MEET THE FOUNDER
Sorour Yekke, PhD
Founder & Building Scientist
Architectural thinking. Building-science rigour. A focus on people.
Our founder. Connecting design with evidence.
Our founder, Sorour Yekke, PhD, is a building scientist with a background in architectural engineering, human-centred façade research and design education. Her experience brings together research, professional practice and university teaching in Canada and Iran.
She earned her PhD in Civil Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2025. Her doctoral thesis, Evaluating Window View Quality of Building-Integrated Photovoltaic Using Immersive Virtual Reality, investigated BIPV window-view quality through immersive virtual environments. Her research interests connect daylight, glare, visual comfort, occupant perception and the trade-offs between energy performance and the experience of space.
Her professional experience includes founding and leading Bonheur Design Office in Larestan, Iran, from 2016 to 2022, and an Intern Architect role at Masri O Architecture in Waterloo in 2024. Her research experience at Waterloo includes work with Climate Resilient & Intelligent Buildings (CRIB) and the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA).
A recipient of Waterloo’s Entrepreneurial PhD Fellowship, she is pursuing the Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET). At LUMIArchLab, her work builds on evidence-based design methods that connect building science, façade performance and occupant experience with architectural decision-making.
Education & academic foundation.
PhD, Civil Engineering — University of Waterloo, 2025
M.Sc., Architectural Engineering — Art University of Isfahan, 2018
B.Sc., Architectural Engineering — Shiraz University, 2014
Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) — University of Waterloo, in progress
Teaching & knowledge exchange.
Sorour has held lecturer and sessional instructor roles at the University of Larestan, Islamic Azad University and Payam Noor University, and supported undergraduate and graduate teaching at the University of Waterloo.
Her Waterloo teaching-assistant experience includes Building Enclosure Systems, Environmental Building Systems Studio, Building Service Systems, Energy and the Environment, Economics and Life Cycle Cost Analysis, and HVAC Systems, Equipment, and Energy Efficiency. Her design-teaching practice includes a thinking-through-drawing method that links early conceptual work in plan, section and elevation with building-systems thinking.
Recognition & professional contributions.
Her honours include the Entrepreneurial PhD Fellowship from Waterloo’s Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business in 2024 and the Provost’s Doctoral Entrance Award for Women in 2020.
Her professional publications include a 2020 article on the Dr. Iraj Abdollahpour Research Center (Under Construction) in Art & Architecture Quarterly, Issue 54. Her research contributions also include a co-authored poster on solar photovoltaic installations near airports and glare assessment, presented at the Sustainable Aeronautics Summit in 2023.
View Waterloo’s fellowship announcement ↗
A human-centred foundation for LUMIArchLab.
Her research and practice connect high-performance building enclosures with occupant perception, visual comfort and the perceived quality of space. This background informs LUMIArchLab’s approach to bringing building-science evidence into architectural decisions.
Academic research and earlier professional work are identified in their original contexts, not presented as LUMIArchLab client projects or institutional endorsements.
