Valentina Mencarelli

Valentina Mencarelli is an Italian architect and designer, born in Rome and currently based in Milan. She studied Architecture in Italy and developed her professional path across diverse cultural contexts, working in international studios and gaining experience in Spain and Australia. In these environments, she explored how design adapts to different places, cultures, and ways of living. These experiences have shaped her sensitivity to the translation of cultural values into space, with a focus on respect, context, and perception.

Her work focuses on the intersection between architecture and neuroscience, investigating how sensory qualities, spatial configurations, and environmental conditions influence perception, behavior, and emotional states. Her aim is to contribute to a more conscious design approach, grounded in technical, cultural, and scientific evidence.

Her perspective is also informed by her personal experience as a neurodivergent individual, which has strengthened her attention to sensory dynamics and perceptual variability, particularly within the autism spectrum. This leads her to question standardized design approaches and to explore more adaptive and responsive environments, capable of accommodating diverse cognitive profiles.

She is particularly interested in the relationship between space and well-being, and in the ethical responsibility of architecture in shaping everyday life. Her work seeks to integrate research and design into a coherent practice, where analytical thinking and perceptual sensitivity coexist.

She sees architecture as a discipline in continuous evolution through dialogue across cultures and perspectives. She joins Moving Boundaries Japan 2026 with the intention of engaging in this exchange, expanding her research, and contributing to a shared reflection on space, perception, and human experience.