Kihong Ku, DDes

Dr. Kihong Ku is Professor of Architecture (tenured) at Thomas Jefferson University in the College of Architecture and the Built Environment. He was a visiting professor in 2019 at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China. Before joining the faculty at Philadelphia University in 2011 he was a faculty at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, in the Department of Building Construction from 2005 to 2011. 

Since 2021 he has been the Director of the PhD in Architecture and Design Research and Co-Director of the SMARTlab at Thomas Jefferson University, an academic collective promoting user-driven inclusive design, transdisciplinary research and creative technology innovation for social change.

He has been a lead researcher on a range of projects that promote sustainability and architectural innovation funded by federal, state, industry, professional or institutional organizations. He is currently the principal investigator for a project funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development that develops a panelized tension textile membrane system for sustainable façade retrofits. From 2020 to 2022, he was the co-principal investigator for the ‘Y-Project’ an award-winning design-build project sponsored by the Solar Decathlon China 2021 organization which featured an energy-efficient ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) double-skin membrane. 2011 to 2013, he was the principal investigator on a National Institute for Safety and Health funded project which developed a Collaborative Building Information Modeling (BIM) Framework for Construction Hazards Prevention.

In 2015 he founded the Interdisciplinary Design and Experimental Architecture (IDEA) Studio (www.ideastuDO.com) which was funded by a 2015 National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) Award. This involved an innovative curriculum of studio, lecture, seminar/workshop teaching that integrates sustainability, textile material strategies, health and architecture, and computational design and fabrication technologies.

His research involves integrating emerging technology and material strategies to enhance sustainable building practices and architectural innovation. He has worked on identifying barriers and opportunities for building technology and materials as strategic entry points in the design process specifically for adaptive building envelopes that improve positive environmental impact, energy efficiency, and human comfort. He employs computational design and simulation tools to generate optimal design alternatives and to analyze relevant theoretical properties such as thermal resistance, light transmission, airflow, etc., and lab testing for verification. 

He has authored or co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and has been the recipient of two Provost Awards for creative achievements and applied research at Thomas Jefferson University, the Volpe Family Term Chair for Architectural Innovation from 2015 to 2020 and a President’s Award for teaching excellence from Philadelphia University, and two teaching and outreach awards from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Before joining academia, Dr. Ku worked as an architectural engineer for seven years on the design and construction of large-scale commercial and residential projects. He holds BS.Eng. and MS.Eng. degrees in Architecture from Seoul National University, and a Master in Design and Doctorate of Design from Harvard University Graduate School of Design.