Loukia Tsafoulia, RA (EU), MSAAD, Dipl.-Ing.

Loukia Tsafoulia is a registered EU architect-engineer, educator, and researcher. She is a tenured Associate Professor at the College of Architecture and the Built Environment, Thomas Jefferson University, where she has cofounded and codirects the Synesthetic Research and Design Lab, a platform in which inclusive design, multimedia art, and cognitive sciences meet.

She holds a Post-Professional MS in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University in New York and obtained her professional architecture-engineering degree from the School of Architecture at the National Polytechnic University of Athens, Greece, where she is currently a PhD candidate. Her research is honed in the principles of cognitive science, embodied cognition in the design fields, and human-machine interactions. 

Loukia co-organizes the International Neurodiversity and the Built Environment Symposia at TJU and has contributed numerous peer-reviewed book chapters and journal articles advancing research and advocacy on equity and belonging in the built environment. Her scholarly work includes the book publications Transient Spaces (2019) and KatOikia, Housing Explorations at the Intersection of Pedagogy and Practice (2024).

Her work, exhibited across museums, heritage sites, festivals, and public institutions, advances embodied perception and inclusive engagement through real-time environmental responsiveness.  Most recent exhibitions include venues such as the Public Tobacco Factory Modern Art Museum, Athens (2026), BASE Milan (2025), the Trajan's Market Museum of the Imperial Fora in Rome, Italy (2022), the 2021 European Cultural Center, Venice Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy, the Municipal Theater of Piraeus in Athens, Greece (2021-2022), the IE Creativity Center in Segovia (2023), the London 3D print show, and the ICFF in New York. 

She has been awarded competitive grants, residencies, and fellowships, most recent being the S+T+ARTS ReSilence EU residency, a writing fellowship for ROM for kunst og arkitektur, the Academic Advisory Council for Signage Research and Education Emerging Fellowship, and a research fellowship at the Jefferson Institute of Smart & Healthy Cities, amongst others.

Before joining Jefferson, Loukia developed, taught, and coordinated design studios, labs, and seminars at Pratt Institute, Parsons The New School, CUNY, the Spitzer School of Architecture, and NYC College of Technology. She has collaborated professionally with Studio Dror and LEESER Architecture in New York, K+T Architecture, and the NTU Urban Environment Lab in Athens.