Xing Ruan
Professor Xing Ruan 阮昕 is a Chinese-Australian academic, architect and author. He is currently Dean and Guangqi Chair Professor of Architecture at School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His work focuses on Asia's architecture and urbanization against the background of Western discourse, and on architecture as a representation of humanity.
Early life and education
Born in Kunming, China, Ruan received a Bachelor of Architecture and Master of Architecture at Southeast University, Nanjing, and received a PhD at Victoria University of Wellington.Academic career
Ruan started his academic teaching career in 1995, at Curtin University, Western Australia. He held positions as a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and associate professor of Architecture until 2001. In 2002, Ruan joined the University of Technology Sydney as Head of the School of Architecture. In 2004 he became Professor of Architecture at the University of New South Wales. Ruan held a number of roles while at UNSW, including Chair of Architecture Discipline and Director of Master of Architecture, Director of Architecture, and Associate Dean at the Faculty of the Built Environment.He has been Dean and Guangqi Chair Professor of Architecture at School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University since July 2018.
Design and Curatorial Practice
Xing Ruan runs a research-orientated design practice, encompassing architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and exhibition design. His latest built works include Shanghai Jiao Tong School of Design Building and the Beikun Garden. The latter was recognized with the World Landscape Architecture's Outstanding, and the former included in the Prix Versailles' list of most beautiful campuses, both in 2025.He was the Curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia – China Pavilion; and Architectural Curator of the 2019 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season Biennale.
Publishing career
Ruan has written and published seven books.He is co-editor, with Ronald Knapp, of the book series Spatial Habitus: Making and Meaning in Asia’s Architecture, published by the University of Hawai’i Press. Subjects of the series included China, Japan, Korea, India, and the Middle East.
In November 2021, Bloomsbury published Confucius’ Courtyard: Architecture, Philosophy, and the Good Life in China, distributed in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
In 2022 he published an essay in the Shanghai Review of Books on the work of writer and geographer Yi-Fu Tuan.
Ruan has published essays and criticism on architecture and society for academic journals and mainstream media, including the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, The Conversation, Quartz, Architecture Australia and Architecture Now.
In China, his essays have been published in Jianzhu Xuebao , Jianzhu Shi , and Wenhui Xueren of Wenhui Ribao .
He has been interviewed about his work by ABC Radio National, Times Radio, Barron's Magazine and ArchDaily.