Teaching Strengths
Prof Ning Gu
Professor of Architecture
School of Architecture and Built Environment
College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities
Dr Ning Gu is Professor of Architecture at Adelaide University, Australia. He has researched in the broad areas of Architectural Computing and Design Cognition, including topics such as Computational Design Analysis; Computer-supported Collaborative Design; Interactive and Virtual Environments; Building Information Modelling (BIM); Generative and Parametric Design Systems; Intercultural Design and Communication; and Protocol Studies on designers' behaviour and cognition.
Professor Ning Gu’s scholarly outputs have been documented in over 250 peer-reviewed publications. His research has been supported by competitive grants valued at over 5 million Australian dollars, which include prestigious funding schemes such as the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects Grant; ARC Linkage Projects Grant; ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Grant; Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Innovation and Development Grant; and Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Grant.
Professor Gu is a current member of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) College of Experts. He is an Associate Editor for the international journal Architectural Science Review (ASR, Q1), and has also guest-edited/chaired/reviewed for major international journals/conferences in the field. He was a Visiting Scholar at MIT, Columbia University and Eindhoven University of Technology.
Current reseach project highlights include:
2022- 2025: Thomas, B.H., Gu, N. (Chief Investigator) and Cunningham, A., Parametric VR: An Interactive Virtual Reality System for Parametric Design, Australian Research Council Discovery Projects (ARC DP) Grant, AUD$455,000.
2018- 2022: London, K. and Gu, N. (Chief Investigator), Rethinking Housing: Network Analysis for Digital Collaboration, Australian Research Council Discovery Projects (ARC DP) Grant, AUD$443,188.
2022- 2025: Barrie, H., Soebarto, V., Faulkner, D., Gu, N. (Chief Investigator), Kroll, D., Crawford-Pope, L. and Di Lernia, N., Determining the Social Value of Extreme, Mixed-use Urban Developments, Partners: Uniting Communities Incorporated and Australian Institute of Architects, Australian Research Council Linkage Projects (ARC LP) Grant, AUD$287,994.
2023: Craig, H., Arthur, P., Edmonds, P., Gu, N. (Chief Investigator), Smith, R., May, A., Maxwell-Stewart, H., Gibbs, M., Coleborne, C., Ryan, L., Palmer, B., Nichols, J., Barnett, T. and Lamond, J., Time Layered Cultural Map of Australia: Advanced Techniques and Big Data, Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (ARC LIEF) Grant, AUD$472,543.
2019- 2021: Craig, H., Verhoeven, D., Arthur, P., May, A., Smith, R., Gu, N. (Chief Investigator), Champion, E., Harvey, M., Haskins, V. and Ryan, L., Time-layered Cultural Map, Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (ARC LIEF) Grant, AUD$420,000.
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 - 2023 | Acting Dean of Research | University of South Australia |
| 2020 - ongoing | Professorial Lead | University of South Australia |
| 2019 - 2024 | Deputy Director | University of South Australia |
| 2019 - 2019 | Acting Head of School | University of South Australia |
| 2018 - 2020 | Guest Professor | Tianjin University |
| 2016 - ongoing | Professor in Architecture | University of South Australia |
| 2015 - 2016 | Associate Professor in Architecture | University of Newcastle Australia |
| 2015 - 2016 | Director, Research Higher Degrees | University of Newcastle Australia |
| 2011 - 2014 | Senior Lecturer in Architecture | University of Newcastle Australia |
| 2011 - 2011 | Visiting Scholar | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| 2011 - 2011 | Visiting Scholar | Eindhoven University of Technology |
| 2006 - 2010 | Lecturer in Architecture | University of Newcastle Australia |
| Date | Type | Title | Institution Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Award | Best Paper Award | UNSW Sydney | Australia | - |
| 2023 | Research Award | Senior-Career Researcher Award Finalist | University of South Australia | Australia | - |
| 2022 | Research Award | Senior-Career Researcher Award Finalist | University of South Australia | Australia | - |
| 2021 | Research Award | Senior-Career Researcher Award Finalist | University of South Australia | Australia | - |
| 2016 | Distinction | Secretary | Association for Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia | Hong Kong | - |
| 2012 | Research Award | Emerging Research Leader | University of Newcastle Australia | Australia | - |
| Language | Competency |
|---|---|
| Achinese | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| English | Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 - 2007 | University of Newcastle Australia | Australia | Graduate Certificate in the Practice of Tertiary Teaching |
| 2002 - 2006 | University of Sydney | Australia | Doctor of Philosophy |
| 1998 - 2000 | University of Sydney | Australia | Master of Design Science (Honours) |
| 1993 - 1998 | Shenzhen University | China | Bachelor of Architecture |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Masoumzadeh, S., Yu, R., Gu, N., Zhang, F., Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, I., & Cao, Z. (2025). Barriers and Pathways to Sustainable Adoption of Immersive Technologies in Architecture: A Comparison of Industry and Academic Perspectives. DOI |
- Parametric VR: An Interactive Virtual Reality System for Parametric Design, ARC - Discovery Projects, 01/11/2022 - 31/10/2026
- Australian Housing & Urban Research Institute Scholarship, Australian Housing & Urban Research Institute, 22/06/2023 - 31/05/2026
- Development of an end-user co-design toolkit for sustainable residential retrofits using environmental sensors and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies Project, Various, 01/07/2024 - 28/02/2026
- Development of a new consumer-driven building inspection tool using AI and AR technologies, Qubisoft Pty Ltd, 05/09/2024 - 30/03/2025
- End-user Social Interactions within the UCity Building for Post-occupancy Evaluation, Uniting Communities, 01/11/2019 - 31/08/2020
- Developing pedagogical solutions to linguistic and cultural barriers in design education supporting Asian architecture students, OLT-Grants - Innovation & Development, 01/08/2016 - 31/07/2018
- Sharing the language of design: an Australian Korean partnership (AKF00624), Australia-Korea Foundation, 23/01/2017 - 31/12/2017
Courses I teach
- ARCH 5005 Architectural Design Research Methods
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Co-Supervisor | Adaptive AI-Driven Comfort Monitoring: Real-Time Facial and Voice Analysis for Energy-Sufficient Residential Environments | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Afshin Saeedian |
| 2026 | Principal Supervisor | A Community-Centric Framework for Climate-Resilient Health Design in Adelaide, Australia: Integrating Parametric Design with Microclimate Simulation | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Mohammad Anvar Adibhesami |
| 2026 | Principal Supervisor | Enhancing Life Quality in Australian Modular Housing: AI-Driven Spatial Design Optimization Based on Space Syntax Theory | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Hatef Jafari Sharami |
| 2025 | Principal Supervisor | Beyond Algorithm-Driven Design: Enhancing Creativity and Critical Thinking in Interior Architecture Education | - | Doctorate | Part Time | Ms Ebony Proud |
| 2025 | Co-Supervisor | Enhancing the customisation of prefabricated housing projects via immersive VR | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Yue Dong |
| 2025 | Principal Supervisor | Applying immersive Virtual Reality to support emotional design of smart homes for the elderly | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Jiang Wu |
| 2025 | Co-Supervisor | Utilizing Digital Twin Technology to Optimize Urban Green Space Systems | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Ran Zhou |
| 2023 | Co-Supervisor | The influence of virtual realism on cognitive and neurocognitive aspects of design thinking | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Soroush Masoumzadeh |
| 2023 | Principal Supervisor | Design thinking in immersive environments: exploring the impacts of VR on parametric design process | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Hamidreza Sakhaei |
| 2022 | Co-Supervisor | Develop a framework to facilitate the adoption of Offsite Construction in the Australian Residential Sector by improving information sharing among the stakeholders | - | Doctorate | Part Time | Ms Shaila Maheshwari |
| 2022 | Co-Supervisor | Towards optimised resource utilisation: developing a framework to facilitate the implementation of sharing economy practices in the construction industry | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mrs Ishara Rathnayake |
| 2022 | Co-Supervisor | span style="font-size:11pt">Art of Place: Art and Culture as Neighbourhood Placemaking | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Katie Anne Miller |
| 2022 | Principal Supervisor | A Digital Twin-enabled approach to determining and visualising building performances incorporating social considerations: a case study of U City, a mixed-use vertical housing development | - | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Adii Shtykov |
| 2021 | Co-Supervisor | Design for emotional wellbeing using virtual/mixed reality: Exploring the cross-cultural dynamics that affect the planning, aesthetics and final design layout of living spaces in the homes of multicultural Australians. | - | Doctorate | Part Time | Ms Venus Mirael St. Germain |
| Date | Role | Board name | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 - ongoing | Member | UniSA Creative Academic Board | University of South Australia | Australia |
| 2010 - 2014 | Member | Board of Directors | International Society for Computing in Civil and Building Engineering | Canada |
| Date | Role | Committee | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 - ongoing | Member | Academic Promotion (Levels B & C) Panel | University of South Australia | Australia |
| 2020 - 2024 | Member | UniSA Creative Research Strategy Group | University of South Australia | Australia |
| 2018 - 2022 | Member | Non-Traditional Research Output (NTRO) Working Group | University of South Australia | Australia |
| 2017 - 2023 | Member | Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Internal Reference Group | University of South Australia | Australia |
| 2016 - 2019 | Member | School of Art, Architecture and Design Research and Research Education Committee | University of South Australia | Australia |
| 2016 - 2019 | Member | Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences Academic Probation Committee | University of South Australia | Australia |
| 2015 - 2016 | Member | Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Research Committee | University of Newcastle Australia | Australia |
| 2012 - 2015 | Member | Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Promotions Committee | University of Newcastle Australia | Australia |
| 2007 - 2016 | Member | Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment Methodological Peer Review Committee | University of Newcastle Australia | Australia |
| Date | Institution | Department | Organisation Type | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 - 2018 | Irish Research Council | Irish Research Council | Scientific research | Ireland |
| 2018 - 2018 | National Science Centre | National Science Centre | Scientific research | Poland |
| Date | Role | Editorial Board Name | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 - ongoing | Member | International Journal Editorial Board | Buildings | Switzerland |
| 2019 - ongoing | Associate Editor | International Journal Editorial Board | Architectural Science Review | United Kingdom |
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