SPACECHASE - Key Persons
Aymelek Kozikoğlu, is a graduate of Bogazici University Istanbul, 1986, with a masters degree in international banking from the Heriott-Watt University Edinburgh, 1993. She runs administrative practices at Urban Atolye. Kozikoglu had over two decades of work experience in banking, finance specially on derivative and investment banking products.
Büşra Balaban is an architect and graduate student in Architectural Design Master Program at Istanbul Technical University. She received her bachelor degree of Architecture and did a minor of Industrial Product Design in the same university. In 2016, she studied in Venice IUAV University as an exchange student.
In 2019, she assisted with several graduate level architectural design studios in ITU and has been a scholarship student in this research project. Currently, she is working as a research assistant in Beykent University.
Job Titles:
- Architect
- UI & Architectural Designer / University of Toronto
Ceylin Öz is an architect and UI/UX Designer. After completing her degree on Architectural Design and Environmental Sustainability in 2017, she has worked with copious design collectives in Canada, England and Turkey.
Since 2021, she has been working at Urban Atolye in the development of SpaceChase gaming platform.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture
- Project Head / Istanbul Technical University
Dr. Pelin Dursun Çebi is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University. Her PhD thesis focused on morphological analyses of home environments in the city of Trabzon. Dr. Dursun has been a visiting scholar at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, CARDO, UK. and at The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies. She has been a member of many research and design teams national and international number of design projects including student social centres, conference rooms and research-educational spaces in different faculties of ITU.
Her research interests focus on architectural design, architectural design education, architectural morphology and space syntax. Dr. Dursun currently teaches at the Architectural Design Group of ITU Faculty of Architecture both at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Job Titles:
- Design Researcher
- Project Co - Coordinator / Istanbul Bilgi University
Dr. Tuğrul Yazar is a computational design researcher - architect. He studied architecture at Yıldız Technical University and received his doctorate degree in 2009 from the same school's Computer-aided Architecture program in 2009. He has publications on computational design and production technologies. Since 2010, he has taught design geometry, design computing, mathematics, parametric modeling and basic design courses at Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Architecture.
He's sharing a part of his research on his blog at designcoding.net. In 2016, he published the first Turkish book in this research field titled, "Parametric Modeling with Grasshopper". In addition to academic publications, he is a computational design consultant and workshop tutor. The works of the POTPlus research group, established together with Fulya Akipek were exhibited in various exhibitions and biennials.
Gökhan Karakuş, is the author of the books Tasarıma Türk Dokunuşu (2007) and Turkish Architecture Now (2009), and works as a critic, theorist and designer. Some of the major themes his work evolves around are locality and modernism in design, architecture and urbanism. While contributing to publications such as Wallpaper, ID, Art Unlimited and Icon, he became the editor-in-chief of Natura magazine, which focuses on stone architecture in today's Eurasia region, sponsored by IMIB. He was the nominee and supervisor of the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture and the Mies van der Rohe European Contemporary Architecture Awards. He has lectured at Istanbul Technical University, Bilgi University and Politecnico di Milano.
Currently, he manages a web design firm called E-Medya, an electronic services design, development and auditing company based in Istanbul.
He worked as a curator in many architectural and design-oriented exhibitions held in Istanbul, London, and New York. He continues to work actively on vernacular solutions applied in modern designs focusing on local cultures. He was recently appointed as a Member of the Advisory Board of the Istanbul Design Biennial 2016.
Job Titles:
- Architect
- Researcher / Istanbul Technical University
Melike Sena Erden is an architect and a graduate student at the Architectural Design Master Program in Istanbul Technical University. She received her bachelor's degree in architecture from Abdullah Gül University in 2018.
She has been a voluntary assistant to graduate level architectural design studios in ITU and Medipol University and a scholarship student in this research project since 2020.
Nilüfer Kozikoğlu is a graduate of Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, 1995, with a masters degree in architecture and urban design from the Architectural Association, School of Architecture, London, 2003. She runs her architectural design practice at NK agency for architecture, prototypical design works at Urban Atolye.
Job Titles:
- Social Media Strategist & Content Designer / Istanbul Bilgi University Student Council
Okan Tasgin, is a freelance designer and architect focusing on computer - based design methodologies. He received his bachelor's degree in Architecture from Istanbul Bilgi University in 2022. He has participated in various workshops about architectural design and visualization with different academics and artists.
Since 2021, he has been the Founding President of the Bilgi University Architectural Student Community @kazandibilgi and Vice President of the Bilgi University Student Council. He also works freelance for companies and has been leading his own design practice.
Job Titles:
- Freelance Architect - Programmer
Oğulcan Üneşi is a freelance architect-programmer focused on computational design and a graduate student at Istanbul Bilgi University. He received his bachelor's degree of Architecture from Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University in 2017 and his master's degree of Advanced Architecture from Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IaaC) in 2018.
Job Titles:
- Researcher / Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University
Çağla Yılmaz is an architecture student at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, working to complete her undergraduate degree.
Since 2021, she has been voluntarily assisting Urban Atolye in the development of SpaceChase and has led several workshops both online and in person.