Thomas Kong is a tenured Associate Professor and former Director of the Undergraduate Architecture and Interior Architecture programs at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He received his architecture undergraduate degree with honours from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Master of Architecture, with Distinction from Cranbrook Academy of Art, United States of America, on a merit scholarship.

He has been a studio critic at institutions around the world, including Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; Rhode Island School of Design; University of Illinois in Chicago; McGill University; Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (UK); Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Tokyo University of the Arts and University of Tokyo.

Thomas research and creative practice are centred on architecture as anthropological objects and the cultural geographies of Asian cities. He has written and lectured in international conferences on themes relating to the changing role of public spaces, interior urbanism, and architectural pedagogy and received national and international recognitions for his work revolving around social and cultural concerns in architecture.

He was the third Jaap Bakema Fellow in 2009, an international fellowship administered by the Netherlands Architecture Institute, a co-recipient of the Motorola Foundation grant for his community-based design studio in Beppu, Japan the same year, and the School of the Arts (SOTA) Distinguished Fellow in 2012.

In 2014, Thomas was among the 17 prominent individuals invited to participate in the U.S.

Council of Interior Design Accreditation Future Vision session, which focuses on the future of interior design and practice in North America. His latest publication, titled Lives in Large Interiors, traces the evolution and growth of large-scale interiors in North America and their urban and social phenomenon in Hong Kong and Singapore.

From 2012 to 2014, Thomas holds the Visiting Associate Professorship appointment in the Department of Architecture at the NUS. He is a licensed architect in Singapore and an Associate Member of the American Institute of Architects.