Seng Kuan is an architectural historian and theorist. He is Associate Professor of Design and Director of the International Platform for Architecture Education at the University of Tokyo. He has written on postwar Japanese architectural culture, including the "Earth, Water, and Sky" trilogy about the Metabolists; the role of structural engineering in modern Japanese architecture; and books on Tange Kenzō and Shinohara Kazuo.
As Senior Editorial Advisor for a+u, Seng oversees the Tokyo-based journal's editorial agenda. He is also a member of the Planning and Management Committee of TOTO MA Gallery in Tokyo.
Exhibitions play a central role in Seng's research methodology. His curatorial work includes 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 Zurich, 2016; GSD, 2019). His research projects have been recognized with major grants from the Graham Foundation and the Japan Foundation.
Seng earned a BA from Harvard College and subsequently studied architecture and urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he earned a PhD in architectural history. Before returning to the GSD as a professor, he taught at Washington University in St. Louis.
