Team

Jie Shen is a Ph.D. candidate in Architectural history at the University of Tokyo. Her research focuses on the architectural history of lifting construction in China between 192X and 197X. Centering on the mechanization, materials constraints, and labor efficiency involved in lifting construction, her research seeks to examine politics, economics, and international relations factors embedded in modernization process of Chinese Architectural construction, particularly through the technical knowledge interaction between China and the nations from two major camps under the backdrop of the Cold War, and the hidden history of autonomous exploration of construction at local construction sites. She will stay at TU Darmstadt from December 2023 to February 2024, where she will investigate the history of lifting construction in Germany and how German lifting technologies have involved the lifting construction in Chinese Architecture since early 20th century. Before the Ph.D., she was trained as an architect and gained practice experience in both heritage conservation and public buildings projects in China.