Dr. Nic Bao

Dr Ding Wen ‘Nic’ Bao is a Lecturer in Architecture and Architecture Technology Stream Coordinator at the School of Architecture and Urban Design as well as a Researcher at the Centre for Innovative Structure and Materials, School of Engineering at RMIT University. Recently he has been appointed as a Visiting Professor in Civil Engineering at Shenzhen University. Before joining RMIT, Nic used to teach at the University of Melbourne, Monash University and Tongji University as a sessional lecturer. His research explores design methodologies for establishing a complementary relationship among architecture, computational design, structural engineering, behavioural algorithms, robotic fabrication, additive manufacturing, and intelligent construction.

Nic is a practising architect with ten years of professional experience, he holds Australian Registered Architect (ARBV). US Registered Architect (NCARB) and RIBA Chartered Architect. He used to work for Bates Smart, Fender Katsalidis, Billard Leece Partnership, Noel Robinson Architects and Lab Architecture. Currently, Nic is the Director and Founder of BDW Architects and FormX Technology. Nic is also a committee member of the Australian Institution of Architects (AIA) – Education Committee and Design Technology Advisory Group to the National Practice, as well as an officer/committee member and Chair of the award at the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA). He is a core member of the organizing committee of DigitalFUTURES International conferences (2020 - 2022) and the IASS 2023 Annual Symposium. He is also an editorial board member of two high-impact international journals, including Sustainable Structures journal (IF10.9) and Architectural Intelligence journal (Springer).

Nic completed his PhD at the RMIT Centre for Innovative Structures and Materials, School of Engineering and School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University, where he received the full PhD scholarship. He holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from RMIT University. Nic used to exchange and study at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in China and Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Spain.

Nic has published over 30 articles, including high-impact journal papers, book chapters and conference papers. Nic’s work has been exhibited widely, and which is recognised at the national and international levels, including Hong Kong BoDW, Shanghai DigitalFutures Exhibition, Barcelona IASS Expo, Shenzhen Biennale, Melbourne Design Week, Venice Biennale, National Gallery of Victoria and Melbourne Design Fair, Current Chinese Science, etc. 

Nic also played a role as a scientific reviewer and session chair for the international conference including CAAD Futures, CAADRIA, ASCAAD, eCAADe and DigitalFutures as well as ran 8 workshops at international conferences including DigitalFutures, CAADRIA and SIGraDi. 

Recently Nic received the 2022 IAI Design Award, 2021 Grand Prix Design Paris Gold Award, 2021 Muse Design Award, 2021 RMIT Prize for Research Impact (Design), 2021 Young CAADRIA Award, 2020 RMIT Engineering Publication & Impact Prize, 2019 CISM Research Excellence Award and two significant first prizes structural optimisation and additive manufacturing competitions nationally and internationally in 2019 & 2020.

• Advanced architectural design, and algorithm development
• Sustainable architecture and structures
• Building information modelling and building performance optimisation
• Computational design, robotic fabrication and additive manufacturing technologies

• PhD (Civil Engineering), 2022, CISM, RMIT University, Australia
• PhD (Architecture), 2022, PRS, RMIT University, Australia
• MArch (Architecture, Urban Design), 2014, University of Melbourne, Australia
• BArch (Architecture), 2012, RMIT University, Australia

Professional memberships

• Registered Architect, The Architects Registration Board of Victoria (ARBV), Australia
• Registered Architect, National Council of Architectural Registration (NCARB), U.S.
• Chartered Architect, The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), U.K.
• Officer/Committee/Chair of Award Committee, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 
• Officer/Committee, Digital Futures Association and Organization, Global/China
• Level 1, Full Member, The Australia Institute of Architects, Australia 
• Committee, Australian Institute of Architects, National Practice Committee - Design Technology Advisory Group, Australia
• Committee, Australian Institute of Architects, Education, Australia
• Member, The International Association for Shell and Spatial Structure (IASS) 
• Member, The Architect Society of China, China

Professional services

• Editorial Board Member, Sustainable Structures journal
• Editorial Board Member, Architectural Intelligent journal (Springer)
• Editorial Board Member, Proceedings of CAADRIA conference 2023
• Scientific Reviewer, Frontiers of Architectural Research journal
• Scientific Reviewer, Architectural Science Review journal
• Scientific Reviewer, International Journal of Architectural Computing
• Scientific Reviewer, Proceedings of the international conferences, SimAUD, CAADRIA, CAAD Futures, Digital Futures, ASCAAD, eCAADe, etc
• Chair of Architecture, Environment and Civil Engineering, Chinese Association of Professional and Scholars (CAPS), Australia (2018 - 2022)

Professional experiences

• 2022 - now Partner | Ameba Institute of Engineering Structure Optimisation
• 2021 - now Director & Co-Founder | FormX & WonderForm
• 2016 - now Director & Principal Architect | BDW Architects (Studio Nic Bao) 
• 2018 - 2018 Project Architect | Architectus Architects, 
• 2016 - 2018 Registered Architect & Project Leader | Bates Smart Architects
• 2015 - 2016 Registered Architect | Fender Katsalidis Architects
• 2014 - 2015 Graduate Architect | Noel Robinson Architects
• 2013 - 2014 Graduate Architect | Architects Alliance (Billard Leece Partnership + Cox Architecture)