Nic Bao

Dr Ding Wen 'Nic' Bao is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Architecture Technology Stream Coordinator at the School of Architecture and Urban Design as well as a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Innovative Structure and Materials and a member at Post-Carbon Research Centre 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 Architectus, Bates Smart, Fender Katsalidis, Billard Leece Partnership with Cox and Noel Robinson Architects. Currently, Nic is the Director & Principal Architect of B.W Architects (BWA) and Wonderform Studio, Founder of FormX Research Lab and Partner at Ameba Institute of Engineering Structure Optimisation. 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 Secretary 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 - now) and the IASS 2023 Annual Symposium. He is also an editorial board member of two high-impact international journals, including Sustainable Structures journal (Q1 journal) 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 50 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, Melbourne IASS Expo, 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 CDRF - DigitalFutures as well as ran 12 workshops at international conferences including DigitalFutures, CAADRIA, ACADIA, and SIGraDi. Recently he led the AA Visiting School in Hainan, China and IASS Masterclass in Melbourne, Australia.

Recently Nic received the 2023 A'Design Award, 2023 DigitalFUTURES Young Award, 2023 RMIT Award for Research Excellence (Early Career Research), the third prizes of IASS Design & Competition of Innovative Lightweight Structures in 2023, 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 in structural optimisation and additive manufacturing competitions nationally and internationally in 2019 & 2020.

Industry Experience:
Professional Services:
Scientific Reviewer, Frontiers of Architectural Research journal
Scientific Reviewer, Construction Robots journal
Scientific Reviewer, Frontiers in Virtual Reality journal
Scientific Reviewer, Architectural Intelligence journal
Scientific Reviewer, International Journal of Space Structures
Scientific Reviewer, Thin-Walled Structures 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, SIGraDi, CDRF - DigitalFutures, ASCAAD, eCAADe, etc
Scientific Reviewer, Proceedings of the international conferences, SimAUD, CAADRIA, CAAD Futures, SIGraDi, CDRF - DigitalFutures, ASCAAD, eCAADe, etc
Chair of Architecture, Environment and Civil Engineering, Chinese Association of Professional and Scholars (CAPS), Australia (2018 - 2022)
Masterclass Coordinator, International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) symposia in Melbourne (2023)

Curation experiences-
Sole curator, IASS Expo "INTEGRATION OF DESIGN AND FABRICATION" in Melbourne (2023), The International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS)
Co-curator of ACADIA & CAADRIA Joint Exhibition "HABITS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE' in Hong Kong (2023), The Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture (ACADIA) & The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA)