She is interested in bringing people together through cultural experience. Her practice focuses on creating meaningful spatial experiences for diverse audiences. Trained at the University of Edinburgh and the Architectural Association, she combines storytelling with architecture and innovative design.

Her project Zao Tang (as part of STIGMA), a pop-up gallery on Asian arts and feminism, was supported by Arts Council England. Since 2022, Cong has been working closely with renowned architect Sir Peter Cook, including exhibitions worldwide and recently on the Play Pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery in collaboration with the LEGO Group.

What career did you see yourself in when you were 16? 

Even looking back at my A-Level Art portfolio, I can see that I always knew I wanted to work with the concept of 'living space' (thanks for the help to Mrs Scott and Ms Mortimer!) I wasn't entirely sure what the exact job title would be, but I was deeply drawn to how we interact with and design the environments around us.

What are your future career aspirations and plans? 

I am working more on the curatorial and exhibition side right now. I want to transform architectural archives and exhibitions into active, public platforms. Architecture is an incredibly cross-disciplinary subject that intersects with social science, history, maths, and physics. I am currently experimenting with how we can use architectural methodologies not just to display the past, but as a source of knowledge production and a reference for building future infrastructure.

Do you have any words of advice for girls thinking of going into architecture? 

It is truly a fascinating subject and career to dip into. My biggest piece of advice is to not limit your idea of what an architect can be. Studying architecture is an incredible way to understand how human civilisation was built, the role of the architect is also rapidly expanding beyond traditional building design.  

If you would like to get in touch with Cong for advice about a career in architecture, you can contact her through our mentoring programme.