INTRODUCTION

Nayeon Kim is currently an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Spatial Design and Consumer Studies at The Catholic University of Korea and the Principal Investigator (PI) of Life-Centered Spatial Design (LCSD) Lab.

She is an educator,  researcher, designer and  consultant. Her interests and teaching focus on interdisciplinary thinking, where creative design, management, and technology intersect. Before joining the Catholic University of Korea in 2022,  she was a research fellow at  the Research Center for Future Environmental Design at Symbiotic Life-Tech Institute at Yonsei University and a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design at Hongik University.  She also worked as a lecturer and has multidisciplinary teaching experience in the Dept. of Culture and Design Management, Dept. of Interior Architecture and Built Environment, and Graduate School of Communication and Arts at Yonsei University. She holds  Ph.D. degree in Interior Archiecture and Built Environment and M.S. in Design Management from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea  and B.F.A. from the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in the USA.

Prior to entering academia, she amassed over 10 years of professional experience in the design industry. In the United States, she worked as a designer at international architecture/interior design firms including Page Southerland Page, Inc.  in Washington D.C and Tonychi Studio in New York where she developed conceptual design and space planning for award-winning design projects. Additionally, she has experience as a designer for new exhibition planning at the Chicago History Museum.  In Korea, her extensive work as a project manager spans various facets of the industry, including real estate development, retail store planning, brand management, visual merchandising, and design consultancy. At Shinsegae International, she was responsible for retail store development,  spatial branding and store design. Collaborating with multinational brands such as LVMH and Shinsegae International, she has developed spatial branding for fashion and lifestyle brands, launching numerous flagship stores, boutiques, showrooms, and pop-up stores, which contributed to the growth of the retail business.

Her current research areas focus on (i) the development of a conceptual framework that integrates bio-inspired design, sustainability, and well-being, (ii) user experiences of environmental factors using psychophysiological signals (e.g., eye-tracking, EEG, fNIRS, GSR, ECG) combined with VR simulations, and (iii) design evaluation to understand emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to physical and virtual environments. She has led several funded research projects with international collaborators, and her current and recent research funding has been provided by the National Research Foundation of Korea.

With her multidisciplinary experience, she is interested in industry-academia partnerships for problem-solving, decision-making, and sustainable innovation. She looks forward to new opportunities for creative collaboration with individuals and organizations in diverse fields.

Research Interests

• Biophilic  Design, Sustainability, and Well-being

• Environmental Psychology and Neuroarchitecture

• Space Planning and  Environmental Analysis

• Creativity and Work Environment

• Design Process and Design Neurocognition

• Eye-Tracking and Visual Attention

• Neuromarketing and Consumer Behavior

• Visual Merchandising and Space Branding

• Virtual and Augmented Space ( AR/VR/ MR)

Research Grants  (Role: PI)

• Development of WELL-Based Environmental Design Elements and fNIRS-Based Evaluation Framework for Mental Health Promotion in Hospital Settings,  by Ministry of Science and ICT, National Research Foundation of Korea  (2025-2028)

• AI-Based Neuroarchitectural Study on the Effects of Biophilic Work Environments on Creativity Enhancement,  by Ministry of Education. National Research Foundation of Korea  (2025-2028)

• Characteristics of Brain Responses to Spatial Representations Across Different Digital Media,  by Research fund, 2025 of the Catholic University of Korea (2025-2026)

• User Experience Evaluation Using Eye-Tracking Technology,  by Research fund, 2024 of the Catholic University of Korea (2024-2025)

• VR and Neuroscientific Approaches to Analyzing  Human Behavior in Spatial Environments,   by 2024 International Collaboration Research Fund of the Catholic University of Korea (2024)

• Neuroarchitecture based Sustainable Biophilic Design Studies ,  by Research fund, 2023 of the Catholic University of Korea (2023-2024)

• Spatial Design Analysis of Hospital Architecture Using VR and EEG, by Research fund, 2022 of the Catholic University of Korea (2022-2023)

• Development of VR/AR Spatial Evaluation Methodology Using Biosignal Based Eye- TrackingTechnology,  by Basic Science Research Program. National Research Foundation of Korea ( 2020 -2023)

• Impact of Perceived Visual Merchandising on Brand Experience in Virtual Environments,  by Yonsei University Research Grant of 2020 in Humanities and Social Sciences (2020-2021)

• Biomimetic Inspired Healing Architectural Facade Design,  Global PhD Fellowship by Ministry of Education. National Research Foundation of Korea (2016 -2020)

Professional Service

• Program Committee, International Conferene of Design Computing and Cognition (DCC'24)

• Paper Selection Committee, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA)

• Session Chair, International Conference of CAADRIA

• Board Member,  Korea Institute of Interior Design (KIID)

• Editor Committee,  <Perspective in Space>  Annual Journal Publication from KIID

• Member, Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA)

• Member, Design Research Society (DRS)

• Hanok Remodeling Design Review Committee,  Hanok Heritage Preservation Division, Seoul Metropolitan Government 

• Grant Reviewer, National Research Foundation of Korea

• Peer Reviewer, International journals  including Journal of Environmental Psychology, Building and Environment, Design Studies, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Service, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, Frontiers in Virtual Reality, PLOS Digital Health, etc 

• Peer Reviewer, International Conferences including CAADRIA, Design Research Society (DRS), International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR), Design Computing and Cognition (DCC), etc

• External Committee Member of PhD Dissertation: Dept.of Interior Architecture and Built Environment, Yonsei Universitiy, Graduate School of Communication and Arts, Yonsei University, Dept. of Housing and Interior Design, Kyunghee University

Publications

• [Researchgate] Full-text available https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nayeon-Kim-29

• [Google Scholar] https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=I-dYVOwAAAAJ