Shining (Christina) Sun | 孙诗宁

Principal and Founder of ARCHIS Design Studio
Shiningsun@gsd.harvard.edu

Shining Sun is an architect, urban designer, doctoral student at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and founder of ARCHIS Design Studio. She holds dual Master Degrees in Architecture (MArch II) and Urban Design (MAUD) from Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture (B.Arch) from Cornell University. Shining’s research focuses on the feedback loops between architecture, art, and technology. Her scholarship explores how multidisciplinary work in architectural theory can be articulated to address the changing models of author-user agency. Informed by her research interests in non-linear systems and generative design, Shining has taught at Central Academy of Fine Arts and Shanghai Jiao Tong University and served on the juries at Harvard, Syracuse, and Cornell University.

Since the establishment of ARCHIS in 2018, Shining has acted as the lead designer on a number of projects at the architectural and urban scale with the aim to produce solutions that are not formally preconceived, but rather emergent from each project’s particular contextual adjacencies and contingent interrelationships. Previously, she had practiced at internationally recognized offices, including OMA, AECOM, and Aedas.

In addition, Shining has won awards including 2024 ArchDaily Top 10 Building of the Year in China, Perspective 40 Under 40, International Design Award (IDA), Bazaar Top 50 Designer, Forbes 30 Under 30, Tatler Gen. T Award for Emerging Architect, Harvard John E. Irving Fellowship, KPF Paul Katz Fellowship Honorable Mention, CCA Art Grant, and Canada’s Governor General Award. Shining’s work has also been exhibited at Shanghai Pudong Art Museum, Pingyao International Film Festival (AI-IF Film), SpamArt Foundation, and Hartell Gallery.

ARCHIS is a multi-disciplinary and research-led architecture studio working at the intersection of architecture, urban design, and science.

Since 2018, ARCHIS has been developing innovative approaches that support the increasing dynamism and complexity of contemporary buildings and cities. Our studio utilizes bottom-up and non-linear design research methods that embrace contradictions and complexities in the built environment. Working across a broad design spectrum, the studio’s work range from large-scale urban planning and architecture to public art and exhibitions design, all with a focus on human experience and perception. In constantly pushing the boundaries of existing temporal and spatial relationships, our studio aims to produce solutions that are not formally preconceived, but rather emergent from and tailored to the particular contextual adjacencies and contingent interrelationships of each project.

Headquartered in Hangzhou, we are a team of experienced researchers from Harvard and MIT and professionals from diverse international backgrounds. To ensure a high standard of design excellence in each project, the studio actively collaborates with prestigious academic institutions and professional consultants at every stage of design. At the core of the practice is our research lab, which continually explores new techniques in computational modelling, digital fabrication, data analysis, and material intelligence, with the aim of redefining the relationships between design and construction and prompting new understandings of building intelligence.