Semyon Emelyanovich Dudin was born into a serf family. In 1785, his father sent six-year-old Semyon to a boarding school at the Academy of Arts. Semyon repeatedly took first places in drawing from life and received silver medals for architectural projects twice. In 1797, he was awarded these honors twice. Dudin's main mentor at the Academy was Professor A. D. Zakharov. In 1798, Semyon graduated from the Academy, receiving a first-degree certificate and a sword, which granted him certain noble privileges.

Dudin worked in the Directorate of Coal Mines and Works, interned with architect and poet N. A. Lvov, and was also an assistant to A. D. Zakharov in Gatchina. In 1803, for a program completed under his guidance, he received the Grand Gold Medal and went for an internship in Italy, where he studied in Rome with Professors Camporezi and Asprucci until November 1806.

Upon returning to St. Petersburg in early 1807, Dudin participated in the construction of the Kazan Cathedral. Thanks to the recommendations of the president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and commander of several Ural factories A. S. Stroganov, who was informed about his work in Italy, and at the request of engineer A. F. Deryabin, Semyon was sent in 1807 to the construction of the Izhevsk Arms Factory.

On March 9, 1807, Semyon and Yakov Dudins were enrolled in the staff of the Izhevsk factory. Upon arrival, Semyon carefully studied the local conditions and began designing the main buildings of the factory and drafting the master plan for the "future city of Izha." Officially, he was the architect of only the Izhevsk factory, but from 1808 he also worked on the development of the neighboring Votkinsk factory. On January 20, 1809, the project was sent along with samples of the first Izhevsk rifles to St. Petersburg for approval by Alexander I. Dudin based his plan on the principle of block development with a perpendicular street network, characteristic of Vasilievsky Island, where he was born. His Izhevsk constructions show a noticeable influence from the projects of French architect K. Ledoux, which he became acquainted with during his foreign internships.

Dudin's first building in Izhevsk was Deryabin's house. In the city, he also constructed the main building of the Izhevsk Arms Factory, the arsenal building, a mining school, the Trinity Church, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and other structures.

Dudin was the first professional architect in the territory of Udmurtia and the Vyatka region, the founder of Ural classicism. About 50 projects and constructions by the architect are known. For his successful activities in designing and constructing the "city of Izha," he was awarded the Order of Saint Anna III class and the Order of Saint Vladimir IV class.

In 1824, Dudin began negotiations for a transfer to the position of architect of the Don Army in Novocherkassk. His candidacy was immediately approved, and money was sent to Izhevsk for the move. However, in the midst of the arsenal's construction, on August 31, 1825, Semyon Emelyanovich passed away.

Semyon Emelyanovich was buried at the Nagornoye Cemetery in Izhevsk, where the Zenit Stadium is now located.

In January 2018, employees of the National Museum of the Udmurt Republic discovered a gravestone from Semyon Dudin's grave and transferred it to the museum.