{"id":9309,"date":"2026-01-13T07:07:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/?p=9309"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:17:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:17:42","slug":"designing-for-well-being-in-northern-indoor-environments-light-air-quality-temperature-and-climate-responsive-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/?p=9309","title":{"rendered":"Designing for Well-Being in Northern Indoor Environments: Light, Air Quality, Temperature and Climate-Responsive Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-461897f4 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/carolina-espinoza-1024x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9310\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1;object-fit:contain\" srcset=\"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/carolina-espinoza-1024x1024.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/carolina-espinoza-300x300.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/carolina-espinoza-150x150.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/carolina-espinoza-768x768.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/carolina-espinoza-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/carolina-espinoza.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Occupant well-being is strongly influenced by architectural factors such as lighting, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality, all of which are shaped by climate and local context. These issues are especially important in Northern regions, where people spend much of their time indoors and face extreme environmental conditions. This lecture presents insights from two research projects focused on improving indoor environmental quality in Northern localities. The first project explores light and colour in indoors to support psychological and physiological well-being in Arctic communities. Using simulation and immersive visualization tools, it examines integrative lighting strategies that enhance visual comfort and support circadian rhythms in places with limited daylight. The second project addresses housing challenges related to wildfire smoke and its effects on indoor air quality and health. It presents mitigation strategies designed to reduce air pollutants, and it introduces novel methods based on data series monitoring to evaluate their effectiveness. Together, these projects show how targeted design interventions can improve indoor environments and support healthier, more resilient Northern communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Bio: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Dr. Carolina Espinoza Sanhueza<\/strong> is an architect, researcher, and educator whose work focuses on balancing occupants\u2019 well-being with energy performance in architecture. 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 Universit\u00e9 Laval (Qu\u00e9bec, Canada) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the same institution, where she investigated the effects of light and colour on visual performance and circadian stimulation in Northern and Arctic communities using image-based simulation and immersive capture techniques. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Toronto Metropolitan University, studying the impact of housing retrofits on indoor air quality and developing post-occupancy evaluation methods based on time-series data analysis. Her work aims to bridge research, pedagogy, and professional practice in support of more sustainable, responsive, and human-centred architecture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-sticky is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained wp-container-1 is-position-sticky\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Date:<\/strong> 20\/01\/2026 Tuesday<br><strong>Time:<\/strong> 13:00-14:00<br><strong>Place:<\/strong> FFB-05<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n<div style=\"padding-top:0;padding-bottom:0;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\" class=\"taxonomy-category wp-block-post-terms\"><a href=\"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/?cat=251\" rel=\"tag\">2026<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/?cat=7\" rel=\"tag\">Lectures<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/?cat=6\" rel=\"tag\">News &amp; Events<\/a><\/div>\n\n<div style=\"margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0\" class=\"taxonomy-post_tag wp-block-post-terms\"><a href=\"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/?tag=environmental-analysis\" rel=\"tag\">Environmental Analysis<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/?tag=environmental-psychology\" rel=\"tag\">Environmental Psychology<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/?tag=sustainability\" rel=\"tag\">Sustainability<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Occupant well-being is strongly influenced by architectural factors such as lighting, thermal comfort, and indoor air quality, all of which are shaped by climate and local context. These issues are especially important in Northern regions, where people spend much of their time indoors and face extreme environmental conditions. This lecture presents insights from two research projects focused on improving indoor environmental quality in Northern localities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,7,6],"tags":[201,147,83],"class_list":["post-9309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-251","category-lectures","category-news","tag-environmental-analysis","tag-environmental-psychology","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9311,"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9309\/revisions\/9311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arch.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}