Wed
14
May
Seminars and Conferences
Lecture 8: Philip F. Yuan | A Primitive Future of Architectural Intelligence
The A+ Lectures 2025 – Critical Unboxing. Projects and Processes offer a multidisciplinary perspective on architecture, exploring its processes, ideas, and narratives through the contributions of international experts.
This initiative, coordinated by Professor Cristina Coscia, is promoted by the College of Architecture and Design and the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD). Originally conceived within the Master’s Degree Program in Architecture Construction City (ACC), it has now expanded to include all Master’s Degree Programs within the Department. It is open to all Master’s students as well as final-year students of the Bachelor’s Degree Programs at the College of Architecture and Design.
Five years after their debut in 2020, the ACC Master Lectures have evolved into A+ Lectures, a transformation that reflects the program’s growth and its ambition to broaden its scope. The 2025 edition of A+ Lectures revolves around the concept of Critical Unboxing, reinterpreting the idea of "unpacking" not just as an act applied to objects but to architecture itself. In design and architecture, a box can be a container, a text, or a built form. However, a critical unboxing is not merely about revealing a final product; it is an act of unveiling that brings to light the processes, logics, and meanings that often remain hidden. This edition proposes a fresh approach to architectural narration, transforming each lecture into an opportunity to investigate and decipher what usually remains invisible.
The eighth event of the A+lectures 2025 series will take place on May 14, from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, in the prestigious setting of the Castello del Valentino. The guest speaker will be Philip F. Yuan, introduced by DAD Director Michele Bonino and Professor Edoardo Bruno, with a lecture titled A Primitive Future of Architectural Intelligence.
Philip F. Yuan is a professor and associate dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, Honorary Fellow of American Institute of Architecture (Hon. FAIA). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Intelligence journal. Yuan has served as Thomas Jefferson professor at University of Virginia (2019), the visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2019), and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (2021). He has also served as council member of UIA Professional Practice Commission (PPC).
He's research mainly focuses on the field of performance-based architectural tectonics, the application of intelligent construction equipment as well as developments of intelligent construction technologies and he is able to realize many of his research theories in architectural practices.
He was attributed with UIA 2023 The Auguste Perret Prize for Technology in Architecture. His work has been recognized with notable awards, including 2022 AIA Open International | Architecture Honor Award, 2022 Dezeen Award Best Civic Building, 2020 ACADIA Innovative Academic Program Award of Excellence etc. Yuan has participated in Venice biennale, Chicago biennale, Milan triennial, Tallin biennale, etc. His works have been collected by MOMA New York, M+ Hong Kong and Centre National d'art et de Culture Georges Pompidou.
Lecture recordings will be available on the APlus YouTube channel.
For more information and updates on A+ Lectures, visit the official page.
This initiative, coordinated by Professor Cristina Coscia, is promoted by the College of Architecture and Design and the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD). Originally conceived within the Master’s Degree Program in Architecture Construction City (ACC), it has now expanded to include all Master’s Degree Programs within the Department. It is open to all Master’s students as well as final-year students of the Bachelor’s Degree Programs at the College of Architecture and Design.
Five years after their debut in 2020, the ACC Master Lectures have evolved into A+ Lectures, a transformation that reflects the program’s growth and its ambition to broaden its scope. The 2025 edition of A+ Lectures revolves around the concept of Critical Unboxing, reinterpreting the idea of "unpacking" not just as an act applied to objects but to architecture itself. In design and architecture, a box can be a container, a text, or a built form. However, a critical unboxing is not merely about revealing a final product; it is an act of unveiling that brings to light the processes, logics, and meanings that often remain hidden. This edition proposes a fresh approach to architectural narration, transforming each lecture into an opportunity to investigate and decipher what usually remains invisible.
The eighth event of the A+lectures 2025 series will take place on May 14, from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, in the prestigious setting of the Castello del Valentino. The guest speaker will be Philip F. Yuan, introduced by DAD Director Michele Bonino and Professor Edoardo Bruno, with a lecture titled A Primitive Future of Architectural Intelligence.
Philip F. Yuan is a professor and associate dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, Honorary Fellow of American Institute of Architecture (Hon. FAIA). He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Architectural Intelligence journal. Yuan has served as Thomas Jefferson professor at University of Virginia (2019), the visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2019), and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (2021). He has also served as council member of UIA Professional Practice Commission (PPC).
He's research mainly focuses on the field of performance-based architectural tectonics, the application of intelligent construction equipment as well as developments of intelligent construction technologies and he is able to realize many of his research theories in architectural practices.
He was attributed with UIA 2023 The Auguste Perret Prize for Technology in Architecture. His work has been recognized with notable awards, including 2022 AIA Open International | Architecture Honor Award, 2022 Dezeen Award Best Civic Building, 2020 ACADIA Innovative Academic Program Award of Excellence etc. Yuan has participated in Venice biennale, Chicago biennale, Milan triennial, Tallin biennale, etc. His works have been collected by MOMA New York, M+ Hong Kong and Centre National d'art et de Culture Georges Pompidou.
Lecture recordings will be available on the APlus YouTube channel.
For more information and updates on A+ Lectures, visit the official page.