John Lin is an architect and an Associate Professor in the department of architecture at The University of Hong Kong. With Joshua Bolchover he is the director of Rural Urban Framework (RUF), a non-profit research and design collaboration. Their projects integrate local and traditional construction practices with contemporary sustainable technologies. Sony Devabhaktuni is an Assistant Professor in the department of architecture at the University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on the capacity of architectural representation to address cultural, socio-political and economic issues.
2021 RIBA President's Medal for Research has been awarded to the winner of the Cities and Community category: John Lin and Sony Devabhaktuni from the University of Hong Kong for their project As found houses: Experiments from self-builders in rural China. John and Sony uncover examples of innovative, sustainable and efficient renovations of vernacular houses done by spontaneous builders in four remote locations in rural China. These regions are geographically distant from each other, climatically diverse and culturally unique. While these typologies are most often studied and discussed with a view toward their preservation as cultural heritage, the research presents a different way of understanding these ancient dwellings: as active sites of design innovation and transformation that respond to changes in ways of life. --Royal Institute of British Architects