The School of Architecture at Mississippi State University is excited to welcome Assistant Professor Ruo Jia.
The founder and director of the research-based practice IfWorks comes to MSU from Pratt Institute, where she was a Visiting Assistant Professor teaching graduate and undergraduate architecture courses. She served as a Visiting Critic at Cornell University and has previously taught at City University of New York, as well as Harvard, Columbia and Princeton Universities.
Jia holds both a Ph.D. in architectural history and theory with an interdisciplinary humanities certificate and a Master of Arts from Princeton, a Master of Architecture II from Harvard, and both a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Architecture from Southeast University.
Her research focuses on “constructing a decolonizing postmodernist materialist space through the interweaving of ‘Chinese Experimental Architecture’ or ‘French Poststructuralist Theory,’ which expands to envisioning the possibilities of Asian Feminist Architecture and Posthumanist Sustainability.” Her work has been published in The Journal of Architecture, Representations, Log and Brooklyn Rail—among others.
For next semester, Jia said she is very excited to team-teach her first design studio and is grateful for the opportunity to craft her own lecture course on “Architecture Theory,” a meta-subject she described as dear to her heart.
“We are excited to have Dr. Jia join us,” said F.L. Crane Professor and Director of the School of Architecture Karen Cordes Spence. “We know she will bring a wealth of design knowledge to our students. Her expertise will enliven our architectural discussions and serve our upcoming graduate programs well.”
Recent Publications
- Cloud as Alternative Architecture, Representations
- Architecturing Modern Love and Modern Architecture, The Journal of Architecture
- Concrete Type through Collective Body Memory, Transposed Memory
Interesting Fact:
“I am in a life-partnership with Cocker Spaniels Mozza and Rella, who are currently in Beijing. I do miss them!”