Yunni Cho

EPFL ENAC IA LIPID
LE 1 114 (Bâtiment LE)
Station 18
1015 Lausanne

Yunni Cho is an artist-researcher and architectural designer working across daylight, spatial perception, cognitive science, and healthcare design. She recently completed a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at EPFL, where her research examined how view-out, daylight, visual attention, and spatial perception shape architectural experience. She currently leads Weavise, a Swiss nonprofit initiative supported by the BRIDGE Proof of Concept under the vision “Weaving Minds, Transforming Care.” Weavise reimagines psychiatric facilities and reshapes how society sees mental health by bridging lived experience, evidence-based design, and user-centered approaches for both patients and staff. Her background combines a B.F.A. in Interior Architecture from RISD, dual B.A. degrees in Urban Studies and Cognitive Neuroscience from Brown University through the Brown|RISD Dual Degree Program, and professional experience as a lighting designer and consultant at Ulrike Brandi Licht in Germany. Across research, collaboration, drawing, film, and installation, she uses art and design to humanize care, destigmatize mental illness, and explore how architecture can better support perception, emotion, and well-being.

Education

Ph.D.

| Civil and Environmental Engineering

2025 – 2025 EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne)

B.A.

| Cognitive Neuroscience

2021 – 2021 Brown University

B.A.

| Urban Studies

2021 – 2021 Brown University

B.F.A.

| Interior Architecture

2021 – 2021 RISD (Rhode Island School of Design)

Awards

BRIDGE Proof of Concept

Innosuisse & Swiss National Science Foundation

2025

Artist-in-Residence Award for Victor Horta Museum

Reseau Art Nouveau Network

2024

PhD Mobility Award

EDCE

2024

Sasso Art Residency Award

Casa Sasso

2023

SciFilmIt Public Prize

SciFilmIt Geneva

2021

Research

Dynamic Therapeutic Environments

This ongoing project, funded by the BRIDGE Proof of Concept grant from Innosuisse and SNSF, brings together psychiatric hospitals, cultural organizations, and academic partners across Switzerland, Austria, and Belgium. The initiative aims to revolutionize psychiatric care by developing evidence-based, open-access guidelines that demonstrate how nature-integrated design elements, including dynamic plant installations, adaptive daylight systems, and interactive therapeutic landscapes, can measurably reduce patient stress levels and decrease readmission rates.

Dynamism in Views-Out

PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Laboratory of Integrated Performance in Design (LIPID), 2021-2025. Dissertation: "Dynamism in Views-Out: Capturing Movement, Daylight Variation, and Their Impact on Occupant Perception."

Teaching & PhD

MSc Master Internship Supervision

Project Title: Sky Dynamics Categorization
Discipline: Computer science
Role: Project Supervisor (with Dr. DH. Kim, Prof. M. Andersen)
Supervised a master's-level researcher developing a novel image processing methodology for analyzing sky dynamics in architectural views, comparing the results to CIE sky classifications and daylighting standards.

MsC Master Semester Project Supervision

Project Title: Analyzing and Quantifying Luminous Changes
Discipline: Computer science (12 credits)
Role: Project Supervisor (with Prof. M. Andersen, Prof. P. Fua)
Guided a master's student in designing computer vision algorithms to analyze and quantify temporal changes in brightness and luminosity for sky dynamics.

MSc Master Thesis Supervision

Thesis Title: Dynamic Window Views and Visual Attention
Discipline: Computer science (30 credits)
Role: Project Supervisor (with Prof. M. Andersen, Prof. J.P. Thiran)
Mentored a master's student in developing machine learning and deep-learning algorithms to analyze and predict visual attention to movement in window using real-time eye-tracking measurements (ETMs).

MA Master Semester Project Supervision

Project Title: Rebuilt: Reversible & Low-Tech construction
Discipline: Architecture (4 credits)
Role: Project Supervisor (with Prof. M. Andersen, Dr. S.A. Moreno)
Mentored three master's students in designing and simulating window systems to optimize daylight performance and ensure visual comfort for a new construction project in Lausanne.

CS-433 Machine Learning

8 credits, Computer science
Role: Project Supervisor (with Prof. N. Flammarion, Prof. M. Jaggi)
Supervised two teams of master's students in developing machine learning algorithms for view-out impression analysis and high dynamic range (HDR) signal recovery from low-dynamic range (LDR) images.

AR-464 Daylighting Design Seminar

MA, 3 credits, Architecture
Role: Co-Instructor (with Prof. M. Andersen, Dr. S. Wasilewski)
Co-designed and taught a seminar for master's students on integratingdaylighting concepts into studio projects and exploring daylight's perceptual qualities in architecture.

AR-442 Comfort and Architecture

MA, 3 credits, Architecture
Role: Teaching Assistant (lectures, labs for software, project critique)
Structured course content and semester projects and led lab sessions focused on geometrical modelling and evaluating daylight and thermal performance in built structures using advanced digital software.