Project acronym
AURA
Project full title
Affective Unities: A Site-Specific Research on Architectural Atmospheres
Project ID
MSCA2024_0000009
Host institution
University of Genoa • UNIGE
Department of Architecture and Design • DAD
Stradone di Sant'Agostino, 37 • 16123 Genoa, Italy
Principal investigator
Elisabetta Canepa +
Architect PhD
Italian disciplinary scientific sector
Architectural and Urban Design • CEAR-09/A
Timeline
36 months • 2024/2028
+++
Elisabetta Canepa is an architect and researcher in the Department of Architecture and Design at the University of Genoa [DAD UNIGE]. After completing the RESONANCES project [2021/2024] as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow [MSCA-IF], she became the principal investigator for the EU-funded AURA project [2025/2028]. Her research sits at the intersection of architecture, aesthetics, and cognitive science, with a focus on atmospheric dynamics, the emotional essence of architectural experience, embodiment theory, the empathic relationship between people and spaces, and virtual reality experimentation. She is also an adjunct professor in the Departments of Architecture at Kansas State University [APDESIGN KSU] and Florida International University [FIU GENOA], in addition to lecturing in the "Neuroscience Applied to Architectural Design" [NAAD] master’s program at the Iuav University of Venice and in the "Neuroscience and Design" [N&D] executive course at Poli.Design in Milan. Elisabetta serves on the Advisory Council of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture [ANFA] in San Diego and co-founded the ANFA Italian chapter in 2025. Her book, Architecture is Atmosphere: Notes on Empathy, Emotions, Body, Brain, and Space, was published by Mimesis International in 2022.
Email: elisabetta.canepa@edu.unige.it
Find out more here
Track record > ORCID
Publications > IRIS • RG
Teaching activity > UNIGE
Resonances repository > ZENODO • YT • IG
AURA has received funding from the European Union’s NextGenerationEU program through the Italian Ministry of University and Research under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan [project ID: MSCA2024_0000009]. The content of this website reflects only the authors’ views. The European Commission and the Italian Ministry of University and Research cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.