Visualising your future: Narinder Sagoo, Foster + Partners

Designer and alumnus Narinder Sagoo talks about his experiences at The Bartlett and his rise to Senior Partner at Foster + Partners.

Narinder Sagoo and Norman Foster, Foster Partners' London office.听*Credit: Nigel Young / Foster Partners*

When Narinder Sagoo was seven years old, he was told to stop drawing as he鈥檇 never make any money out of it.

Now a Senior Partner at Foster + Partners, his desk is covered with pastels and pots of ink. In fact, as Head of Foster + Partners鈥� 20-strong Design Communications team, Sagoo is responsible for the visual representation of all the practice鈥檚 projects, from sketches through to photorealistic representation. The Bartlett helped set him up for this role, he says, giving him 鈥渁 huge sense of resilience and discipline鈥�.

After graduating with a first-class honours degree in architecture from Leeds Metropolitan University, followed by a year鈥檚 placement at Foster + Partners, he joined The Bartlett School of Architecture鈥檚 Unit 21, run by CJ Lim and Christine Hawley.

顿谤辞苍别辫辞谤迟.听*Credit: Narinder Sagoo / Foster Partners*

鈥淚t was the toughest two years of training as an architect and I would happily do it again.鈥� He describes Lim as an artist who was 鈥渃onceptual in thinking and pushed my brain鈥�. Meanwhile, Hawley, he explains, 鈥渢aught us how to design real buildings that could really work鈥�.

Sagoo returned to Foster + Partners after graduating from The Bartlett in 1999 and, at 24, became the youngest ever associate. 鈥淚 had this thing in my head that I wanted to work听with听Norman and not just听for听him, and through a shared passion of drawing I鈥檝e worked with him closely.鈥�

Beijing Airport.听*Credit: Narinder Sagoo / Foster Partners*

He learnt from The Bartlett not to believe in visualisation. 鈥淰isualisation is what you get someone at the end of the [design] process to produce. My team move around, assisting every team in the studio. We use drawing as a way of asking questions and working with the client to iron out misunderstandings or presumptions. We will sit next to clients and draw, rather than them just seeing polished renders every two months.鈥�

Drawing in the digital age

On his drawing technique, Sagoo feels he was lucky to have studied just before the CAD age, so 鈥渨e were all drawing by hand鈥�. Now, he draws with an Apple Pencil and iPad, because it gives him the freedom to draw on the bus, present animated drawings to a client and share his work digitally. 鈥淒igital gives us flexibility.鈥�

Sagoo鈥檚 team has a relationship with iPad software developers, meaning that they get to test software before it鈥檚 available to the public. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l code software to meet our needs, so we鈥檙e always ahead of the game,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I haven鈥檛 lost touch with paper and pencil and paint.鈥�

Prado Museum Extension.听*Credit: Foster Partners*

His plan is to connect more to The Bartlett and UCL, and 鈥渢alk to people who are studying topics including the visual arts, and the psychology of space and colour, because that鈥檚 where we think the future is鈥�.

Sagoo, who is Sikh and wears a turban, is one of the champions for ethnicity in the workplace at Foster + Partners. 鈥淚t creates a workforce that reflects our clients and the ethics and values that we want to be represented with,鈥� he explains. 鈥淢y belief is that we shouldn鈥檛 try to fit in when we鈥檙e born to stand out.鈥�

The Bartlett is the UK鈥檚 largest multidisciplinary faculty of the built environment.听Explore our full range of听postgraduate courses, the听study and research resources, and听technical facilities on offer, and听the scholarships opportunities available to you.听听

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Visualising your future: Narinder Sagoo, Foster + Partners

Drawing in the digital age

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