STAFF PROFILE
Mr Nic Bao
Ding Wen 'Nic' Bao is a Lecturer in Architecture in the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT, and Registered Architect in Australia and US, RIBA Chartered Architect in UK.
Nic Bao is a Lecturer and Architecture Technology Course Coordinator at the School of Architecture & Urban Design, RMIT University, having previously taught at the University of Melbourne, Monash University, Tongji University, etc.
His research explores design methodologies for establishing a complementary relationship among computational design, structural engineering, behavioural algorithms, and robotic fabrication. Nic is an Australian Registered Architect, US Registered Architect and UK RIBA Chartered Architect with over ten years of practical experience. His work has been exhibited widely, including BoDW Hong Kong, Melbourne Design Week, IASS Expo Barcelona, Venice Biennale, Melbourne Design Fair, Time + Architecture, Architecture Technique magazines and the permanent cover of Current Chinese Science.
Nic received two significant first prizes in national and international competitions on structural optimisation and additive manufacturing in 2019 and 2020; RMIT Civil Engineering Discipline Research Awards for Excellence in 2020; 2021 Young CAADRIA Award; RMIT Prize for Research Impact HDR (Design) in 2021; Grand Prix Design Paris (GPDP) - Gold Award and MUSE Design Award in 2021.
- Advanced architectural design, and algorithm development
- Innovative structures and new materials application
- Building information modeling and building performance optimisation
- Computational design, robotic fabrication and additive manufacturing technologies
- PhD Candidate (Civil Engineering), 2022, CISM, RMIT University, Australia
- PhD Candidate (Architecture), 2022, PRS, RMIT University, Australia
- MArch (Architecture, Urban Design), 2014, University of Melbourne, Australia
- BArch (Architecture), 2012, RMIT University, Australia
Professional memberships
- Officer/Committee, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA)
- Officer/Committee, Digital Futures Association and Organization, China
- Committee, Australian Institute of Architects, National Practice Committee - Design Technology Advisory Group, Australia
- Committee, Australian Institute of Architects, Education, Australia
- Level 1, Full Member, The Australia Institute of Architects, Australia
- Member, The International Association for Shell and Spatial Structure (IASS)
- Member, The Architect Society of China, China
Professional services
- Editorial Board Member, Architectural Intelligent journal (Springer)
- Reviewer, Frontiers of Architectural Research journal
- Reviewer, Architectural Science Review journal
- Reviewer, Proceeding 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, Australia, 2018 - 2021
Professional experiences
- 2016 - now BDW Architects, Director & Principal Architect
- 2018 - 2018 Architectus Architects, Project Architect
- 2016 - 2018 Bates Smart Architects, Registered Architect
- 2015 - 2016 Fender Katsalidis Architects, Registered Architect
- 2014 - 2015 Noel Robinson Architects, Graduate Architect
- 2013 - 2014 Architects Alliance (Billard Leece Partnership + Cox Architecture), Graduate Architect
- Feng, Z.,Gu, P.,Zheng, M.,Yan, X.,Bao, D. (2022). Environmental Data-Driven Performance-Based Topological Optimisation for Morphology Evolution of Artificial Taihu Stone In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication (CDRF 2021), Shanghai, China, 3-4 July2021
- Yan, X.,Bao, D.,Zhou, Y.,Xie, Y.,Cui, T. (2022). Detail Control Strategies for Topology Optimization in Architectural Design and Development In: Frontiers of Architectural Research, 11, 340 - 356
- Li, W.,Lin, X.,Bao, D.,Xie, Y. (2022). A review of formwork systems for modern concrete construction In: Structures, 38, 52 - 63
- Bao, D.,Luo, D.,Xin, Z.,Yan, X. (2022). Weaving Tectonics In: Melbourne Design Week 2022 presented by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Melbourne, Australia
- Bao, N.,Yan, X.,Xie, M. (2022). Encoding topological optimisation logical structure rules into multi-agent system for architectural design and robotic fabrication In: International Journal of Architectural Computing, 20, 7 - 17
- Ou, Y.,Bao, D.,Zhu, G.,Luo, D. (2021). Additive Fabrication of Large-Scale Customizable Formwork Using Robotic Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Winding In: 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, , 1 - 13
- ZHU, G.,Ou, Y.,Bao, D.,Luo, D. (2021). Robotic Weaving of Customizable FRP Formworks for Large-scale Optimized Structure In: Proceedings of the 26th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia 2021, Hong Kong, China, 29 March 2021 - 01 April 2021
- Bao, D.,Yan, X.,Snooks, R.,Xie, Y. (2021). SwarmBESO: Multi-agent and Evolutionary Computational Design Based on the Principles of Structural Performance In: Proceedings of the 26th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia 2021, Hong Kong, China, 29 March 2021 - 01 April 2021
- Mohamed, H.,Bao, D.,Snooks, R. (2021). Super Composite: Carbon Fibre Infused 3D Printed Tectonics In: Proceedings of the 2020 DigitalFUTURES - The 2nd International Conference on Computational Design and Robotic Fabrication, Shanghai, China, 28 June 2020 - 06 July 2020
- Xiong, Y.,Bao, D.,Yan, X.,Xu, T.,Xie, Y. (2021). Lessons Learnt from a National Competition on Structural Optimization and Additive Manufacturing In: Current Chinese Science, 1, 151 - 159