Supervisor: Professor Koen Steemers
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Research overview:
The restorative potential of built environments is essential for replenishing human physical, psychological, and social resources depleted by life's demands. 55% of the global population reside in urban areas, often experiencing inadequate daylight access and high stress levels. While research on stress recovery and attention restoration predominantly focus on the restorative benefits of nature, the potential of urban settings is often overlooked. Daylight exposure influences mood, cognition, alertness, sleep, circadian rhythms, and health, whereas evidence for stress-reducing effects of daylight is preliminary and requires further investigation.
Transition spaces in urban environments such as courtyards, arcades, and porches are climate moderators, offering contact with the exterior and daylight exposure whilst providing a sense of safety, relaxation, and environmental diversity. By researching daylight access and views for city dwellers, the restorative potential of these ‘in between’ spaces – Intermediate Environments (IE) – is the focus of this research. These are evaluated through mixed-method fieldwork case studies, where research outcomes can help quantify and qualify daylight access within IEs, informing designs for our built environment.
This research contributes to the knowledge gap of empirical case studies that could support claims that multisensorial experiences within built settings have the potential to enhance our health and wellbeing.
Biography:
Filomena gained a MPhil in Environmental Design in Architecture from the University of Cambridge: ‘Climatic Responsive Design in Modern Brazilian Architecture’, with funding by the EPSRC. She is a registered qualified architect in the UK and Brazil, and has practiced architecture in the UK, Brazil, France, and Portugal. Filomena is an educator, teaching Architecture and Environmental Design, and has lectured internationally about sustainable architecture. She is also a Science Advisor at the Good Light Group. Her PhD research is funded by the ESRC.
Publications:
- (SDG3) Article: Russo, F., Diaz-Infante, R.A., Liberska, M. (2023). ‘Influence of Internal Shading on Daylight Provision, its Impact on Melanopic Illuminance, and Spatial Brightness Perception’. in Spitschan and Biller (Eds) "Measuring Light and Illumination". pp 85 – 100. Daylight Academy. DOI: 10.14459/2023MD1709544 https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/1709544
- (SDG3) Conference Paper: Russo, F., Jutzi, C., Steemers, K. (2023). 'Restorative Potential of Intermediate Environments'. The Academy of Neurosciences for Architecture. ANFA 2023, 20th Anniversary Conference Proceedings. September 13th-17th 2023, La Jolla, California, USA.
- (SDG11, SDG13) Article: Georgiadou, M.C., Greenwood, D., Schiano-Phan, R, Russo, F. (2024) ‘Assessing retrofit policies for fuel-poor homes in London’, Buildings and Cities, 5(1), p. 133–149. DOI: 10.5334/bc.416. https://journal-buildingscities.org/articles/10.5334/bc.416
- (SDG11) Book Chapter: Guerra, A., Szabo, L. P., Russo, F. (2005). ‘Projeto Bioclimático’. in Arquitetura sustentável. pp. 142-157. Romano Guerra Editora. São Paulo.