Biography
Isabella Pasqualini is an architect (ETHZ 2000) with a PhD in architecture and cognitive neuroscience (EPFL 2012). In her work, she explores a mutual and intimate relationship between the body and space, using immersive and interactive multimedia with a specific focus on enhancing the user's multisensory 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 lecturer at the Institute of Visual Narrative at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) and the Master's for Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design (NAAD) at the IUAV University of Venice, Isa has been a visiting professor at the Art and Design Academy of Tsinghua University in Beijing, the Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK), the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Versailles (Ensa-V), and a guest lecturer at Städelschule Architecture Class in Frankfurt. She has held an interdisciplinary BA unit on future urban visualization at the School of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at EPFL (2014-2016).
Isabella works as a scientific reviewer, editor, and advisor for the industry. She has an expert mandate for Innosuisse, the Swiss Federal Innovation Agency, and serves on the advisory board of other NGOs.
