Barbara E. A. Piga

Background

About Barbara E. A. Piga

An Architect by education, Barbara E. A. Piga is Assistant Professor at the Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI)(2021 – 2024), where she is also Coordinator of the Laboratorio di Simulazione Urbana Fausto Curti - labsimurb (POLIMI - Department of Architecture and Urban Studies) since its foundation in 2007. At labsimurb she coordinates and leads research projects related to experiential simulation and sensory urban design. She is founding partner of the REAACH - Representation Advances and Challenges Association since its foundation in 2022. She is also member of the Board of the interdepartmental research laboratory i.Drive - Interaction Between Driver, Road Infrastructure, Vehicle, And Environment since 2019, where she is responsible for mobility experiential simulation and the urban/landscape environment guidelines (assessment and design perspective). She is member of the Scientific Committee of the POLIMI laborA laboratory (since 2022), which develops experiments in both Virtual Reality and physical modeling. She is the POLIMI Coordinator of two European Projects H2020 EIT Digital (Digital Cities) AR4CUP: Augmented Reality for Collaborative Urban Planning (2019 and 2020), where she designed a novel co-design methodology via Augmented and Virtual Reality. In these projects, she developed an innovative methodology for (pre-)assessing the experience of people in space through simulation; this led her to the ownership of two Copyrights (Experiential Environmental Impact Assessment - exp-EIA©; Copyright BOIP N. 123453 - 06.05.2020 and Copyright BOIP N. 130516 – 25.02.2021) and of the International Patent for Invention Method for calculating one or more isovists of a physical or Extended Reality environment (N. registered on 30.06.2021 with POLIMI and Università degli Studi di Milano). Her research interest is focused on the person\environment relationship, with a specific focus on the role of experiential simulation for sensory urban design from conception to evaluation and presentation. She investigates and proposes innovative forms of simulation, even via multi-sensory immersive environments related to Mixed Reality, e.g. via Augmented Reality (also Augmented Maquette), and Virtual Reality (also Augmented Virtuality). She fosters a One Health, multi-scalar, and interdisciplinary approach. She holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from POLIMI (2010).