Sarah Manning

Sarah Manning is a co-founder and Strategy Director of Spaceagency, where she has set the company’s direction in experience design, wayfinding and strategic planning. She began her career in user interface design in Silicon Valley, before working at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on travelling exhibitions. She later became Associate Director at Space Syntax Ltd, a spin-off of University College London’s Advanced Architectural Studies, applying research into spatial structure and user behaviour to complex urban environments.

At Spaceagency, she has led strategic planning and experience design for complex, multi-stakeholder projects for international companies and cities, bringing together user experience, information design and urbanism. She is a joint author of The Spaceagency Guide to Wayfinding. Her London Pedestrian Routemap was exhibited at New London Architecture’s “Public City” exhibition. Her work has also been exhibited at the Design Museum as part of Woman at Work and Somerset House.

Sarah was a founding Trustee of Architecture for Humanity UK, a judge for the 2017 D&AD international design awards and a UK Finalist for HSBC’s Women in Business Forward Ladies award. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Bartlett School of Architecture and has taught, lectured and served as a critic at the Royal College of Art, Architectural Association, UC Berkeley and many other international institutions. She was a keynote speaker at the Australian Institute of Architects National Conference 2018, XIV Quito Architectural Biennale, the University of Brighton’s Politics of Space Symposium, the Space Syntax 6th International Symposium in Istanbul and numerous other design events and festivals.

Sarah holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Design Research Laboratory at the Architectural Association and a BA in International Comparative Studies, magna cum laude, from Duke University.