Sofia
Boarino

Sofia Boarino is an architect, researcher, and sound artist exploring the relationship between sound, space, and perception. Her interdisciplinary work bridges architecture, neuroscience, lighting, and acoustic research, focusing on how resonance and multisensory design can influence human experience and well-being. She obtained her Master’s degree in Architecture at the AAM - USI Accademia di Architettura in Mendrisio in 2020 with the project “Hit the Beat”, which experimented the relationship between architecture and music. Her work won the Swiss Engineering Ticino Prize in 2021 and was exhibited at the Chiasso Cultural Center in the same year and recently published on Archi magazine. During her studies she also attended the PUCP University in Lima as an exchange student and specialised in acoustics with Professor Carlos Jimenez. During and after university, she gained experience through multiple collaborations in France, Italy, Switzerland and USA, where she worked as an architect in several architecture and art studios. Since 2017 she has been conducting interdisciplinary research that situates in-between art and science, exploring the themes of mechanical, biological and acoustic resonance in correlation with spaces, landscapes and cities, culminating in an in-depth investigation on sound architecture, neuroarchitecture and lighting design. In 2018 she patented her first architectural project “Sounds of Etna”, and in 2019 she became a fellow of the Madworkshop Foundation (L.A.), with which she realised her first project “Témenos”. In 2021 an essay on her project “Sound Greenfall - A musical courtship between plants and humans” was published in the 15th edition of the journal Horizonte Weimar, and in 2022 she lectured at the Acoustic Niche Workshop held by the Christophe Girot Chair at ETH Zurich. In 2022 she became a member of X=(T=E=N) Studio and a contributor to ANFA–The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture. In 2023 some of her projects were published in several architectural magazines and was interviewed at The Grand Challengers Podcast. Later in the year she performed at Dynamo, Songbird Festival in Davos, Sofar Sound Zurich and lectured for Moving Boundaries course on neuro- architecture at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. In 2024 she held an architectural workshop with Valentina Rizzi at the Simposio di Architettura e di Ecologia delle Relazioni - Ocra Montalcino and then worked on a sound design project for Giardino Villa Cappuccini Art Foundation. In April she exhibited and performed at Milano Design week with the project “Sensorial” and now her project Sound Greenfall is exhibited at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Carlo Ratti. In Spring 2025 she also attended an international research program at the Bauhaus Lab in Dessau culminating in an art exhibition. In the upcoming months, she will begin her PhD at UCL – University College London, where she will investigate sound and light in neuroaesthetic spatial design. Her practice spans installations, performances, and writing, aiming to create environments that foster perceptual clarity, emotional resonance, and new models of care.