Tania Sengupta

Tania Sengupta is an Associate Professor of Architectural History and Theory at The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, where she also serves as Co-Director of the Architectural and Urban History and Theory (AUHT) PhD programme. Previously, she served as Director of Architectural History and Theory at the Bartlett for nearly five years (from early 2019 to July 2023), one of the school's core streams of teaching and learning. Her academic journey includes teaching positions at TVB School of Habitat Studies in New Delhi and the University of Westminster before joining UCL in 2011.

Trained as an architect, urban designer, and architectural historian, Dr. Sengupta brings a multidisciplinary approach to her scholarship that combines archival research with fieldwork and oral history. Her research focuses on the architecture, urbanism, and continuing legacies of colonialism and imperialism in South Asia and global postcolonial contexts such as Britain, with particular interest in questions of (in)equity stemming from colonial inheritances and alternative epistemologies.

Her scholarly output reveals consistent thematic focus on colonial spatial cultures, particularly in Bengal and eastern India, with recent works exploring ephemeral architecture (like Kolkata's Durga Puja festival), gendered spaces, and the relationship between bureaucracy and built environments. Her publications span architectural history, postcolonial studies, and critical race theory, emphasizing non-Western perspectives and decolonial approaches through monographs, journal articles, and edited volumes.

Her major awards include:

• RIBA President's Award for Architectural History & Theory 2019
• RIBA President's Medal for Research 2019
• Shortlisted for Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) GB Colvin Prize 2020
• Paul Mellon Centre Mid-career Fellowship 2022
• Melbourne University's Macgeorge Fellowship 2024

As an educator, Dr. Sengupta has supervised approximately 50 postgraduate dissertations to completion, with several winning awards including the RIBA Research Awards and MAD Travel Fellowship. Her PhD students have explored diverse topics across global contexts including spaces of Somali migrants in Cape Town, architectural pedagogy in China, and early twentieth century architectural modernity in India. She is actively engaged in decolonizing architectural education through initiatives like the 'Race' and Space curriculum.

Dr. Sengupta serves as Co-Chief Editor of Architecture Beyond Europe (ABE), a journal focused on global architectural histories, and as Associate Editor of South Asian Studies. She represents the Bartlett at the Architectural Humanities Research Association and has held visiting research fellowships at institutions including Heidelberg University and Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient.