Shiqiao Li

Education

Birkbeck College, University of London, PhD
AA School of Architecture, AA Grad Dip
Tsinghua University, Bachelor of Architecture

Biography

My research focuses on how history and theory of languages, cultures, places, and technologies shape constructed environments. Current research projects link long-arc intellectual and technological developments and global contexts with specificities of buildings and garden-landscapes; they reframe several foundational and prevalent architectural, historiographic, and theoretical conceptions to explore alternative understandings, practices, and experiences in architecture. Publications of my research include books Understanding the Chinese City (2014), Against Ontology (with Scott Lash, 2023), Typological Drift, Emerging Cities in China (with Esther Lorenz, 2023), Power and Virtue, Architecture and Intellectual Change in England 1660-1730 (2006), Kowloon Cultural District (with Esther Lorenz, 2014), as well as 29 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 80 invited guest lectures keynote lectures around the world.
 
My teaching includes core courses such as Buildings, Cities, Narratives, World Contemporary Architecture, research studios such as Biophobia, Addictive Things, and Ghost in the Algorithm, and co-taught research studios with renowned practicing architects. Under studio instruction, my students won several first prizes in international student design competitions, the AIA Unbuilt Award, and were nominated and shortlisted for RIBA President’s Medal. I direct, with Esther Lorenz, the School of Architecture’s China Program; my service roles include, among others, Director of PhD in the Constructed Environment Program in 2018-2026, and member of the Visting Committee of Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2020-2026.