Associate Professor Thomas Kong

Assistant Dean
Development

Thomas KONG received his architecture degree with honours from the National University of Singapore, and a Master of Architecture, with distinction from Cranbrook Academy of Art, USA. He is a licensed architect in Singapore and an associate member of the American Institute of Architects. He has over 20 years of experience teaching architecture and interior architecture in Singapore, Canada, and Chicago and was recently the chair of the professional Master of Architecture (With an Emphasis on Interior Architecture) programme at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). From 2009 to 2012, he was the co-chair of the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects at SAIC.

In 2014, the Council Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) recognised Thomas as one of their 2014 visionaries. The following year, the U.S.-based organisation Project for Public Space inducted him into Placemaking Leadership Council. In 2019, he served as a task force member of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Design Education Policy. He is currently a member of the Asia Pacific Space Designers Association education policy committee and sits on the Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Council. Thomas has received awards and grants from Finland, the Netherlands, the U.S., and Singapore. He has lectured and published internationally on the intersection of art and design education and interior architecture. Between 2016 and 2018, Thomas organised and co-led an interdisciplinary art and heritage project with the Tsao Foundation. From 2020 to 2022, he was the principal investigator for a research project that introduced the concept and practice of social curating and archiving in transforming the personal possessions of Whampoa elders into a public legacy. Singapore's National Heritage Board funded both projects. 

Thomas has served as a studio critic and a conference panellist at institutions around the world, including Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Rhode Island School of Design; Illinois Institute of Technology; University of Illinois in Chicago; McGill University (Canada); The Berlage (Netherlands); Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (U.K.); Tongji University’s College of Design and Innovation; Soochow University’s School of Architecture; Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Tokyo University of the Arts and the University of Tokyo.