{"id":39019,"date":"2025-05-20T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muse.international\/?p=39019"},"modified":"2025-05-22T04:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T04:24:12","slug":"perle-studio-presents-curbless-data-driven-curb-optimization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/perle-studio-presents-curbless-data-driven-curb-optimization\/","title":{"rendered":"Perle Studio Presents CURBLESS Data-Driven Curb Optimization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Xenia Xie, lead designer and co-founder of Perle Studio, holds a Master\u2019s in Landscape Architecture from Harvard and has over seven years of experience in UX and product design at Amazon and Indeed. Maitao Guo, co-founder and creative technologist, holds degrees in urban design from Harvard and computer science from UIUC, with experience as a software engineer at Meta. Together, they bring a blend of design and technology expertise to Perle Studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q1. Congratulations on winning the MUSE Design Awards! Can you introduce yourself and share about what inspired you to pursue design as a career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xenia (Siwen)<\/strong>: Thank you! I\u2019m Xenia Xie, the lead designer and co-founder of Perle Studio. I hold a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard GSD and have over seven years of experience in UX and product design. I\u2019ve worked at some of the world\u2019s leading tech companies\u2014including Amazon, Lululemon, and Indeed\u2014where I focused on designing enterprise platforms, AI-powered tools, and user-centered systems at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired me to pursue design is its power to connect people with technology in meaningful ways. I\u2019ve always believed that thoughtful design can simplify complexity, solve real-world problems, and enhance everyday experiences, especially at the intersection of sustainability, urban systems, and digital innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maitao<\/strong>: I\u2019m Maitao Guo, co-founder and creative technologist at Perle Studio. I hold degrees from Harvard in urban design and from UIUC in computer science. My professional background includes working as a software engineer at Meta, where I focused on next-gen interaction systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What inspired me to pursue design was the desire to blend technical innovation with human-centered thinking\u2014using data, AI, and responsive technology to create smarter, more inclusive urban environments.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Q2. What does being recognized in the MUSE Design Awards mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xenia (Siwen)<\/strong>: Being recognized by the MUSE Design Awards is an incredible honor\u2014it validates the core mission of our work at Perle Studio: to create design solutions that are both innovative and impactful. CURBLESS was our response to a real urban challenge that affects millions, and this recognition shows that thoughtful, data-driven design can make a difference at the infrastructure level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As designers, we often work behind the scenes, so receiving this spotlight not only affirms our vision but also motivates us to keep pushing boundaries in urban design and mobility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maitao<\/strong>: This award means a lot to us\u2014it\u2019s a celebration of interdisciplinary thinking. CURBLESS was born at the intersection of urban planning, data science, and user experience design. Being honored at MUSE gives us the confidence to keep experimenting with bold ideas, and it reinforces the belief that design can shape smarter, more livable cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q3. How has this achievement impacted your career, team, or agency, and what opportunities has it brought so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xenia (Siwen)<\/strong>: Winning the MUSE Design Awards has brought incredible momentum to both our careers and Perle Studio as a whole. It\u2019s opened doors to new collaborations with city planners, tech companies, and mobility startups who are eager to reimagine the future of urban infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recognition has also helped establish Perle Studio as a credible voice in the intersection of design, technology, and civic innovation. Personally, it has strengthened my confidence in using design as a tool for large-scale systemic change, and has sparked meaningful conversations around accessibility and equity in public spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maitao<\/strong>: The award helped validate our belief in cross-disciplinary design. It\u2019s attracted interest from organizations working on smart cities, transportation systems, and sustainable mobility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve had opportunities to present our work to broader audiences, from local government officials to venture groups focused on urban tech. Most importantly, it\u2019s shown that small studios like ours can lead big conversations and offer real, scalable solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q4. What role does experimentation play in your creative process? Can you share an example?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xenia (Siwen)<\/strong>: Winning the MUSE Design Awards has brought incredible momentum to both our careers and Perle Studio as a whole. It\u2019s opened doors to new collaborations with city planners, tech companies, and mobility startups who are eager to reimagine the future of urban infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recognition has also helped establish Perle Studio as a credible voice in the intersection of design, technology, and civic innovation. Personally, it has strengthened my confidence in using design as a tool for large-scale systemic change, and has sparked meaningful conversations around accessibility and equity in public spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maitao<\/strong>: The award helped validate our belief in cross-disciplinary design. It\u2019s attracted interest from organizations working on smart cities, transportation systems, and sustainable mobility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve had opportunities to present our work to broader audiences, from local government officials to venture groups focused on urban tech. Most importantly, it\u2019s shown that small studios like ours can lead big conversations and offer real, scalable solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q5. What’s the most unusual source of inspiration you’ve ever drawn for a project?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For CURBLESS, one of the most unusual yet insightful sources of inspiration came from simply observing how scooter riders naturally navigate cities. We noticed riders instinctively hugging the curb, weaving around obstacles, and often taking unexpected detours to avoid traffic and fragmented curbside conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These behaviors weren\u2019t part of any official regulation\u2014they were improvised solutions to poorly designed urban infrastructure. That real-world improvisation inspired us to think beyond static curb design and embrace a data-driven, behavior-aware system. It shifted our approach from \u201cdesigning rules\u201d to \u201cunderstanding patterns,\u201d allowing CURBLESS to adapt to how people actually move through cities, not just how they\u2019re supposed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curbless<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore another journey of Mengyu Zhao & Chengzhe Zhang<\/a>, the Gold Winners of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards. They combined expertise in landscape, urban, and architectural design to create The Primal Pause at Madison. Blending sustainable principles with a global architectural perspective, their collaboration reimagines a public restroom as a sculptural, adaptive space responsive to both environment and community.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xenia Xie, lead designer and co-founder of Perle Studio, holds a Master\u2019s in Landscape Architecture from Harvard and has over seven years of experience in UX [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":39148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[372,553],"tags":[360,12,382],"yoast_head":"\nPerle Studio Presents CURBLESS Data-Driven Curb Optimization<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Winner interview with Perle Studio from the United States, the Silver Winner of the 2025 MUSE Design Awards.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/muse.international\/index\/perle-studio-presents-curbless-data-driven-curb-optimization\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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