Daylight Deprived: How Modern Buildings Are Harming Human Health – Ep 91 with Marilyne Andersen
In this illuminating episode of Better Buildings for Humans, host Joe Menchefski welcomes physicist and daylighting pioneer Marilyne Andersen for a conversation that sheds new light—literally—on how architecture affects our health, productivity, and sense of well-being. From the science of chronobiology to eye morphology and colored glazing, Marilyne explains how light exposure shapes everything from our mood to our sleep cycles. She shares insights from her groundbreaking research at EPFL and her work with the Daylight Academy, revealing why daylight may be more than a design feature—it might be a human right. Plus, discover how her new role at GESDA is helping bridge the gap between scientific discovery and societal impact. A must-listen for anyone designing spaces for real human needs.
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More About Marilyne Andersen
Marilyne Andersen is a Full Professor at EPFL and head of the LIPID lab since 2010, after 6 years at MIT as tenure-track professor. Since April 2025, she is also the Director General of the GESDA foundation (Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator), whose mission is to anticipate emerging scientific discoveries and translate them into concrete actions for the benefit of society by engaging proactively with policymakers and diplomats.
Physicist by training, she specializes in the psycho-physiological effects of (day)light with broader research interests on sustainability in the built environment. She has been Dean of ENAC at EPFL (2013-2018), Academic Director of the Smart Living Lab until 2024 and member of the Board of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction (2015-2024). She was also Visiting Professor at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab in California and at SUTD in Singapore.
Author of over 250 refereed papers with several distinctions, she was the global Daylight Research Award's inaugural laureate in 2016 and led the winning Swiss team for the Solar Decathlon 2017 competition. At EPFL, she is currently Head of the SKIL for project-based learning and PI of the Swiss-wide SWICE consortium on the energy transition. She is also co-founder of the consulting startup OCULIGHT dynamics.
In parallel, she has been actively engaged in bridging the gap between art and science, notably since 2021 as co-curator of the exhibition entitled Lighten Up! On Biology and Time and as author of the Circa Diem immersive installation and policy-oriented fiction Droit au Jour ; these works have been on display in diverse venues such as the Seoul Biennale, the EPFL Pavilions, the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur, the Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (mudac) in Lausanne, and will be showcased at the MIT Museum in 2025-2026.
CONTACT:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilyne-andersen-b617aa1/
https://people.epfl.ch/marilyne.andersen
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