Tao DuFour

Tao DuFour serves as Assistant Professor in History and Theory of Architecture and Director of the MArch Programme at the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and History of Art, University of Cambridge. He additionally holds the position of Fellow and Director of Studies in Architecture at Trinity College.

His research investigates the embodied nature of spatio-environmental experience with particular focus on problems of generativity in relation to the lived experience of historical past (environmentality). His work draws extensively on phenomenology of perception and corporeity, phenomenological accounts of spatial experience, and their relationship to ethnographic descriptions of space. Current research examines the regional context of the Caribbean and Guianas through photography, ethnographic methods, and documentary film to document lived experiences of environmental change.

His scholarly output demonstrates strong interdisciplinary connections between architectural theory, phenomenological philosophy, and postcolonial studies, with particular attention to narrative qualities of spatio-environmental experience drawing on regional literary traditions.

• 2023 SAH Award for Film and Video by the Society of Architectural Historians (for documentary short "We Love We Self Up Here")
• Edward Goodwin Ballard Book Prize in Phenomenology (for "Husserl and Spatiality: A Phenomenological Ethnography of Space")

DuFour obtained his PhD and MPhil in History and Philosophy of Architecture from the University of Cambridge and BArch from The Cooper Union. As a registered architect (RIBA), he previously held the Rome Prize in Architecture at the British School at Rome. He serves as guest editor for the special issue of Future Anterior dedicated to "Space and Heritage" and collaborates on the UNFOLD: Decolonising Architecture at Cambridge initiative.