Dr Zhijian Sun
Faculty of Engineering,
School of Architecture & Built Environment
Biography
Dr. Zhijian Sun is a Lecturer in Architecture in the School of Architecture & Built Environment. At the intersection of architectural history, environmental management, Afro-Asian studies, human geography, and Science, Technology and Society (STS), his teaching and research pay particular attention to the techno-political genealogy of transnational tropical architectures in socialist southern China and decolonizing East Africa, that were not merely concurrent, but also co-constitutive in relation to tropicality, climatic techno-science, environment-regulating techniques and thermal comfort understanding transcending the Cold-War rivalry under the South-South cooperation. He recently completed his PhD in Architectural History, Theory and Criticism at National University of Singapore (NUS), where he won the Best Paper Prize by Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography (SJTG). In 2024, he was a visiting scholar in modern design history at the University of Oxford. Prior to his doctoral studies, he graduated with a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design (MS.AAD) from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) from Southeast University.Zhijian’s research has been published in The Journal of Architecture, History and Technology, Political Geography, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, and Town Planning Review, and also been supported to present at international conferences of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH), Association for Asian Studies (AAS), Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), MIT HTC, Harvard CAMLab, Stanford University, University of Oxford, and University of Cambridge. Against global backdrop of climate change and energy crisis, his current work investigates knowledge production mechanisms and socio-environmental consequences of thermal regimes based on transregional flows of climatic physiological expertise, cooling technology, architectural resources and labor across the postwar tropical world, ranging from subtropical Queensland to hot-humid sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and the hot-dry Middle East. He welcomes PhD enquiries on relevant topics of modern architectural history and theory, (sub-)tropical architecture and urban studies (especially focusing on subtropical Queensland), infrastructural techno-politics, climatic design history, Aboriginal-Chinese architecture in Australia, and (post-)colonial modernity.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Personal details
Positions
- Lecturer in Architecture
Faculty of Engineering,
School of Architecture & Built Environment
Keywords
Global Tropical Architecture, Thermal Comfort and Vulnerability, Climatic Design History, History of Science and Technology, Afro-Asian Tropicality, Urban Heat Adaptation
Research field
Architecture, Historical studies, Art history, theory and criticism
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (National University of Singapore)
- Master of Science (Columbia University)
Professional memberships and associations
Society of Architectural Historians (SAH)
Association for Asian Studies (AAS)
UTA-Do African Cities Group, African Centre for Cities (ACC)
Teaching
Commencing teaching in July 2026
Past teaching for architectural history courses including
August-December 2024, Teaching Assistant for AR2228 History and Theory of Architecture 02 (two groups of 29 students), NUS DoA
August-December 2023, Teaching Assistant for AR2228 History and Theory of Architecture 02 (two groups of 27 students), NUS DoA
January-May 2023, Teaching Assistant for AR2227 History and Theory of Architecture 01 (two groups of 29 students), NUS DoA
May-November 2022, Teaching Assistant for AR2228 History and Theory of Architecture 02 (two groups of 28 students), NUS DoA
Experience
Peer-reviewing articles (continuing) for reputable architecture and history journals including
January-March 2026, Peer Reviewer for The Journal of Architecture (A&HCI Q1)
February-April 2026, Peer Reviewer for Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering (SSCI Q1)
April-May 2026, Peer Reviewer for Architecture (SCI Q1)
March-May 2026, Peer Reviewer for Nuova Rivista Storica (A&HCI Q3)
April-May 2025, Peer Reviewer for The Journal of Architecture (A&HCI Q1)
July-November 2024, Peer Reviewer for The Journal of Architecture (A&HCI Q1)
Chairing sessions at international conferences including
Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) 2027 Annual Conference
Association for Asian Studies (AAS) 2026 Annual Conference
Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) 2024 Virtual Conference
Work for architectural magazines and exhibitions including
August 2021-Present, Columnist for the “International Scholars” Column of Zhuangshi [Chinese Journal of Design]
July 2020-March 2021, Editorial Intern for Domus China
February-March 2021, Curating Intern for Shenzhen-Hong Kong Urban/Architecture Biennale Qianhai Sub-Exhibition ArchiGram 60 Seminar
August-October 2020, Curating Intern for Beijing International Urban and Architecture Biennale Pilot Exhibition
Best paper prizes including
2026, Lingnan Culture Studies Research Paper Award, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2025, Lingnan Culture Studies Research Paper Award, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
2024, Best Paper Prize, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography Editorial Board
2024, Excellent Paper Prize in History of Science, Chinese Society of History of Science
2024, Second Best Paper Prize in Modern Chinese History, Sichuan University
2020, China TsingRun Architecture Paper Award Third Place, China Architectural Education Editorial Board
2017, Canada Wood Timber Structural Design Competition First Prize, Canada Wood
Current Projects
Book project China’s Two Tropical Architectures, which is a transnational techno-political narrative of socialist China’s overseas infrastructural aid in decolonizing East Africa in relations to its domestic architectural root in subtropical Canton under the Great Leap Forward.
Book project Thermal Regimes of Tropical Architecture, which looks into how thermal regimes based on globally-circulated climatic techno-scientific expertise transcending Cold-War rivalry led to different consequences in the postwar tropical world, ranging from subtropical Queensland, to tropical Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
Collaborative Project with NYU Shanghai
Project Title: A Scalable AI Mapping Platform for Climate-Maladapted Built Structures (September 2026 to August 2029)
Publications
Research outputs by year
- Sun, Z., (2026). Discomfort, Decolonization, Decarbonization. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265292
- Sun, Z., (2025). China's two tropical architectures: Climate, thermal regimes and global socialism in Guangzhou and Dar es Salaam, 1955-1976. Journal of Architecture, 30(1), 209–259. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265113
- Sun, Z., (2025). Thermal technocracy: Climate, subtropical modern architecture, and the Great Leap Forward in Maoist Guangzhou, 1953-62. History and Technology, 41(2), 93–128. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265114
- Sun, Z. & Wei, W. (2025). Experts and Amateurs: Khoo Sui Hoe, Children of the Sun. In A. Brenchat-Aguilar (Ed.), As Hardly Found: Art and Tropical Architecture (pp. 122–126). Architectural Association Publications Ltd. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265116
- Sun, Z., (2025). Socialism goes global: Differentiated urbanization and socialist actors in the postcolonial South. Political Geography, 117. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265129
- Hu, W. & Sun, Z. (2025). Shared streets as lived space: Informal urbanism and cultural continuity in the urban historic core of Chongqing, China. Town Planning Review. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265112
- Sun, Z., (2024). China's subtropical architecture: Environment, nationalist reconstruction and an anti-Beaux-Arts architecture in modern Canton, 1840-1948. Journal of Architecture, 29(5-6), 719–751. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265117
- Sun, Z., (2023). Framing China's tropics: Thermal techno-politics of socialist tropical architecture in Africa (1960s-1980s). Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 44(3), 519–538. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265108
- Sun, Z. & Allen, S. (2024). : · (Landscape as the Dynamic Model to Connect the Urbanism and Architecture: Interview with Stan Allen). The Architect, 2024(1), 108–115. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265152
- Sun, Z. & Frampton, K. (2023). ·: “”-- (Interview with Kenneth Frampton: Rebuilding the Space of Public Appearance - An Architecture of Resistance). The Architect, 2023(2), 92–101. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/265133
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Zhijian, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
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A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/zhijian.sun
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