Claudia Bernasconi

Claudia ÌýBernasconi

Director, Graduate Architecture Program
Professor

Claudia Bernasconi
Contact Info:
Campus: McNichols Campus
Building: Loranger Architecture
Phone: 313-578-0551
Claudia Bernasconi
Areas of Expertise:
Design Pedagogy
Engaged Learning
Critical Service-Learning
Environmental Aesthetics
Urban Landscape Perception
Transit and Pedestrian Transportation Studies

Degrees

  • Post-professional Master in Design, La Sapienza University in Rome, Italy
  • M.Arch, Università degli Studi di Roma Tre
  • B.S.A., Università degli Studi di Roma Tre

Biography

Claudia Bernasconi is a professor of Architecture and Community Development at University of Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ, and a registered architect in the Ordine deli Architetti of Rome, Italy. At the School of Architecture & Community Development (SACD), Professor Bernasconi serves as director of the Graduate Architecture program, coordinates the graduate thesis studios and teaches the Thesis Research Methods and the Thesis Preparation courses. She is also the faculty advisor for the , a nationally award-winning student-led journal of SACD, advancing the mission of the school and the discourse on design, architecture, urbanism and community development. Bernasconi is the recipient of the 2024 UDM Faculty Excellence Award, awarded to the most outstanding faculty member that year based on lifetime achievements and activities during the past five years in teaching, research and service.

Previously, Professor Bernasconi taught multiple graduate electives, with focus on analysis and representation, graphic design, advanced digital fabrication, video-installation and interactive design. Through the years, her main focus in teaching has been critical and engaged learning. Between 2011 and 2019, she designed and led graduate courses focused on engaged learning/critical service-learning that brought graduate Architecture and Community Development students to facilitate design activities in elementary, middle school and high schools in Detroit. When she is not teaching the engaged-learning course, Professor Bernasconi strives to include outreach and real-world projects and opportunities in her courses, including the graphic design course, through which students collaborated in 2020 with Live6 Alliance and local businesses for the development of design concepts and logos. In the past, she has collaborated with the Performing Arts department and the Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ Theatre Company to assist with the scenic and video design for the "Autobahn" and "Check Please" productions, bringing students from her studio and electives to work side-by-side with directors, actors, costume designers and stage managers. Prioritizing interdisciplinary collaboration is at the center of Professor Bernasconi’s teaching and research, through collaborations with faculty from the Master of Community Development program, the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, the Psychology program, the Mechanical, Civil and Environmental Engineering programs and the Mathematics program at Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ.

Bernasconi’s research interests have developed around two areas of focus over the years: pedagogy and engaged learning in the field of design, and environmental perception and transportation. She worked on Department of Transportation (DOT) and Michigan DOT sponsored research grants, and numerous internal grants, and presented and published in both areas of research. Her studies include mix-methods research on transformative and engaged learning, as well as perception studies on automated people movers, walkability, landscape evaluation through eye-tracking technology, and transit public opinion studies exploring correlations between opinions, behaviors, and support for transit. She was the Editor-in-Chief of the EDRA52 Conference proceedings, and also serves as external reviewer for various journals, and numerous research conferences.

In addition to her work at Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ, Bernasconi has served in board of directors of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA), and also served as chair for the EDRA/PPS Great Places Award committee, coordinating an international design competition on placemaking through practice, research and art, and chair of the 52nd EDRA international conference.

Through her work as an academic at Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ and her service, as well as in her teaching and research, Bernasconi strives to educate towards, promote and enact ideas of equality, social justice and sustainability. Bernasconi joined Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ in 2009. She appreciates the mission-driven, value-based approach at the University, as well as the small class teaching and small group discussions with students at the School of Architecture & Community Development. In her "free time" she is a mother of four wonderful children, and wife to a dedicated husband.

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    Recent Publications

    Recent Publications on Pedagogy and Engagement

    *Indicates student co-author

    Bernasconi, C., & Blume, L. B. (2023). . Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research.

    Bernasconi, C., & Blume, L. B. (2023). . Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 29:2.

    Bernasconi, C., & Blume, L. B. (2023). . Proceedings of the joint Biannual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Teachers Conference and the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE).

    Bernasconi, C. (2023) . Proceedings of the 111th Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

    Bernasconi, C., & Blume, L. B. (2023). . Dichotomy: 26 Soft, University of Ó£ÌÒÊÓƵ School of Architecture and Community Development student journal, ed. Mona Makki.

    Bernasconi, C., Blume, L., Cai, H., de la Pena, D., Demir, O., Heidgerken, T., Kader, S., McGowan, H., Miller, C., Ruggeri, D., & Sperone, F. (Eds.) (2021). Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association. EDRA52 Detroit. Just environments: Transdisciplinary border crossings. (pp.774).

    Bernasconi, C. (2020). . In Vogel, S., & Blume, L. B. (Eds.) Book chapter in Teaching and Designing in Detroit: Ten Women on Pedagogy and Practice. New York: Routledge.

    Bernasconi, C. (2020). . Proceedings of the 108th Annual Meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).

    Bernasconi, C., Blume, L., Fricke, N*., & Pisano, R.* (2019). . In Beth, A., Wener, R., Yoon, B., Rae, R. A., & Morris, J. (Eds.) Proceedings from EDRA 50: Sustainable urban environments. Brooklyn, NY: Environmental Design Research Association.

    Recent Publications on Transportation

    *Indicates student co-author

    Bernasconi, C. (2024). . Invited Expert Spot Light contribution in Kopek, D. (2024), Environmental Psychology for Design, 4th ed. Fairchild Books, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

    Bernasconi, C. (2024). . Invited Expert Spot Light contribution in Kopek, D. (2024), Environmental Psychology for Design, 4th ed. Fairchild Books, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

    Zhong, X., Bernasconi, C., & Maalouf, N.* (2022). . Journal of Public Transport, 24.

     

    Reports to Granting Agencies (open access)

    *Indicates student co-author

    Bernasconi, C., Zhong, X., Hanifin, L., Slowik, L., & Owens, M. (2015). . Mineta National Transit Research Consortium. CA-MNTRC-14-1236 Report 12-38, April 2015. (pp.79).

    Hanifin, L., Anderson, S., Bernasconi, C., Dutta, U., Hoback, A., & Semple, L. (2014). . Mineta National Transit Research Consortium. CA-MNTRC-14-1236 RC-1599 Report 12-22, March 2014.

    Bernasconi, C., Di Palo, M.*, & Bussiere, K.* (2014). . Mineta National Transit Research Consortium. CA-MNTRC-14-1136 RC-1599, Report 12-22, March 2014. (pp.106).

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