Rossana Hu

Rossana Ju-Shan Hu is regarded as one of the most significant female architects. She actively pushes the discipline beyond its preconceived boundaries of globalization and modernity, and urbanism and ruralism. Hu sets new standards through her distinguished design practice, deep commitment in education, and visionary community shaping.

As the co-founder of Neri&Hu Design and Research Office, Shanghai’s most celebrated architectural firm, Hu brings a unique vision that crosses traditional boundaries to gracefully weave architecture with urban studies, and interior, graphic and product designs, earning her the highest distinctions in each disciplinary category. These distinctions are not only testaments to Hu’s interdisciplinary excellence but also establish her a historic position for being the first Chinese recipient of each award. Hu’s architectural explorations reinforce a core aesthetic insight: a response to a global perspective overlapping design disciplines for a critical paradigm in architecture. Her innovative approach to urban renewal has gained critical acclaim; projects such as Waterhouse and Tsingpu Yangzhou Retreat have contributed significant social impact on each city’s preservation policy and promoted unprecedented community engagement for reclaiming each city’s forgotten neighborhoods and urban memories for the disenfranchised. Newly appointed as Chair of the Department of Architecture in Shanghai’s Tongji University, Hu’s deep commitment to education will catapult Tongji, China’s preeminent architecture school, to a global platform, connecting peoples and ideas between different worlds, melting together cultures, nations, and ideologies. Tongji’s appointment follows Hu’s years of remarkable teaching career at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Yale School of Architecture, and Hong Kong University. Six years ago, Hu co-founded Festival of Design in Shanghai, invigorating the city with a wide variety of design-oriented community immersive programs and lectures. As a role model and creative vanguard, Hu’s contributions over the past twenty years have profoundly transformed Shanghai’s design culture and urban vision.