[Design & Computation Arts Speaker Series] Designing for the North: Sustainable, Human-Centered Spaces Through Light, Air Quality, Thermal Comfort and Climate-Responsive Strategies
April 13 | 14:15 - 15:45
Clusters: Milieux
Join us for the first presentation of the Design & Computation Arts Speaker Series featuring Dr. Carolina Espinoza Sanhueza. Titled Designing for the North: Sustainable, Human-Centered Spaces Through Light, Air Quality, Thermal Comfort and Climate-Responsive Strategies, this lecture will present insights from research projects focused on improving indoor environmental quality in Northern localities.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Dr. Carolina Espinoza Sanhueza is an architect, researcher, and educator dedicated to creating sustainable, carbon-neutral environments that place human well-being at their core. Her work integrates architectural design with environmental performance, using building parameters, light quality, indoor air quality, and thermal comfort, as levers for enhancing occupant health and spatial experience, specifically in Northern climates. Her research advances simulation-based methods, immersive visualization, and post-occupancy evaluation to support evidence-based design decision-making.
She holds a PhD in Architecture from Université Laval (Québec, Canada) and pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at the same institution, where she examined the effects of light and colour on visual performance and circadian stimulation in Northern and Arctic communities, employing image-based simulation and immersive capture techniques.
Dr. Espinoza Sanhueza is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Toronto Metropolitan University, where she investigates the challenges of sustainable and resilient housing in Northern Canada and develops post-occupancy evaluation methods grounded in time-series data analysis. Threading design, research, pedagogy, and professional practice together, her work advances a vision of the built environment that is as responsive to its inhabitants as it is to the climate and context it serves.
April 13, 2026
2:15-3:45 PM
Resource Room EV 11.705