Arsano is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and a building scientist at Northeastern University. Arsano’s research explores strategies to maximize low-carbon, equitable bioclimatic building strategies under current and future climatic conditions to maintain occupants’ comfort and health. She has been developing early-design stage analytical mythologies that can be combined with large-scale datasets on the building stock of the majority world where the highest population increase is anticipated. The goal is to identify design and technology solutions for vulnerable communities affected by global warming. Arsano developed a digital design tool, ClimaPlus, to promote building design that integrates bioclimatic strategies with technology to reduce carbon emissions in pursuit of a more sustainable and healthier environment. In an effort to make sustainable building design education accessible to a larger audience across the globe, the web-app has been used in a MOOC course on edX with over 50,000 learners from more than 170 counties.
Arsano earned a SMArchS and a Ph.D. in building technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she was a Presidential Fellow and recipient of the TODA Award. Her research work has been funded by the TATA Foundation and the MIT Energy Initiative. Before joining MIT, Arsano was an academic fellow at Transsolar Energietechnik, a climate engineering consultancy in Stuttgart, Germany, and interned at the architectural firm Allmann Sattler Wappner in Munich.
Research/Publications Highlights
Arsano, A., & Dumouline, T.* (2024). Methodology for an Analytical Abstraction and Calibration of Solar Heat Gain Using Dynamic SHGCs.
SimBuild 2024. Arsano, A. Y., & Reinhart, C., Elowe, R., Freeman, P. (2024). Lessons Learned from Teaching Thousands of Learners Worldwide. A chapter in Energy Education in a Transitioning World, Edited by Valentini Pappa and Antje Danielson, Cambridge University Press.
Reinhart, C., Arsano, A. Y. (2021). Thermal Comfort Study – Correlating Architectural Student Assessment with Predicted Mean Vote and Adaptive Thermal Comfort Evaluations.
Schweiker, M., Abdul-Zahra, A., André, M., Al-Atrash, F., Arsano, A. Y., & Reinhart, C. … Zomorodian, Z. S. (2019). The Scales Project, a cross-national dataset on the interpretation of thermal perception scales. Scientific Data. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0272-6
Arsano, A. Y., Nagpal, S., & Reinhart, C. (2018). A New Look into Energy-Optimized Neighborhoods with Energy-Efficient District Energy Systems. Prometheus 03 Buildings, Cities, and Performance, IIT Architecture, Chicago.
Departments
Architecture
Education
- MIT, Ph.D. in Building Technology, Feb 2022
- MIT, Master of Science in Architectural Studies, SMArchS in Building Technology, June 2017
- Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and Urban Development (EiABC), BSc in Architecture, Mar 2013
Awards
- MIT TODA Award for excellence in research in building technology, May 2022
- MIT Presidential Fellowship, Sept 2017 – Feb 2022
- Tata Fellowship, Fall 2018 and Spring 2019
- Changed Climate Ideas Competition Finalist, MIT Innovation Initiative, April 2018
- Mars City Design International Competition 1st Prize, 2017