Professor Soumyen Bandyopadhyay

Stirling Chair of Architecture
Liverpool School of Architecture
University of Liverpool

Soumyen Bandyopadhyay is Stirling Chair of Architecture at the University of Liverpool. He has previously taught at Nottingham Trent University, Manchester Metropolitan University and University of Liverpool where he was the Master of Architecture Programme Leader and Founding Director of India in the World Research Centre.

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. His monograph, Manah: Omani Oasis, Arabian Legacy was published by Liverpool University Press in 2011. He has also completed an AHRC-funded study on the nature of modernity in Indian architecture, which has resulted in a co-authored book on the Rock Garden in Chandigarh (Liverpool 2007).

He has co-edited two books on the relationship between architectural practice and historical theory and humanities-based research (Black Dog 2007; Routledge 2010). He is currently working on a book regarding the role of site and context in architectural design (Routledge expected 2013).

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.

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