Dr Sonja Berthold SIA
PhD NUS MSc ETH MArch AAGerman/Thai
Education
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
AA School of Architecture, London, United Kingdom
NUS National University of Singapore, Singapore
Sonja Berthold is a principal and founder of SPACECOUNCIL – a studio for architecture, interiors, and urbanism.
She received master’s degrees in architecture and urban design from ETH Zurich and the Architectural Association in London and a PhD from Singapore-ETH’s Future Cities Laboratory and the National University of Singapore.
Sonja explores how digitally augmented services change urban life and the fabric of a city. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate students from a diversity of backgrounds in design studios, workshops, and seminars in Zurich, London, Bangkok, and Singapore. She is a frequent speaker in public debates and lectures at universities, cultural institutions, conferences, and symposiums around the world.
Sonja has worked as a design architect in international architectural design practices, such as William Lim Associates, Singapore (1998), T. R. Hamzah and Yeang, Kuala Lumpur (1999), and Baumschlager Eberle Architects, Bregenz (2001–2003). With close to 20 years of design and research experience for leading organisations, her expertise spans architectural design, sustainable urban design, design research, education and comprehensive planning.
In 2021, Sonja curated the exhibition ‘Mutualities’ at the La Biennale di Venezia, the 17th International Architecture Exhibition 2021, which makes explicit the interaction between people, cities, nature, and digital technologies in space and time. Her work was also exhibited in Seoul at the Architectural Biennale in 2017, in Bangkok at the Association of the Siamese Architects’ Convention in 2016, in Rotterdam at the IABR in 2016, in Zurich at the ETH in 2015, in Singapore at the World City Summit in 2016, at the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Gallery in 2015, at Archifest in 2014, and at the Future Cities Laboratory in 2014.
Commissions
2022 - today
Member of the Urban Design Advisory Board
City of Bregenz, Austria