Dr. Sarah Ackland (she/her) is a designer, feminist and architect (Bsc, MArch, PgDip, PhD, ARB). Her doctoral thesis ‘Taking Space: creative investigations of a feminist running practice’ (2020-2024) funded by the competitive Forshaw Scholarship explored the space women physically and psychologically ‘take up’ in London’s urbanism. The research aimed to document women’s running, offering a unique architectural contribution to previous social, cultural and political scholarship of women’s running.

She was supervised by Katie Lloyd Thomas, Juliet Odgers and Claire Harper whilst working as an Architect at muf architecture/art. She is interested in feminist studio practice and how public space can be more progressive for marginalised bodies and gendered experience of public space. Her thesis questions transformative spaces for bodies, her methods traverse through embodied, feminist and auto-ethnographic practices.

Sarah is a Design Tutor at the Welsh School of Architecture, she teaches History and Theory at the Architectural Association and at Newcastle University. She guest lectures across the UK and Europe.

She has exhibited her work publicly and is interested in ethical collaboration and commission.

PhD Thesis: Taking Space

Selected Publications

  • Upcoming: Ackland, S. ‘Recognising an Unequal City: From Drawing Space to Taking Space’, in Ecologies of Care ed. by Lieberman, O. Zambelli, A. (AHRA Routeledge, 2026).

  • Ackland, S. Bjerke, C. Laplace, R. Mortensen, S. ‘Being killjoys: Activist Practices for Architectural Disruptions’, in Building + Breaking: 8 Conversations about Spatial Justice, ed. by Joel Peter Weber Letkemann, Ricelli Laplace Resende, AAA Diversity Collaborative (The Danish Architectural Press / Arkitektens Forlag, 2024).

  • Ackland, S. ‘Taking Space’ Like the Wind, 43. (2024) pp. 70-75

  • Ackland, S. ‘(Emotional) Complexity and Contradiction’, in INCLUSION EMERGENCY, ed. by Grace Choi and Hannah Durham (RIBA Publishing, 2024).

  • Ackland, S. and Tutsch, S. Camden Active Spaces, in Generosity in Architecture, ed. McVicar, M., Kite, S., & Drozynski, C. (London: Routledge: 2022)

  • Ackland, S. Meziant, K. Pain, R. Varna, G. Vaughan, C. Safer Parks Standard, Newcastle University, 2022

  • Ackland, S. Revisiting the Collections: Forgotten Women, RIBA: London, 2021

Selected Conference Papers, Talks and Exhibitions

  • Taking Space: power, bodies & belonging, Strava & Runna Roundtable Talks. March 2026.

  • Taking Space: public space, the institution and a woman’s body, AHRA Conference: Body Matters, Norwich University of the Arts. November 2024.

  • Panel participation: London Sport: Unlocking Spaces for a healthier London, November 2024.

  • Panel participation: Festival of Place: Women’s safety, urban policing, politics and planning: How do we create gender inclusive places that are feminist by design, July 2024.

  • Roundtable: Unveiling the Unheard: Mapping and Beyond in Disrupting Dominant Narratives, Architectural Association, May 2024

  • SAHGB Conference Re-Reading and Understanding the Narratives of the Other, University of Birmingham, 2024. Paper: Performing the Problematic in collaboration with Dr. Jane Hall of Assemble

  • AHRA Ecologies of Care Conference, University of Portsmouth, 2023. Papers: Recognising an Unequal City & Running to Repair

  • Architecture 101: Questioning the Fundamentals. Newcastle University, 2023. Creative Practice Exhibition, titled Behind the Desk.

  • Taking Space III, Whitechapel Gallery, London 2023. (Programmed event)

  • How We Live Now: Project Space, Newcastle Contemporary Art Gallery, 2022. Exhibition, titles Behind the Desk & Running to Repair

  • Taking Space I, Newcastle Contemporary Art Gallery, 2022. (Programmed event)

  • Gender and Diversity in Architecture, Imagining Diverse Futures, Aarhus University, 2021. Conference, Paper: What is your activist practice?

  • AHRA PhD Symposium, Sheffield Hallam University, 2021. Conference, Paper: Transformative Spaces for Women

Funding grants

Forshaw Scholarship, Newcastle University (2020), Pioneer Award, Newcastle University (2021), Engagement Funding, Newcastle University (July 2022, November 2023), RIBA Research Fund (Granted in 2019 for 29% Equal)

Current and Past Clients

Nike, Strava, Notting Hill Genesis, Soar, London Sport, Runna, Festival of Place