Dr Kerstin Sailer in her favourite building: The British Library

I am a Professor in the Sociology of Architecture at the Space Syntax Laboratory at UCL‘s Bartlett School of Architecture, where I lead the module ‘Buildings Organisations Networks’ in the MSc ‘Space Syntax: Architecture and Cities‘.

I am interested in buildings and their usage, or in other words, the relationship between spatial configuration, organisational structure and social dynamics in the built environment. My main area of interest are office buildings and workplace environments, but also hospitals and schools. I work with a variety of methods, including ‘Space Syntax‘, Social Network Analysis, Observation Techniques, Questionnaires and Interviews.

Being a trained architect, I have worked in consultancy as well as architectural research.

I believe in evidence-based design, i.e. a design practice that takes scientific evidence on the relationship between built form and behaviours into account when taking design decisions.

Together with Ros Pomeroy I have founded the think-tank brainybirdz to advance scientific thinking in workplace design.