology, enactive cognitive science and hermeneutics in architecture. He continues to publish extensively in periodicals and chapters of books. His main books are still in print: Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science (MIT Press, 1983) diagnosed the limitations of functionalist (instrumental) and formalist approaches in architecture. His latest book, Attunement, Architectural Meaning after the Crisis of Modern Science (2016) examines the issue of atmosphere and its relationship to traditional concepts of place, harmony and stimmung, leading to an enquiry on the importance of narrative language in the generation of significant architecture.
Cognitive Science Professor, Researcher, UC San Diego, USA
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 from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently taught high school math. She earned her PhD 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 cross-species 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.
Arch. History Professor McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Professor of Visual Neuroscience and Dean of Advancement, Newcastle University, UK
Anya Hurlbert is Professor of Visual Neuroscience and Dean of Advancement at Newcastle University. She co-founded Newcastle’s Institute of Neuroscience in 2003, serving as its co-Director until 2014, and now steers the Centre for Transformative Neuroscience. She was a Marshall Scholar and holds degrees in physics, physiology, brain and cognitive science, and medicine from US and UK institutions.
Anya’s research interests are focused on the understanding of human vision, especially colour perception and its role in cognition and behaviour; her work includes applications in imaging, lighting, visual art, and human health. She received the Newton Medal (the Colour Group GB; 2022) and has delivered the Edridge-Green Lecture (the Royal College of Ophthalmologists), the Richard Gregory Memorial Lecture (Bristol Vision Institute), amongst other keynotes.
Anya speaks and writes widely on colour perception and art, and has devised several science-based art exhibitions, including an interactive installation at the National Gallery, London. Anya serves on the Scientific Consultative Group of the National Gallery, where she was recently Scientific Trustee, the Board of Directors of the Vision Sciences Society, and the Rank Prize Optoelectronics Committee. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Vision, a Trustee of the Science Museum Group and member of the Advisory Board of the National Science and Media Museum.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden
Arne Lowden is an Associate Professor at the Stress Research Institute at the Department of Psychology, Stockholm University and his research profile is “diurnal rhythms, light behavior, sleep”. Arne is an active sleep specialist, but also a light specialist. He has primarily studied circadian disruption (jet lag) for shift workers and flying personnel. Furthermore, he has made studies of self-selected working hours, carried out experimental studies of nutrition and sleep and studied how alertness, learning and performance can be improved in school.
Recently, he has devoted himself to studies that include, among other things, effects on sleep and recovery based on bright light exposure in schools and offices, lighting in windowless rooms, in homes for the elderly, in mining and metal industry, night-time driving behavior of car drivers and the effects of snow on mood and alertness.
Arne is also active as a lecturer and runs work, among other things, within the non-profit association “Ljusinitiativet” which performs light measurements and describes how we can use good quality lighting at work and at hom
Professor, Adult Psychiatry and Health Systems
Univiversity of Toronto, Canada
David Dorenbaum, MD, 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.
Founder of the consultancy and studio Paradis Produktion Sweden
Frida Brismar Pålsson is devoted to the field of human flourishing, aesthetics and architecture. She founded the studio Paradis Produktion in 2015 with a mission to communicate the science behind how buildings - especially schools - and spatial experience shape our development, learning, health and interaction. The basis of her knowledge lies in the intersection of environmental psychology, aesthetics and cognition.
After a university degree in philosophy and aesthetics, she turned to art studies and architecture. During her early professional years, she worked as a critic in architecture, design and crafts for the Swedish professional magazine FORM, and was the editor for books such as Nordic Architects (2013), See the Light (2012) and Nordic Designers (2011).
Today, she regularly gives lectures, workshops and educational programs to architects, educational planners and policy makers about how school design affects learning outcomes and overall health. Her latest school design project, with Brunnberg & Forshed Architects, was selected finalist in the New European Bauhaus Award 2022 among 2000 applicants.
Over the years, she has deepened her quest for understanding the connection between flourishing, aesthetic experience and the built environment. In 2022 she co-produced a symposium on Architecture and Spaces for Healing in Downing Hall, Cambridge University.
Parallel to this, she is a practicing educator in the transdisciplinary field of philosophy, architecture and movement. In 2015-2016 she worked with children and teachers in Kiruna city using movement and creative dance to understand local architecture and the identity of place. In the very north of Sweden, Frida and the children co-created the choreography Ark/Arc.
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.
Architect, Associate Professor in Architectural Principles and Theory
Aalto University, Finland
Jenni Reuter is Associate Professor in Architectural Principles and Theory at Aalto University. The core in her teaching is space making for a sustainable future. She is investigating the changing role and possibilities of the architect, new pedagogical models and the interplay between architecture and other disciplines of art. Since 2016 she has curated the international Architecture Speaks! lecture series in collaboration with the Museum of Finnish Architecture.
Jenni also works as a practicing architect, both in her own office and together with architects Saija Hollmén and Helena Sandman. The group started their collaboration in 1995 with the Women’s Centre project in Rufisque, Senegal. At the moment they are designing dormitories for girls in the Iringa region in Southern Tanzania. In 2007 they founded Ukumbi NGO, the mission of which is to offer architectural services to underprivileged communities in need.
The works by Jenni Reuter as well as Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects have been honoured with both national and international awards and have been published and exhibited widely, among others at the Venice Architecture Biennale several times.
Jenni Reuter has been lecturing and teaching in universities and institutions around the world. She carries several positions of trust and has taken part in national and international jury commitments.
Professor in Design & Health, University of Virginia USA
Honorary Professor, Heriot Watt University UK
Jenny Roe is Professor and Director of the Center for Design & Health in the School of Architecture, University of Virginia. An environmental psychologist and former head of Landscape Architecture for an international architectural practice, she writes, lectures, and consults for a wide range of academic and public audiences on human health-centered design for the built environment. She is an expert in restorative environments that support mental health including an important role for public parks and urban green space. Her book on this subject, Restorative Cities: Urban Design for Mental Health and Wellbeing (Roe and McCay, 2021) explores a new way of designing cities that puts mental health at the forefront. A companion book, Restorative Architecture: an Introduction to Environmental Psychology for Designers will be published in 2027 (Bloomsbury). Roe has won numerous awards and research grants exploring a rich variety of architectural and landscape contexts and their psychological impact on people. Her scholarly outputs include over fifty-five peer review publications including for the World Health Organization and The Lancet, the world’s leading medical journal. She acts as expert advisor to the UK’s Design Council and advises various community organizations and foundations on strategies for promoting and implementing health-centered design.
She is former Senior Research Leader in Human Wellbeing and Behavior Change for the Stockholm Environment Institute where she worked with environmental scientists and health professionals to find solutions to build sustainable, resilient, and healthy cities across the globe.
Architectural Historian and Writer
Lecturer at KTH School of Architecture
Johan Orn is an architectural historian and writer specialized in Swedish 20th century architecture and design. He earned his master’s degree in art history at Stockholm University in 1999 and his doctoral degree in architectural history at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2007. Since his graduation he has worked as preservationist, collections curator, and writer. Currently Johan holds a position as lecturer in theory and history at KTH School of Architecture and is curator of The Celsing Archive.
He is also associated with AIX Arkitekter AB. Johan is the author of several books, including The HI Group and the Return to Craft: Swedish Furniture and Interiors 1960 – 1966 (ArkDes /Carlsson 2017) and Sigurd Lewerentz: Architect of Death and Life (ArkDes/Park Books 2021). He cocurated Freestanding at 2018 Venice Biennale and Sigurd Lewerentz: Architect of Death and Life at ArkDes in 2021. He is also member of the Docomomo International Specialist Committee on Interior Design (ISC/ID).
Host Architect/Lighting Designer Researcher, Senior Lecturer Konstfack, Sweden
Johanna Enger is Host of Moving Boundaries Nordic X at Konstfack. She holds a position as assistant professor and researcher in lighting design at Konstfack - University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. At Konstfack she heads a workshop called the Perception Studio which offers courses and tutoring to design and craft students at all levels.
With a background in industrial design and a MSc degree in Lighting Design she has dedicated over 15 years striving to bridge design practice and research in the combined knowledge area of light, colour, visual perception and spatial experience. Her experience spans from lighting design and light art practice, presidency of the jury of the Swedish Lighting Award to PhD studies in Environmental Psychology to the current position as teacher as well as research leader for the interdisciplinary research project Perceptual Metrics for lighting design.
Professor at Stockholm University
Associate professor at Karolinska Institutet
Sweden
John Axelsson, PhD, is a professor at Stockholm University and an associate professor at Karolinska Institutet. With his research he aims to increase the knowledge and awareness of how sleep in the rapidly developing 24-hour society affects health, cognitive processes and social behaviour. His research is strongly interdisciplinary, and he has carried out research showing that the concept of ‘Beauty sleep’ is no myth, that sleep is important for motivational states and for how old we feel, and that sleep is important for how we fight infections. The research questions he finds particularly intriguing and works on at present include: How do we adapt to long-term sleep loss? How fast does the brain wake up from sleep? And why are we so differently affected by sleep loss?
Jonas Kjellander, born in Sweden with a background as longtime resident in Asia and Latin America, is a senior architect and lighting designer at Sweco Architects, Sweden. Jonas has comprehensive experience from public and private developments involving building, interior and urban design. He is the responsible architect and/or lighting designer for a wide selection of schools, higher education, kindergartens, activity centers, libraries, offices, retail, restaurants, sport facilities, residential buildings and historic environments, of which a considerable amount have been published nationally and internationally. His international experience comprises China, Malaysia, Panama, Mexico, Greece, Austria and Norway.
Jonas is devoted to design for social sustainability with the children’s perspective and lighting as a major tool for pedagogy, inclusion and wellbeing. He has been awarded the Swedish Lighting Prize three times as well as the Nordic Lighting Prize and the Great Merit Prize by the Swedish Lighting Foundation. He is a frequent lecturer on the integrated fields of architecture, children and light.
Professor Emeritus, Architect, Author Aalto University, Finland
Juhani Pallasmaa is a Finnish architect and Professor emeritus, Aalto University. Pallasmaa has written and lectured extensively across the world for over 45 years on architecture, the visual arts, environmental phenomenology, and cultural philosophy.
Among the many academic and civic positions he has held are those of Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture and head of the Institute of Industrial Arts, Helsinki. He established his own architect’s office in 1983 in Helsinki. He has taught architecture at many universities around the world, including Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin School. Pallasmaa has lectured widely in Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia.
Among Pallasmaa’s many books on architectural theory is The Eyes of the Skin – Architecture and the Senses, a book that has become a classic of architectural theory and is required reading in many schools of architecture around the world. A selection of essays written by Pallasmaa, from the early years to more recent ones, has been translated into English and collated together in the book Encounters – Architectural Essays, edited by Peter MacKeith. Pallasmaa was a member of the Pritzker Prize Jury from 2008 - 2014. He is a member of the Finnish Association of Architects and an honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Senior Architect, Lighting Designer, Educator Sweco Architects - Sweden
Head of School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences
University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Professor in Endocrinology/ Diabetes Research
Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Kate Jeffery is a medically qualified neuroscientist researching the activity of cells in the brain that form the core of a place-knowledge system used for both navigation and memory. She is particularly interested in how the brain represents complexly structured space, with a focus on two main issues: three dimensional space, and the internal “sense of direction.” Recently she has been linking her research to the human experience of space, via collaborations with architects.
She heads the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow, and is co-director of the electrophysiology company Axona Ltd, which makes high-density recording systems for behavioural neuroscientists.
She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and the Royal Institute of Navigation.
Kerstin Brismar is Professor since 1999 in Endocrinology/ Diabetes Research at Dept. of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Rolf Luft Center for Research in Diabetes and Endocrinology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
She is the Co-founder of KI-Lifestyle4Health, a net-work of scientists and PhD students at Karolinska Institutet, Co-founder of Rolf Luft Foundation for Diabetes Research and Co-founder of the Wound Healing Society in Sweden. She has Published around 400 peer reviewed articles and five books. She has more than 50 years of clinical experiences, working as specialist in endocrinology at Karolinska University hospital, and of research in the IGF system and in diabetes, how to prevent the disease and its complications including studies on the importance of lifestyle including diet, physical activity, sleep and stress.
Mark Alan Hewitt, FAIA, is an architect, historian, and preservationist practicing in the New York area. Educated at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, he has taught at leading schools of architecture throughout the U.S., including Rice, Columbia, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His design practice focuses on architectural conservation, history of the built environment, adaptive reuse, and traditional design for residential and institutional clients. He is active as an advocate for sustainable design, historic preservation, social justice, and housing equity for all humans.
Hewitt is the author of seven books and dozens of articles on architectural history, theory, and practice. He has published extensively on American architecture of the Progressive era, and has written numerous biographies of American architects. His latest book, Draw In Order to See, is the first to trace the history of architectural design using cognitive neuroscience and embodiment as a basis for analysis.
He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a recipient of the Arthur Ross Award for publishing on classical architecture, and a former NEH Winterthur Fellow. He has also won design awards for projects ranging from single family houses to churches. He continues to do research bridging the gap between the sciences, social sciences, and humanities as a cultural historian and critic.
University, Denmark NAAD, Venice, Italy
Sarah Robinson is an architect, writer and educator whose practice is based in Pavia, Italy. Her writing and research is concerned with the many ways that the built environment shapes body, mind and culture. Her books, Nesting: Body, Dwelling Mind (William Stout, 2011), Mind in Architecture: Neuroscience, Embodiment and the Future of Design with Juhani Pallasmaa (MIT, 2015) and Architecture is a Verb, (Routledge, 2021) are among the first works to engage the dialogue between architecture and the cognitive sciences.
Holding degrees in both philosophy and architecture, she was the founding president of the Frank Lloyd Wright school of architecture board of governors.
She is Adjunct Professor in Architecture, Design and Media Technology at Aalborg University, Denmark, and she is a member of the scientific board of NAAD at IUAV, Venice.
Arch. Historian New Hampshire, USA
Arch. Professor, Author Aalborg
Satchidananda (Satchin) Panda, PhD is a Professor at the Salk Institute in California, where his research focuses on the circadian regulation of behavior, physiology, and metabolism in model organisms and in humans. Dr. Panda discovered a blue-light sensing cell type in the retina entrains our master circadian clock, affects mood, and regulates the production of the sleep hormone melatonin.
Recently, he discovered that maintaining a daily feeding-fasting cycle –popularly known as time-restricted feeding (TRF) – can prevent and reverse metabolic diseases. Based on a feasibility study in humans, his lab is currently carrying out a smartphone-based study to assess the extent of circadian disruption among adults. Dr. Panda has received the Julie Martin Mid-Career Award in Aging Research, Dana Foundation Award in Brain and Immune System Imaging, and was a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences.
Anthropologist, Author, Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology
The University of Aberdeen, UK
Tim Ingold is Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen. Following 25 years at the University of Manchester, where he was appointed Max Gluckman Professor of Social Anthropology in 1995, Ingold moved in 1999 to Aberdeen, where he established Scotland’s youngest Department of Anthropology. Ingold has carried out ethnographic fieldwork among Sámi and Finnish people in Lapland, and has written on comparative questions of environment, technology and social organisation in the circumpolar North, the role of animals in human society, issues in human ecology, and evolutionary theory in anthropology, biology and history. He has gone on to explore the links between environmental perception and skilled practice, replacing traditional models of genetic and cultural transmission with a relational approach focusing on the growth ofbodily skills of perception and action.
Ingold’s current interests lie at the interface between anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture. His recent books include The Perception of the Environment (2000), Lines (2007), Being Alive (2011), Making (2013), The Life of Lines (2015), Anthropology and/as Education (2018), Anthropology: Why it Matters (2018), Correspondences (2020) and Imagining for Real (2022). His next book, The Rise and Fall of Generation Now, will be published by Polity Press. Ingold is a Fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2022 he was made a CBE for services to Anthropology.
Neuroscience Professor Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA
Full professor of Aesthetics
University of Rome
“Tor Vergata”, Italy
Co-Host
Architect/Lighting Designer
Asst.Professor, Head of Lighting Design Program, KTH, Sweden
Tonino Griffero is full professor of Aesthetics at the Tor Vergata University of Rome. He is director of book series (“Percezioni. Estetica & Fenomenologia”, Milan; “Sensibilia. Colloquium on Perception and Experience” www.sensibilia.it, Milan; “Atmospheric Spaces. Aura Stimmung Ambiance” www.atmosphericspaces. wordpress.com/ (Milan) and of the e-journal “Lebenswelt. Aesthetics and Philosophy of Experience” www.riviste.unimi.it/index.php/Lebenswelt/index.
His research focuses on hermeneutics (E.D. Hirsch jr., Emilio Betti, Eduard Spranger, Hans-Georg Gadamer), aesthetics, German idealism (Schelling), speculative pietism (F. C. Oetinger), philosophy of symbol and mythology, transitive imagination, spiritual body, 19th century German philosophy (Erich Rothacker, Odo Marquard, Joachim Ritter), New Phenomenology (Hermann Schmitz), aesthetics and phenomenology of atmospheres, ontology of quasithings, philosophy of the lived body and collective feelings.
Books include: Il corpo spirituale. Ontologie “sottili” da Paolo di Tarso a Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (2006), Atmosferologia, Estetica degli spazi emozionali, 2010 (engl. Atmospheres. Aesthetics of Emotional Spaces, 2014), Storia dell’estetica moderna (2012), Quasi-cose. La realtà dei sentimenti, 2013 (engl. Quasi-Things. The Paradigm of Atmospheres, 2017), Il pensiero dei sensi. Atmosfere ed estetica patica (2016), Places, Affordances, Atmospheres. A Pathic Aesthetics (2020), The Atmospheric “We”. Moods and Collective Feelings (2021), Being a Lived Body. From a Neo-phenomenological Point of View (2024, forthcoming).
Ute Besenecker is a design researcher and educator focusing on the impact of lighting on human perception, behavior and wellbeing in spatial environments. Her special interest is facilitating interdisciplinary research collaborations in architecture, lighting design, art, engineering, and the sciences to connect research, education, and practice.
Ute’s background spans academic human factors research as well as professional practice in lighting design, policy development, product management, and architecture. She holds a Ph.D. in Architectural Sciences from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) as well as Master’s Degrees in Lighting from the Lighting Research Center at RPI, USA, and in Architecture and Design from Columbia University, USA, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany, and Polytechnico di Milano, Italy.
Current academic activities in architecture and lighting design include teaching and supervision in related Master’s and Doctoral programs at KTH, as well as grant-funded research projects related to indoor and outdoor lighting design.
Ute is a part of the editorial team for LEUKOS, the journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) as an Associate Editor, and member of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), and the IES. In addition, she is founding member of the Light Collaboration Network for Research and Education (LCN), and part of the NAVET working group, a Stockholm hub to navigate between art, technology, and design.
Grafton Architects is an international architecture studio based in Dublin, Ireland. From this base, the practice has completed many significant and prestigious buildings in Ireland and internationally. With projects spanning from Milford to Milan, and from Lima to London; Grafton Architects embeds each project, within its own unique context.
In 2020 the practice directors Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara received the Pritzker Prize, considered the highest honour in the architectural profession. Grafton Architects were also laureates of the Royal Gold Medal in 2020, the Royal Institute of British Architects’ highest honour.
Grafton Architects received the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI) Gandon Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Architecture in 2020, as well as the RIAI Gold Medal for Bocconi University in Milan in 2019. The project for UTEC in Lima, received the inaugural RIBA International Prize in 2016. In 2008 the project for Bocconi University was awarded the inaugural World Building of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival. Grafton Architects was also awarded the Silver Lion at the Venice Biennale 2012 entitled ‘Common Ground’ for their exhibition ‘Architecture as New Geography’.
Farrell and McNamara were selected as curators for the Venice Biennale 2018, the largest architecture festival in the world. They chose the theme of FREESPACE, a theme which evokes a generosity of spirit, and the free gifts which architecture can offer. Farrell and McNamara have received many accolades, including the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture from the University of Virginia, and the Ulysses Medal from University College Dublin. Farrell and McNamara are professors in the Accademia d’Archittettura, Mendrisio, Switzerland, they have previously held the Kenzo Tange chair at GSD Harvard and the Louis Kahn chair at Yale University.
Farrell and McNamara co-founded Grafton Architects in 1978 having graduated from University College Dublin in 1974. They are Fellows of the RIAI, International Honorary Fellows of the RIBA and elected members of Aosdána, the eminent Irish Art organisation. Teaching at the School of Architecture at University College Dublin from 1976 to 2002, they were appointed Adjunct Professors at UCD in 2015. They have been Visiting Professors at EPFL, Lausanne from 2010 – 2011. They held the Kenzo Tange Chair at GSD Harvard in 2010 and the Louis Kahn chair at Yale in the Autumn of 2011. Currently, they are Professors at the Accademia di Archittettura, Mendrisio, Switzerland.
Grafton Architects
Professional Architect, Ecologist
Interdisciplinary artist Canada
Carina Rose is a practicing architect, ecologist, and interdisciplinary artist based in Montréal, Canada. She is a hands-on designer and researcher collaborating with self-builders and grassroots communities seeking ecological building alternatives and thoughtful engagement in the creative process. Her artwork intersects this design and construction experience with her movement practices to create installation and performance projects that investigate the fraught relationship between making and nature. This research is currently focused on how improvisational movement and somatic knowledge can connect our body creatively to human-built and natural ecosystems and inform the reformation of design processes.
Professor Architect
University of Granada Spain
Elisa Valero Ramos, PhD, is an architect. At a moment in our culture when noise is enormously dense she has chosen an architecture that acts in silence, serenely and without drawing attention to itself. She began her career in México with the restoration of Felix Candela’s work, ‘Los Manantiales’ and wrote her first book at the Academia de España in Rome. Since 1997 her workplace is a small office in front of The Alhambra, Granada. Her ties to the art world began in her childhood and it is thus natural that her work involves interaction with other arts. Elisa’s mother was a painter and she discovered the world through her intense gaze and palette. She is interested in living space, landscape, sustainability, precision and an economy of expressive resources. She is not interested in styles. She is more interested in books than in magazines, in consistency than in genius, coherency than artistic composition. And she understands originality as the rediscovery of the true meaning of things. She is interested in architecture rooted in the earth and in its own time. She accepts the determinants of architecture as the rules of a very serious and enjoyable game and she tries to play it in a coherent, rigorous way. While it is no longer stylish to speak of serving, she believes that an architect’s work is a quintessential service intended to make people’s lives more agreeable — a noble calling that seeks to make the world more beautiful and more human and to make society fairer. Architecture is no place for the nostalgic, it is a job for rebels.
Ellen Ruge is a light designer who has worked all over the world and has collaborated on a great number of stage productions with many of the best world-known theatres. She was born in Oslo and currently lives in Sweden. She has been active as a lighting designer in Sweden and abroad since the mid-1980’s.
Ellen is particularly fond of opera but has also worked with theater, dance, musicals and art shows. With her exceptional sensitivity for how light embodies different moods and captures emotions, she creates magical places on international theater and opera stages as well as in public spaces.
Ellen Ruge has worked on all the major opera and theater stages in Sweden and continues to work for a number of international opera houses. She has received multiple awards for her work on stage and in public art, among them the Norwegian theater prize Hedda for best light design and His Majesty The King’s Medal for her contributions to Swedish performance art. In 2020, she was awarded the Swedish Theatre Critics Association award for her long term and much appreciated contributions to Swedish performance art.
Malin Alenius is a PhD student at KTH School of Architecture in the research area of Architectural Design, Technology and Representation. Her thesis examines the lighting design of daylight and electric light in architecture and its methods of representation. Malin has a 20-year background as a practising architect and lighting specialist, most recently at White Architects in Stockholm.
KTH ABE School of Architecture
Sweden
Rodrigo Muro is an architect, lighting designer and educator based in Stockholm, Sweden. He has a mixed working experience of over 25 years on practice and education in Sweden, Spain and Mexico. Trained as an architect, he also holds a master’s degree in architectural lighting design from KTH in Stockholm and one in Industrial design from UPC in Barcelona. Since 2011 he has been part of the division of Lighting Design at KTH School of Architecture and Built Environment as a lecturer and tutor, today he is the program director of the Master of Architectural Lighting Design.
Co-founder of the Studio in architecture master education at KTH, Architecture and Daylight in 2017. He is been involved in different projects at the lighting division for the development of education, research on lighting in schools, lighting installations in the public realm and lecturing at other Swedish higher educational institutions and international conferences.
Simultaneously Rodrigo is currently undergoing his PhD education at KTH with focus on the role of lighting in Emotional Architecture. His approach is an explorative mixed research into the phenomenology of light in space and its resonance on the human emotional dimension.
Lighting designer, Architect
Austria
As a seasoned professional in design application, Veronika Mayerböck integrates lighting as a key discipline, connecting architecture, cognitive sciences, and neuroscience through human cognition. With a background in architecture and dance, her focus on the symbiosis between space and movement shapes her work in light and human perception. For over 15 years, she has explored a more body-situated understanding of architecture and lighting design while developing her own teaching method.
Since founding “ALLES oder Licht” in 2013, she bridges design practice, teaching, and scientific research in light and vision, human perception, and cognitive sciences. Her consultancy has realized award-winning international projects spanning architectural and cultural lighting, including theatre and dance lighting, museums, galleries, and art installations. She is an active member of ANFA, LiTG, PHOTONICS Austria, an Ambassador for Women and Lighting, and a mentor for the Silhouette Awards (UK).
Her teaching encompasses lighting design across architectural domains, stage and theatre lighting, light and science, scenography, aesthetic perception, and spatial experimentation. Aside from being a speaker at international conferences, she has been a visiting lecturer at KTH Stockholm since 2020 and has been invited to teach at several universities across Europe, including the University of Design Wismar, the Universities of Applied Science Hamburg, Detmold, and Hildesheim, Technical University Graz and Vienna, the Academy of Applied Arts Vienna, the New Design University St. Pölten, and CAPLA Arizona.
Architectural Lighting Designer
Architect, Master in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design
Faculty Support Lead (Local Coordination)
Member of ANFA (USA) and ANFA (Brazil chapter)
International Promotion/Media (Sponsors)
Ana Karen Angulo Garibay is an architect who graduated from ITESO University in Guadalajara, Mexico. She holds a Master’s in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design from the University IUAV in Venice, Italy. Currently, she is pursuing a Psychology degree at the University IEU in Puebla, Mexico.
In 2015, Ana established the firm AKA Architecture, specializing in designing and constructing residences in Mexico. She also works as an interior designer and consultant, integrating neuroscience research with architectural and interior design for large-scale buildings. Her work is fueled by a passion for interdisciplinary studies, particularly in environmental psychology, cognitive science, indoor qualities, art, and architecture.
Ana’s research topics revolve around designing residences that can promote autonomy and well-being for people with dementia and designing the interior of a psychiatric hospital to promote mental health through interior design.
Andreia Schmidt for the last 15 years 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.
Interior architect
Master’s candidate
Local Coordination
Architect & Urban Planner,
Master in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design
Faculty Support (Advocacy)
Annsofi Gråmunke is an interior architecture student. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Konstfack University in Stockholm and is now completing her Master’s degree. She also has a Bachelor’s degree in ceramics from HDK college in Gothenburg as well as an upper secondary pedagogue degree from Gothenburg University. During her studies in ceramics she took part in an exchange at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Helsinki.
Annsofi’s main interest in interior architecture is how spaces affect people, and she has an interest in inclusive architecture and neurodiversity. Schools and workplaces are of special interest.
From Brazil’s vibrant landscapes, Clarissa Rodrigues Machado established her career in Italy as a consultant and researcher. She holds postgraduate degrees in Construction Management, Project Management, and Neuroarchitecture and a master’s in Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design, which provided her with a comprehensive view of architectural nuances. Beyond the conventional architectural approaches, Clarissa has coordinated academic panels at Università IUAV di Venezia, and her editorial contributions can be found in the Journal of Eco+Urbanism & Neuroarchitecture.
Clarissa’s determination to connect human sciences and architecture has led to collaborations with professionals worldwide. She has actively participated in learning platforms, podcasts, journals, and forums that further the interdisciplinary dialogue. Her master’s thesis presentation at Biennale di Architettura di Venezia 2023, alongside affiliations with the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA), the International Living Future Institute, and the Habitarmonia Academy, illustrate her commitment to the field.
Having integrated the Moving Boundaries Italy edition in December 2023, Clarissa aspires to help redefine how to perceive and craft spaces, emphasizing their intrinsic impact on human experience and well-being.
Ph.D. Candidate Faculty Support and Local Coordination Helsinki
Dmitrii Ingi is a doctoral researcher at Aalto University’s School of Electrical Engineering, affiliated with the Lighting Research Group. With a master’s degree in Lighting Design from ITMO University, he contributes to the FinEst Twins project (FinEst Centre for Smart Cities) and has published research articles in relevant journals and conference proceedings. His current research focuses on urban planning and lighting design, particularly exploring the impact of urban lighting on user experience.
His work and interests involve utilizing PPGIS (Public Participation Geographic Information Systems) for evidence-based urban lighting design research and integrating geographic information systems (GIS) for lighting analysis and digitalization.
Gustavo Bennatti is Brazilian designer and artist. Gustavo graduated from the prestigious Belas Artes University of São Paulo in 2022 and in the same year, he won a scholarship for the Digital Design course at the Vancouver Film School and has since then performed a variety of design-related services (especially Image Manipulation and Motion Design) in various places around the world.
His role at Moving Boundaries is to be in charge of content production and communication for the company’s social networks and digital media.
Designer Social Media
Hamid Eizadi is currently a Research Engineer based at KTH Lighting Lab in Stockholm, Sweden, involved in a variety of projects focused on architectural lighting design. Additionally, he collaborates with Johanna Enger at Konstfact (University of Arts, Crafts and Design), where he tutors in the Perception Studio.
With dual Master’s degrees in Architectural Lighting Design (KTH) and Sustainable Architecture (IUST), Hamid’s educational background has enriched his perspective, followed by participating in the first Light4Health summer course in the UK.
Aside from a few years of practicing architecture and lighting design, his experiences in teaching at various universities and engaging in professional design work have provided a well-rounded blend of knowledge.
Ines Bartl is a lighting and stage designer based in Stockholm, Sweden. With her background in Interior design, theater, and architectural lighting design, she loves to create emotional experiences and to design immersive spaces that open up new worlds to the visitors. With her work, she wants to amaze and inspire people. Recently, she set up her own business, where she is combining her passion for performance, spatial composition, culture, scenography, and light. Ines is interested in exploring the relation between space and humans and what role we take towards our environment. She is inspired by the playfulness and diversity of light, but also by the people she meets on her way. She loves to hear their stories and share experiences to continuously grow and gain knowledge.
Originally from Germany, she first studied Interior Design at the University of Applied Sciences Coburg and the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland. Thereafter, she worked as Assistant Stage and Costume Designer at the Theater Erlangen for two seasons, where she started to realize her first own productions.
In 2021, she moved to Stockholm to study Architectural Lighting Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Her thesis ‘The new Soundforest - The role of lighting in inclusive interactive museum installations’, which was conducted in collaboration with Stockholm’s Museum of Performing Arts, explores interactive installations as immersive experience for hearing-impaired users using light, sound and haptic feedback.
Her works include exhibitions, spatial installations, recitals, plays and other performative events, as well as temporary light installations and collaborations with international light festivals, such as Lights in Alingsås and Nobel Week Lights in Stockholm. In 2023 she was awarded the Silhouette Award and the IES Emerging Professionals Sponsorship.
Architectural Designer
Participants’ Support/Media
Jessica Patrick is dedicated to the research and design of spaces that enhance users’ emotional, mental and physical well-being. She obtained her M.Arch degree concentrating in Neuroscience for Architecture from the NewSchool of Architecture + Design, where she began exploring the intersection of neuroscience and architecture. Her master’s thesis, Developing an Emotionally Intelligent Architectural Language: Raising E.Q. in Prison Architecture, was awarded the 2019 AIA San Diego Student Design Award for research and design, and it was lauded for suggesting a new approach to design for those in correctional facilities. In this work, Jessica used research in neuroscience to break traditional forms of thought and to design for those who commit crimes. Jessica was a recipient of the Pillar’s Scholarship to support her research in the Intersection Between Neuroscience and Craftsmanship, Doing Work by Hand. She was a presenter at the 2020 ANFA Conference, showcasing her work completed together with Eduardo Macagno, Designing a Retirement Community; Minding the Hippocampus. To pursue her passion and to use these studies in practical ways, Jessica received WELL Accreditation, to help facilitate building certification to meet the International WELL Buildings Standards. Jessica is preparing for her Architecture License while she works at Gensler Architects. Jessica received her B.A. in Italian Language and Literature, and she lived, worked, and studied in Italy for over four years, immersing herself in the humanities, languages, and Italian studies. She is a native English speaker and is fluent in Italian.
Professional Architect, Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Participants’ Support (Alumni Support/Website)
June Jordaan is a professional architect and Senior Lecturer in Architecture from Cape Town South Africa. She practiced architecture in Amsterdam, Mauritius, and Cape Town before joining academia full time in 2012 at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Her PhD and subsequent research has focused on the application of phenomenology in architecture. With particular focus on architecture as a psychological phenomenon, architectural archetypes, and architecture and the everyday. She furthermore has done research on Cinematic Placemaking and its depiction of atmospheres and existential lived space, and also on places of witchcraft. She has presented her research in Japan, Hong Kong, Chandigarh, Oxford, Prague and across South Africa. This path has led her to the field of neuroscience as a more scientific discipline for interpreting the human experience of architectural and aesthetic phenomena.
Architect Participants’ Support Lead (Publications)
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, and took part in the 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 the 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.
Lighting Designer Sweden
Maria Erichsen Madland is a Norwegian lighting designer based in Stockholm. She is educated with a master’s degree in architectural lighting design from KTH School of Architecture and a bachelor in interior architecture.
Her passion for lighting design began in the crossings between design, photography, architecture, art, light and technology. Her focus is on the human interaction with spaces.
Maria presented, obtaining an honorary mention, her thesis “Light on Darkness” - an investigation of darkness in relation to emotional affect and affordances in 2024, where she investigated how a re-introduction of darkness could be beneficial and impact emotional relations to a space and experience atmospheres.
International Promotion/Media (Sponsors)
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.
Built Environmental
Neurophysiology Researcher –PhD Student – Advisor
Participants’ Support (Alumni Support/Website)
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 sought-after 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.
Architect and Researcher
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who is eligible to apply to the 2024 Summer course?
The course is open to architecture and design professionals, including architects, urban designers, landscape architects, historians, environmental and health experts, interior and product designers, cognitive scientists and psychologists, neuroscientists and anthropologists, as well as educators, graduate and postdoctoral students in these disciplines from any part of the world.
In what language will the course be conducted?
Lectures, masterclasses, workshops, and roundtable discussions will be all conducted in English. Several supporting faculty speak other languages, and they may be able to help with translation occasionally (we cannot provide continuous translation).
Tuition will cover lectures, masterclasses, workshops, sketching sessions, roundtable discussions, the Certificate of Completion, and two complimentary meals, the Welcome Dinner and Farewell Dinner. Tuition will also cover digital course materials and recordings of selected lectures, as soon as they are edited several weeks after the end of the course.
Credits for the program need to be approved by the university you are currently attending. Check with your academic advisor regarding the procedure for obtaining credits since some institutions require that credits be approved prior to enrolling in the program. Practicing architects may apply (on their own) for AIA learning credits, but the outcome depends on your local chapter and cannot be guaranteed by MB. A Syllabus with a summary of all activities and list of course hours is provided.
How do I get to Stockholm and depart from Helsinki?
The city of Stockholm is accessible from around the world, with direct flights available from Europe and with one or two stops, from major cities across the United States, Latin America, Australia, and other locations. August is considered part of the high season so accomodation and flight prices tend to be higher due to increased demand.
There are multiple transportation options available to reach Stockholm from Arlanda Airport. You may opt for the fast train (Arlanda Express), the Airport Shuttle Bus, or a Taxi, all of which will take you to Stockholm. Once you’re in the city, public transportation is easily accessible and convenient to use. From Helsinki there are direct flights to European cities or you can return to Stockholm and fly out from there. home from or they can go back to Stockholm.
How do I get to the Espoo venue from Helsinki airport?
Our venue in Finland is in Espoo at the Aalto University, about 20 km from Helsinki. From Helsinki airport there are regular trains and buses to Espoo. From Helsinki center you can take the metro to Espoo.
How much will it cost to attend?
Meals and lodging options vary in the summer season. An Airbnb may be more affordable than a hotel, and you might consider sharing lodging with others. You can find the breakdown of average expenses for 13 days on page 56. Please note that tuition fees are excluded from the cost breakdown. Tuition rates are found on the How to Apply page at the website or you may e-mail MB to request the rates.
A notebook, pens, and sketching materials should suffice, but we highly recommend bringing a laptop computer or a tablet computer to access course materials from the website.
Participants are responsible for arranging their travel to Sweden and from Finland, lodging and meals. You can take the ferry or fly from Sweden to Finland. Moving Boundaries will provide a list of suggestions. Tuition does not include travel expenses and arrangements. Participants may take advantage of the sign-up list in Google Drive, sharing lodging in order to minimize expenses. Sharing options shall be initiated and coordinated by participants using shared folders created by MB for the group. Two complimentary meals will
be provided for all (on the first and last evening).
Please plan to arrive in Stockholm by August 11. If you wish to minimize the effects of jet lag, please consider arriving on August 10 or earlier. Check out in Stockholm, in the morning of August 20. That evening we will travel by ferry to Helsinki. Plan to check in at your hotel or Airbnb in Helsinki, Finland on August 21 and check out on August 24, or consider staying a few more days to tour architectural masterpieces. A list of suggestions and addresses will be provided for recommended tours in Jyvaskyla and other locations.
Yes, several full tuition and over 20 partial tuition scholarships have been provided.
All participants will have access to a detailed course program, the brochure with abstracts of presentations, a collection of digital resources that include articles, book chapters and video lectures, and a course reader. After the course, participants will have access to selected recordings from the course. Additionally, participants will have access to a group communication platform (WhatsApp), where they will be able to interact with one another and uphold their network, during and after the on-site program.
You will have access to speakers during all course activities and social events, including occasional meals and coffee breaks, throughout the two weeks. Find the list of speakers and their bios on the Faculty pages (p. 32 - 45).
Yes, there will be free time. Please consult the program. We do encourage you to explore the local culture, neighborhoods and cuisine. If you would like to visit additional cities, we encourage you to do so before or after the two-week course. After lectures and the Farewell Dinner ending late on August 23, we encourage everyone to see (on their own) additional work by architects and landscape architects in Finland. MB will provide recommendations.
Yes, family and friends are welcome to join social events during the course, but they may not attend lectures, workshops or roundtable discussions.
ESTIMATING THE TRAVEL BUDGET
Traveling
Roundtrip airfare estimates
Arrival to Stockholm and departure from Helsinki
U.S. and Canada
Brazil
$ 900 - 1200
$ 550 - 600
$ 800 - 900
$ 1200 - 1250
$ 1300 - 1400
Europe
Mexico
South Africa
Iran
Saudi Arabia
Taiwan
South Korea
Indonesia
Australia
$ 350 - 400
$ 200 - 300
$ 250 - 350
$ 250 - 300
$ 350 - 400
$ 250 - 300
$ 250 - 300
$ 1250 - 1300
$ 1000 - 1100
$ 650 - 700
$ 650 - 750
$ 750 - 850
$ 1250 - 1300
$ 1200 - 1300
$ 1100 - 1200
$ 1400 - 1500
West Coast (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco)
East Coast (New York)
Canada (Toronto, Montreal)
São Paulo
Rio de Janeiro
France (Paris)
Germany (Berlin, Frankfurt)
Italy (Rome, Milan)
The Netherlands (Amsterdam)
Portugal (Lisbon)
Spain (Madrid, Barcelona)
United Kingdom (London)
Mexico City
Johannesburg
Tehran
Riyadh
Jeddah
Taipei
Seoul
Jakarta
Melbourne
Travel options from Stockholm to Helsinki on August 20
Two options are possible for travel on August 20
Travel by plane requires booking extra night in Helsinki
Travel by Ferry Stockholm - Helsinki (Silja Lines Ferry) (Ferry name: Silja Serenade. Economy cabin for up to 4 people. Price for cabin, with a group discount)
Travel by plane Stockholm - Helsinki (lodging in Helsinki from August 20)
Lodging and meals
Estimate of expenses
Lodging in Stockholm
Lodging options
Hotel (basic)
Hotel (average)
Airbnb (basic)
Airbnb (average)
Lodging in Helsinki
Lodging options: Espoo
Hotel (basic)
Hotel (average)
Airbnb (basic)
Airbnb (average)
Lodging options: Helsinki
Hotel (basic)
Hotel (average)
Airbnb (basic)
Airbnb (average)
Meals in Stockholm
Meals in Helsinki
SYLLABUS
LECTURES
33 hours
The Moving Boundaries course will offer a series of masterclasses and lectures held by internationally recognized experts. Together, we will experience a new interdisciplinary perspective that has been emerging from the rapidly evolving collaboration between architecture and the natural human sciences (neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, psychophysics, and experimental phenomenology, among others).
Tatiana Berger
Alberto Pérez-Gomez
Juhani Pallasmaa
Kurt Hunker
Arne Lowden Sarah Robinson
Katharina Wulff
LECTURES
Theme 1: Ecology of Light in Space
Moving Boundaries Nordic X is organized around two major themes, Ecology of Light in Space and Interweaving the Senses, each of which explores one particular aspect every day.
The program begins Monday, August 12th in Stockholm, cosmopolitan capital of Sweden, with its rich history of outstanding Modern architecture, urbanism and design. Light is the topic and following the first day’s Introduction to Light and Human Biology, the activities of this first week examine distinctive aspects of light in space: perception, psychologies and science.
Lectures by a distinguished roster of architects, designers, lighting experts and scientists are augmented with workshops and afternoon tours to Gunnar Asplund’s influential Stockholm Public Library, the beautiful Woodland Cemetery of Asplund and Lewerentz and other sights. Ecology of Light and Space concludes with a full-day field trip in the Stockholm Archipelago.
Satchin Panda
Kerstin Brismar
Johanna Enger
Ute Besenecker
Anya Hurlbert
Galen Cranz
LECTURES
Theme 2: Interweaving the Senses
The second theme, Interweaving the Senses, initiates the events beginning Sunday, August 18th as the program nears the end of its Stockholm residency.
Sensing Light and Color and Atmosphere and Experience are the first topics, explored in lectures and workshops. On Tuesday Moving Boundaries sails — literally, on the night ferry — out of Stockholm Harbor for Finland’s capital and largest city, Helsinki. Over the next three days emotional, material and haptic qualities of light and color are considered in talks by globally-recognized speakers and in workshops and tours. Helsinki provides a rich source of Alvar Aalto’s work, from his house and studio to major commercial and civic designs, where his mastery of what has come to be called
“multisensory design” is on full, magnificent display. Moving Boundaries Nordic X ends appropriately on Friday, August 23 with Summarizing and Interweaving
Participants will come away from this engaging and inspiring two weeks with a new appreciation for the very fundamentals of inspiring, humane design: light and daylight, time, color, materiality, atmosphere.
Kate Jeffery
Jonas Kjellander
Tonino Griffero
Andrea Chiba
Mark Allen Hewitt Jenni Reuter
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS AND TALKS
9 hours
Speakers, guests, organizers, and students will join roundtable discussions to converse all together. These post-lecture dialogues stand as a testament to our commitment to fostering a robust exchange of ideas and insights. This open and natural conversational format, meticulously cultivated by our adept moderators and subject-matter experts, ensures that every participant has the opportunity to contribute and glean insights from the collective wealth of knowledge present in the room.
Through this dynamic interaction, participants not only deepen their understanding of the subject matter but also cultivate a sense of community and shared discovery, culminating in a transformative educational experience that extends far beyond the confines of the lecture hall.
WORKSHOPS
11 hours
To better comprehend the multisensory nature of the architectural design process and experience and develop a tectonic sense of architecture, the program includes immersive workshops.
Convinced of the importance of drawing as a tool to comprehend the history, the structure, and the architectural essence of a city, course participants will go to different public spaces to experience live sketching outdoors.
WORKSHOPS
An important part of our program are the workshops thoughtfully organized and guided by our faculty.
These workshops help participants understand architecture in a unique way – not just through sight, but also by involving other senses. The expertise of our faculty empowers participants to cultivate a profound tectonic sense, refining their ability to perceive and appreciate the intricate dance between space and form in the architectural realm.
Our workshops extend concepts and takeaways from lectures by faculty and allow participants to practice applying new methods to design. They are also encouraged to discuss (and draw) new applications in their everyday practice in the office or academy.
TOURS IN STOCKHOLM
Woodland Cemetery, Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz Church of St. Mark, Sigurd Lewerentz
The Stockholm Public Library, Gunnar Asplund School of Architecture at KTH, Tham & Videgård Arkitekter
Queen Sylvia Concert Hall, ARKPABI
TOURS IN HELSINKI
Aalto University, Alvar Aalto, Aino Aalto, Elissa Aalto
Dipoli building at Aalto University, Raili and Reima Pietilä
Exhibition Form by Tapio Wirkkala curated by Juhani Pallasmaa, Espoo Museum of Modern Art
Oodi Library, ALA Architects (self-guided visit)
Finlandia Hall, Alvar Aalto (self-guided visit outside)
Aalto Studio and House, Alvar Aalto
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
Optional tours
Paimio Sanatorium, Alvar Aalto
Villa Mairea, Alvar Aalto
FIELD TRIP
Half-day field trip with Artipelag museum and boat ride on August 17
Stockholm Archipelago
Artipelag
Optional evening bus trip to Ytterjärna Village and Skyspace
Ytterjärna kulturhus and village
James Turrell - Skyspace
DISCUSSIONS AND SOCIAL EVENTS
The Moving Boundaries course not only enriches minds through its academic pursuits but also fosters vibrant social connections. We recognize the importance of camaraderie, and thus, our program offers social events that provide participants with the opportunity to mingle with our esteemed faculty.
These events serve as a delightful segue for participants to engage in informal discussions, enabling them to learn more while enjoying a convivial environment. These interactions not only strengthen the bonds among participants but also encourage the exchange of ideas and insights in a relaxed and friendly setting, enhancing the holistic learning experience of the course.
PARTNERS
Konstfack - University for Arts, Crafts and Design
Stockholm, Sweden
Konstfack is Sweden’s largest university for arts, crafts and design. The university conducts both artistic and scientific education/research and currently has 900 students enrolled on bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes, teacher training programmes and freestanding courses.
Aalto University
Espoo, Finland
Aalto University, located in Espoo, Finland, is a public university known for its excellence in education, research, and innovation. Established in 2010 through the merger of three renowned Finnish universities, Aalto University has quickly gained recognition for its multidisciplinary learning approach and commitment to fostering creativity and entrepreneurship.
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Stockholm, Sweden
Since 1827 KTH has grown to become an international leading technical university. As the largest institution in Sweden for technical education and research, KTH brings together students, researchers, and educators worldwide. Their activities are grounded in a strong tradition of advancing science and innovation, focusing on contributing to sustainable societal development.
EDRA (Environmental Design Research Association)
EDRA’s purpose is to advance and disseminate research, teaching, and practice toward improving an understanding of the relationships among people, their built environments, and natural eco-systems. The mission of EDRA is to provide a collaborative, multidisciplinary community to connect theory, research, teaching, and practice to recognize, create and advocate for environments that are responsive to diverse human needs.
ANFA - Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture
Nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote and advance knowledge that links neuroscience research to a growing understanding of human responses to the built environment.
Salk Institute
La Jolla, San Diego, CA
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute. Independent, non-profit institute founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine.
The Centre for Conscious Design
International grassroots think-tank working to address social issues and public health through conscious design.
NEUROAU
Online space created to disseminate discussions about the possible connections between cognitive science and architecture, design and urbanism.
ITESO
The Jesuit University of Guadalajara sees itself as a community of people in constant growth, develops itelligence and sensitivity, educates free and socially responsible young people.
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Neuroarq Academy
Academy of Neuroscience and Architecture. Brasil
Colegio de Arquitrectos del Estado de Jalisco
Association of Architects of the State of Jalisco AC (CAEJ) supports development of Architecture as a profession in Jalisco.
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Fondazione Umbra Per L’Architettura
The Galeazzo Alessi Umbra Foundation for Architecture (FUA) is a private law entity established on 21 May 2010 by the Order of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservationists of the Province of Perugia.
SPONSORS
Thank you to our Sponsors
Gold Level
SPONSORS
Donor benefits
Bronze Level
Silver Level
Contributors of $50 or more will be featured in our digital program brochure.
Contributors of $250 or more will be featured in our program brochure and on the website.
Contributors of $500 or more will additionally have their logo, website address (with 'clickable' link) and Mission Statement displayed in our program brochure and on the website.
Contributors of $1000 or more will receive all benefits above and will additionally receive a book signed by one of the faculty members. Event hosts will thank contributors in their address to the audience, and their logo will be displayed at the opening and closing events of the course.
Contributors of $2,000 or more will receive all the benefits above and will additionally have an opportunity to sponsor a scholarship (with their name) for one or more students. For example: "The John Smith Scholarship" or the "Company Name xxx Scholarship". Contributors will receive a 'thank you' letter from the student(s) they sponsor.
Contributors of $5000 or more will receive all benefits above and will additionally be invited to attend a special dinner with several distinguished faculty of our course, at one of the course locations or at our retreat in Portugal, in the Spring of 2025.
Gold Level Sponsors will receive invitations to all annual retreats around the world.
Gold Level
THANK YOU Tack Kiitos
The Moving Boundaries Program would not happen without the support of our Sponsors and Donors.
Your contribution helps to support our speakers and provides scholarships for our participants.
Your generosity also helps to distribute the content of this course throughout the architectural and scientific communities.
Gracias Merci
Grazie Obrigado Danke
