Bio

Paola Viganò (Sondrio, 1961), architect and urbanist, is Full Professor of Urban Theory and Urban Design at the EPFL and at Università IUAV Venice. In 2013 she receives (first woman and European) the Grand Prix de l'Urbanisme in France. The research activity carried out by P.V. over the years lies at the crossing point among urbanism, architecture and ecological design; more in particular her research work, achieved also by numerous projects, centers on the epistemological value of design as a research tool and on the new ecological dimension of the contemporay project (urbanism and ecological rationality). For the French Ministère de la culture she has recently concluded a research on energy and recycling (Ignis Mutat Res). Guest professor in several European schools of Architecture (KU Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve Belgium; Aarhus Danemark, in 2012 and in 2013 she has been Visiting professor at the GSD, Harvard. Lectures in many international symposia and schools of Architecture. Since 2012 she is member of the Conseil scientifique of the Ecole de Paysage of Versailles (ENSP). Between 2006 and 2009 she is expert of the French Ministère de la Culture for the research programme "Grande Echelle" and since then member of the International Forum on Urbanism. In 2008 she is Associate Researcher at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. In 2005 she is among the founders of the European Postgraduate Master in Urbanism (EMU) focused on the centrality of design in the urban and territorial process and reflection and member of the Educational Boards. She is also part of the scientific committee of the International PhD Seminars Urbanism and Urbanization. Since 1999 she has been a member of the board of the PhD in Urbanism, at Università IUAV of Venice and coordinator of the PhD program in Urbanism until 2013. In 1990 she founded Studio together with Bernardo Secchi and has won several international competitions (among the realised projects: the park Spoornoord and Theaterplein in Antwerp, a system of public spaces in Mechelen, the cemetery in Courtrai, public spaces in Rennes La Courrouze and in the Regatta Village in Antwerp…). In 2009 Secchi and Viganò have been one of the 10 teams selected for the “Grand Paris" project and in 2012 they have been selected for the "New Moscow " project. In 2011-2012 Studio has worked on a vision for Brussels 2040 and Lille 2030. Among her publications: The territories of Urbanism. Designs as knowledge producer, EPFL Press, Routledge, (forthcoming).