Biography
Isabella Pasqualini is an architect (ETHZ 2000) with a PhD in architecture and cognitive neuroscience (EPFL 2012). In her works, she investigates the mutual and intimate relationship between body and space using immersive and interactive multimedia with a specific focus on the multisensory enhancement of the user’s horizon. For her post-doc project Visual Touches – Touching Views at the Bertarelli Center of Neuroprosthetics (EPFL), she obtained a prestigious fellowship grant from the Cogito Foundation (2013).
Isa founded her independent design and research studio in 2004. She has planned a new city in Angola and built a temporary bank building in Luanda. As a designer, neuroscientist, and artist, she won several competition prizes and exhibited her work at Swiss and international venues (Salon Suisse 2021, Mappings Visual-Audio and Deviant Electronics Festival 2018; MAXXI Rome 2018; Guiyang International Comics and Animation Festival 2018; Venice Biennale 2016; Werkschau Architektur 2015; Shanghai Art, Science and Technology Exhibition 2012; SAST Award 2012; Beijing Design Week/Beijing Triennale 2011; EAC ‘Les Halles’ 2011; Swiss Art Awards 2008, 2010; City of Helsinki 2007; City of Rome 2005, 2007).
Currently a scientist at the Léa-V at École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles (Ensa-V) and a senior scientist at the CC Visual Narrative of Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), Isa is a lecturer at the first Master for Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design (NAAD) at the IUAV University of Venice. In the past, she has been a visiting professor at the Art and Design Academy of Tsinghua University in Beijing, at the Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK), at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles (Ensa-V) and a guest lecturer at Städelschule in Frankfurt. She was a lecturer on urban visualisation at the School of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at EPFL (2014-2016).
Isabella is a designer, scientific author and works as a reviewer, editor, and advisor. She has an expert mandate for Innosuisse, the Swiss Federal Innovation Agency. In the industry, she is a consultant in human-centered design and spatial computing.
