Research direction: Modern architectural theory; Architectural design research
Dr. Shi Yonggao is a Professor of Architecture at the School of Architecture, Southeast University. He is also the Assistant Foreign Dean of the Architecture Internationalization Demonstration School, SEU. He received his bachelor degree in 1993 and PhD Arch in 2007, both from Southeast University, where he has taught since 2005.
At SEU he teaches design studios and leacture courses in architectural theory in both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. He was a Visiting Scholar to the University of Pennsylvania (2009.11-2011.01), and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Chinese Hongkong University (2012.8-2013.1), recognized as “SEU Architecture Scholar” in 2015.
His research focuses on basic issues of architectural discipline, especially the problem of tectonics in architectural design and theory, and the relevant fields extended into the modern architecture theory (1750 onwards) and the modern/contemporary practice of architecture in China (1980-). He has completed as director two research projects on tectonics sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He teaches studio design and theory courses at both graduate and post-graduate levels. His design teaching is characterized with fundamental problems with theoretical interrogation, while his theoretical teaching tries to bridge design, history and with recognition of the importance and challenges of technology. Students’ works under his instruction have won prizes at both national and international levels.
He published two books on tectonics, The Presence of Material: Research on Material’s Constructional and Spatial Properties in the 19th and 20th Century Western Architecture (2008, 2018) and Architectural Theory and Design: Tectonics (2021), co-authored Fundamentals of Architectural Design (2015). He translated Surface Architecture (2017) and co-translated Shrinking Cities (2012). He has published over 60 papers on Chinese and foreign scholarly journals. He is editorial board member or reader of distinguished architectural journals such as Architectural Journal, Architect, New Architecture, and has guest-edited special issues on topics of tectonics, light-weight architecture, and most recently, on architectural legibility.
