Soumyen Bandyopadhyay is the Stirling Chair of Architecture and currently serves as Head of School of Architecture at the University of Liverpool. He is the founder and director of the ArCHIAM research center.
Prof Soumyen Bandyopadhyay
Sir James Stirling Chair in Architecture
Head of School of Architecture
Director of the ArCHIAM Centre
Biography
Soumyen’s teaching and research interests are focused on the historical, theoretical and contextual approaches to architectural design and the art and architecture of India and the Middle East. Soumyen has extensive experience of architectural practice in India and the Middle East.
Soumyen has researched and published widely on aspects of Omani and Arabian vernacular architecture, supported by grants from the Government of Oman, the AHRC, the Historical Association of Oman and the US government.
He has been involved as advisor and lead contributor to a number of prestigious projects in the Middle East, including the Bahla World Heritage Site and the Muscat Urban Renewal projects in Oman.
Soumyen Bandyopadhyay had previously held professorial positions at the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) and Nottingham Trent University. At MSA Soumyen headed the Architecture research group. At Nottingham Trent University, he led the REF submission for Architecture, Built Environment and Planning (Unit C16), where he was Research Coordinator for the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment. Before taking up his first professorial appointment at Nottingham Trent he taught at Liverpool and Leeds Metropolitan University.
He continues to undertake advisory and consultancy work in urban development, regeneration, architectural and urban design, and conservation.
Research, scholarly and professional interests
Traditional settlement, architecture, and culture of Oman and the Middle East
- Oasis settlements of Oman and the Middle East: urban structure, morphology, typology
- Arab-Omani social history; tribal organisation; Islamic and pre-Islamic cultural and social ideas
- Modern Arab and Omani built environments conservation and development within historical context
Trajectories of modernity in Indian architecture and art
- Modernism and modernity since the early-19th century
- Colonial architecture/minor colonial presences
- India’s post-Independence architecture
Architectural design and design theory
- Urban planning and design in the Middle East
- Heritage site management and development plans urban renewal and regeneration designing within historical contexts
Publications
Affiliations
Present
- University of Liverpool
Past
- Manchester Metropolitan University
- Nottingham Trent University
- University of Leeds
Areas of expertise
- Architecture
- Architectural History
- Social History
