Tinge Cao is an assistant professor in Architectural Structures. With a background in both architecture and structural design, she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Architectural Design from Southeast University and holds a Doctoral Degree in Science from ETH Zurich.

Before joining HKU, she worked as a research assistant and postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich for seven years, and later taught for four years as an assistant and associate professor in the Department of Architecture at HIT Shenzhen. This diverse experience has shaped her into a researcher, designer, and educator with a strong interdisciplinary outlook.

Interdisciplinary integration is central to her design philosophy and informs her research, teaching, and practice. She believes that technical challenges can always be addressed through design solutions. Her concept of “research by design” is strongly supported by graphic statics, a geometry-based structural design method. By emphasizing the mediating role of architectural geometry in bridging design and technical considerations, she has developed innovative design methodologies that enhance structural efficiency, improve construction feasibility, and promote energy sustainability in architecture. The implementation of these approaches is evident in various realized projects, including campus installations, expo park pavilions, and energy-self-sufficient solar houses. These works have earned her several municipal and national awards.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of architecture and structural engineering, with specific focuses on computational form-finding based on graphic statics, component-reusable structures, and construction-informed free-form surface structures.