Seng Kuan

Seng Kuan is an architectural historian and theorist. He is Project Associate Professor and Director of the International Architectural Education Platform at the University of Tokyo. He has written extensively on Japan’s postwar architectural culture, including the “land, water, and sky” trilogy on the Metabolists; the role of structural engineering in modern Japanese architecture; and books on Tange Kenzō and Shinohara Kazuo.

As Chief Editorial Advisor to a+u, Seng oversees the editorial agenda of the Tokyo-based journal. He is also a member of the Planning and Management Committee of TOTO Gallery MA in Tokyo.

Exhibitions play a major role in Seng’s research methodology. His curatorial work include Utopia Across Scales: Highlights from the Kenzō Tange Archive (GSD 2009); Metabolism: City of the Future (Mori Art Museum, 2011); and Shinohara Kazuo (Kemper Art Museum 2014; ETH Zürich 2016; GSD 2019). His research projects have been recognized with major grants from Graham Foundation and the Japan Foundation.

Seng received his BA from Harvard College and afterwards studied in both the architecture and urban planning programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, ultimately graduating with a PhD in architectural history. Prior to rejoining the GSD as a faculty member he taught at Washington University in St. Louis.