Award Winner: Dr. Clarissa Rhomberg

Clarissa Rhomberg is Post Doc Researcher at the Institute of Architecture and Planning at the University of Liechtenstein. Her research focus lies on the impact and meaning of socially responsible behaviour for architects, planners and firms in international construction practice. She also works in the fields of sustainable urban development, social inequality, working migrants, planning ethics in practice, governance structures, and shared value creation in the building industry.

She earned her PhD (Dr.sc.) at the University of Liechtenstein for her thesis “Fair Building: A Discourse and Action Analysis of Social Responsibility in the Construction Process and Its Challenges for Internationally Practising Architects and Their Firms” with summa cum laude. Clarissa is author of the book “Urban Nomads. Building Shanghai: Migrant Workers and the Construction Process“ and co-leader of the EU-funded Erasmus+ project “Society in Motion“, with the Bergen School of Architecture (Norway) and the University of Applied Arts Vienna (Austria). From 2008 to 2013, she worked for various architectural firms in Beijing, Vienna and Bregenz (Austria). Currently, Clarissa is a participant of the ASHOKA Visionary Program for Leadership in Social Innovation.

Honorable Mention: Dr. Alia Fadel

Dr. Alia Fadel is an architect and landscape architect with a specialization in Interval Biophilic Restoration (IBR) in urban settings and collegiate campuses. Dr. Fadel accomplished both her Master of Landscape Architecture and Doctorate Degree of Philosophy in Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology, USA, and her Bachelor Degree of Science in Architectural Engineering at Helwan University, Egypt. Throughout her academic and professional career, she was awarded several prestigious scholarships, including Fulbright-USAID Master Degree Program Scholarship, Illinois Institute of Technology Graduate Scholarship, and University of Chicago (Campus Planning + Sustainability) PhD Cooperative Education Internship.

Dr. Fadel’s doctoral research, titled “Transitional Cultured-Nature: A Comprehensive Framework of Biophilic Analysis Investigating On-Campus Restorative Intervals for Student Stress Mitigation,” received the “PhD Program Best Dissertation Award,” Spring 2018, from the College of Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology. Considering the growing concerns underlying psychological and emotional health in academic environments, Dr. Fadel’s research focuses on both macro and micro scales of stress-alleviating opportunities that result when students interact with on-campus nature and mediums of nature-simulation. Her research introduces a concentric growth approach to observation-based methodology for designing and employing a Comprehensive Framework of Biophilic Analysis. This Framework aims at investigating the potentials of on- campus mediums of “Transitional Cultured-Nature” (Fadel 2016) to provide restorative intervals for student stress mitigation.

Dr. Fadel is currently an architectural educator, biophilic design consultant, and ethnographic observation specialist. Her research, teaching, and practice interest includes biophilic design and planning, architectural and landscape architectural applications of Interval Biophilic Restoration (IBR) for humans’ physiological, psychological, and emotional health and productivity, systematic observation-based research and analysis, and diagnostic post-occupancy studies.

Honorable Mention: Dr. Clarissa Ferreira Albrecht da Silveira

Clarissa Ferreira Albrecht da Silveira is a Professor at the Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, and has been teaching visual communication and architectural design. She completed her Ph.D in Architecture at Penn State University, USA, where she was also engaged in architectural studio and seminar teaching and landscape performance research. Clarissa is a licensed architect and urbanist in Brazil, holds the title of M.Sc. in Forest Science, and is trained as a LEED Green Associate by the USGBC. Her research focuses on green principles and practices for environmentally responsible design and regenerative solutions.