The idea for an Asian Society of Architectural & Urban Historians was first mooted in a pilot symposium for introducing the SAUH-Asia platform “Social Theory and Historiography in the writing of Asian Architecture,” funded by the Asia Pacific Research Funding Network awarded to Anoma Pieris and held at the Institute of Post Colonial Studies in Melbourne (on 20 September, 2008). The SAHANZ journal Fabrications 19:2, themed “About Asia” edited by Anoma Pieris (Guest Editor), Paul Walker and Deborah van der Plaat featured the papers from this event. In 2012, at the SAHANZ conference in Tasmania, Anoma raised the idea of an Asian Chapter but it was felt that the association was too small to form chapters. Anoma was encouraged to create an Asia Cluster within SAHANZ to attract local scholars focused on Asia and to internationalise the organisation in the region. A plenary focused on Asia at the 2013 SAHANZ conference in the Gold Coast proved an important platform for disseminating this interest.

SAHANZ has continued to encourage and support SAUH-Asia based on joint membership and regional participation and in 2016, a parallel symposium and student workshop precedes the SAHANZ conference in Melbourne. SAH Asia has many partner organisations that have shared interests including CAMEA at Adelaide University and SEAARC at the National University of Singapore. The inaugural SAUH-Asia symposium was held in 2016 at the University of Melbourne.