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Shi Huang

Francois Penz, former head of the department of architecture at the University of Cambridge and a pioneer in the interdisciplinary field of architecture and film, has joined Nanjing University on a full-time basis.
The school of architecture and urban planning of Nanjing University announced the appointment on its social media account on March 17.
Penz is an emeritus professor at the university, a former director of The Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies, a fellow of Darwin College and director of the Design, Visualisation and Communication Digital Laboratory.
He was selected for China’s National Leading Talent Programme in 2025, having already collaborated with Nanjing University for many years before joining full-time.
Born in France in 1953, Francois Penz studied architecture at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland in the early 1970s.
Before arriving, his knowledge of Cambridge was limited to its rowing rivalry with Oxford. He spent the next 45 years at this university.
He was among the first scholars to integrate computer science with architecture – a focus that shaped his doctoral research.


In a 2020 interview with Cambridge University, he recalled his student days: “At the end of the 70s and early 80s, there was only one mainframe, on the New Museums site. Because the computer centre was busy during the day, the best time to work was at night.”
He earned his doctorate in architecture in 1983 and continued postdoctoral research at Cambridge, joining the architecture department as a faculty member in 1988. He was among the first to introduce Apple computers to Cambridge, conducting exploratory research and publishing the book Computers in Architecture.
In 1991, he established a new research direction: architecture and film. He launched the first undergraduate workshop, Architecture in Motion, in Cambridge’s architecture department, exploring how moving images could express architectural space and time – a first step towards interdisciplinary collaboration.
He is widely regarded as the first scholar to treat film and architecture as a serious academic discipline.
He uses an academic approach to show that films are not merely visually appealing – they also offer valuable insights into houses and cities. A film, he argues, authentically reflects the architecture and urban planning of its era, as well as the living conditions of its inhabitants.
In 1995, he organised the first Cambridge conference on film and architecture, which led to the founding of the Cambridge University Moving Image Studio in 1998 and the MPhil in Architecture and the Moving Image.
Between 1998 and 2005, Penz also produced videos documenting changes at the university. “We would record award ceremonies at the Senate House, we tracked the evolution of West Cambridge from its first buildings onwards. Hundreds of digital video tapes lie dormant, awaiting to be rediscovered!” he added in the same interview.

He also developed a method of using photography and moving images as tools for architectural design – not only drawing blueprints, but also relying on lenses, time, and people’s daily activities to design spaces.
In 2009, the French government awarded him the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques – one of the nation’s highest academic honours – in recognition of his contributions to education and scholarship.
He has pioneered interdisciplinary research paradigms that integrate design thinking, visual narrative, and digital technologies. He has directed major digital humanities initiatives, including projects sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme.
He served as head of the architecture department, Cambridge from 2017 to 2019, retiring from Cambridge at the end of the pandemic in 2023.
After retiring, he has continued working at the forefront of architecture, focused on building a digital platform for cross-cultural spatial research. In a 2025 interview at Darwin College, he expressed particular gratitude to students at Nanjing University.
“Thanks to my wonderful PhD students, I’ve had a lot of collaboration with China. I’ve been to Nanjing University many times, and I’m going back in the spring to continue a research project with one of my former PhD students, who is now the dean of the faculty there.”
In recent years, Penz has given lectures at Nanjing University and organised exhibitions of architectural films in China. According to Nanjing University’s official website, its architecture and urban planning school has become one of the most internationally renowned architectural institutions in China, having established a joint centre with Cambridge for architectural and urban cooperation.
The South China Morning Post has contacted Penz for comment.


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Francois Penz, former architecture department head at the University of Cambridge, has joined Nanjing University on a full-time basis. Photo: Handout

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Pioneering French professor who blended architecture with film joins Nanjing University in a full-time position after 45 years at Cambridge


Pioneering French professor who blended architecture with film joins Nanjing University in a full-time position after 45 years at Cambridge.


Cambridge top architect Francois Penz relocates to China from UK

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Pioneering French professor who blended architecture with film joins Nanjing University in a full-time position after 45 years at Cambridge

Pioneering French professor who blended architecture with film joins Nanjing University in a full-time position after 45 years at Cambridge