Yao Lu, PhD, MS, MArch

Dr. Yao Lu is a researcher and designer with specialization in combining emerging computational technologies with structures as a generative design tool. His research agenda is built around creating structural geometries that unify performance, aesthetics, and constructability. He employs the innovative 3D graphics statics (3DGS) method and emerging computational techniques to create high-efficiency and stable structures that use less material, reducing fabrication costs and embodied carbon emissions in building construction. 

Dr. Lu’s work has been recognized with several honors. As a researcher, he was awarded the Hangai Prize medal at the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Annual Symposium in 2022. He received the YoungCAADRIA Award at the 2020 International Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) for his research on efficient structures and computational methodologies. As a designer and builder, his projects have received several awards including the R&D Award of 2022 and the DigitalFUTURES Project Award of 2022. As a software developer, the computational tools he developed have been downloaded thousands of times by worldwide users.

Dr. Lu received his PhD in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 2024, where he served as a Teaching Fellow and doctoral researcher at the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory. He earned an MS in Matter Design Computation from Cornell University in 2020, an MArch from Tongji University in 2017, and a B.Eng from Tongji University in 2014.