Sayan Skandarajah

Sayan Skandarajah is a Lecturer in the School of Architecture at the University of Reading, where he co-leads the second year of the BSc Architecture program and contributes extensively to design and visual communication modules across all undergraduate years. He is also a PhD candidate at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, focusing on drawing-led research and the representation of cities.

His research centers on architectural imagination, storytelling, and allegorical design, with a particular emphasis on non-Western representations of urban space and the use of parallel projection. He is the co-curator of the Cartographies of the Imagination project, an ongoing interdisciplinary exploration into map-making, drawing, and mental imagery, supported by funding from the London Arts and Humanities Partnership and The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.

His publications reflect a deep engagement with Japanese drawing traditions, especially Rakuchu Rakugai Zu, and speculative practices that challenge Western representational norms. The themes across his articles include cultural hybridity in architectural drawing, temporal representation, and the visualization of immaterial urban experiences.

• Into the Clouds of Rakuchu Rakugai Zu: Eastern< >Western Drawing Tolerance Critiqued through Speculative Drawing Practices (2019)
• Imaginal Cloud Spaces (2019)
• Cartographies of the Imagination (2021, co-edited)

He has received recognition for his design work, including a distinction for his MArch thesis Curating an Egalitarian Territory at The Bartlett. His research has been presented internationally and included in academic publications and seminars.

Sayan supervises undergraduate design work and contributes to academic tutoring within the department. His teaching spans design studios, history and theory, and digital visualization. He is actively involved in research grants and collaborative projects, particularly those bridging architectural practice, pedagogy, and cognitive representation.

He is affiliated with the Urban Living research group at the University of Reading and maintains an active research practice through his personal website and collaborative platforms. His work integrates design, scholarship, and creative experimentation in architectural representation.