Mandana Bafghinia is a Paris-based architect, designer, and artist. Her academic and professional trajectory has been shaped by a cross-continental engagement with architecture, urbanism, and visual culture—spanning Europe, North America, and Asia. Anchored in a critical and interdisciplinary approach, her work navigates urban visual processes, scenography, design thinking, and architectural theory, with a focus on the cultural and environmental dimensions of the built environment.
She obtained her Ph.D. degree in architecture and geography in a joint program between the University of Montreal and the University of Lyon 2 in 2023. Through interdisciplinary research, she investigated the visual and spatial dynamics of urban form, including the complex relationships between skyscrapers and their broader metropolitan contexts—with particular attention to the cultural and symbolic significance of their summits.
Bafghinia has taught in several universities and schools of architecture in France, Canada, and Italy (ENSA Paris-La Villette, University of Montreal and IUAV Venice). In 2019, upon receipt of a research award from the “Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat” she led a research team on the timely subject of skyscrapers as a complex response to rising waters.
In addition to teaching and academic research, her curatorial work includes contributions to major international exhibitions such as Building a New New World: Amerikanism in Russian Architecture (2019–2020, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal), where she was involved in research, model design, and production, and Paris Moderne 1914–1945: Architecture, Design, Film, Fashion(2019, Power Station of Art, Shanghai), where she served as assistant to Jean-Louis Cohen.
In parallel with her academic and curatorial work, Bafghinia has been a guest critic and lecturer at institutions including New York University and the University of Hong Kong.