Yeditepe University Campus, Istanbul, June-July 2026. Developed within the Erasmus+ KA171 collaboration between Yeditepe University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), this design/build workshop brought together academics and students to design and construct a full-scale seating and landscape installation on the Yeditepe University campus. The project explored the relationship between digital design, material experimentation, and hands-on making. Initially developed through parametric design methods, the form was adapted during construction in response to site conditions and the material properties of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks. This iterative process allowed students to experience how design decisions are transformed through material and construction at full scale. The final stage expanded the collaboration across disciplines, with Architecture and Fine Arts students developing mural and graffiti interventions for the constructed form. The installation became part of an ongoing series of design/build projects transforming a previously underused outdoor area into a shared campus space shaped through successive acts of student making.
ARKA BLOK
Design/Build | 2026 Workshop
CREDITS
The project was completed through the joint contributions of the Department of Architecture at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), the Department of Architecture at Yeditepe University, and the Faculty of Fine Arts at Yeditepe University.
Project Facilitators: Sheikh Ahsan Ullah Mojumder, Tahajibul Hossain (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology) & Bahar Aktuna, Nilay Yurtsever, Pınar Çalışır Adem, Esra Karahan (Department of Architecture, Yeditepe University)
Student Participants: Duygu Nisa Aydoğdu, Gökçe Gölge, Müge Elçi, Efe Gökçebağ, Ezgican Sıla Karakoç, Melisa Koratesh, Nuray Hasanova, Ezgi Sever (Faculty of Architecture) & Duru Sargut, Zeynep Asmalı (Faculty of Fine Arts)
With the support of: Erasmus Plus, DYO Boya, Türk Ytong Sanayi A.Ş., and Yeditepe University Faculty of Architecture
Istanbul, November 2023. Phase Zero was a design/build workshop conducted in Ataşehir, Istanbul, focusing on the potential of existing urban park infrastructure to support immediate post-disaster shelter. Working with students and the local municipality, the workshop began with the mapping of neighborhood parks and the analysis of their existing spatial and structural elements. Playground structures were selected for further investigation, and students developed a series of full-scale design/build experiments exploring how existing elements could be temporarily adapted using repurposed materials including textiles, timber, and rope. The workshop tested different ways of working with structures such as A-frame swing sets, benches, and poles, developing temporary additions and connections for shelter, enclosure, platforms, and privacy
FAZ SIFIR
Design/Build | 2023 Workshop
CREDITS
Project Facilitators: Charlie Hailey (University of Florida) & Berna Göl, Bahar Aktuna, Nilay Yurtsever, Esra Karahan, Burçin Başyazıcı, Aras Kahraman, Cüneyt Akıntürk (Yeditepe University)
Student Participants: Eylül Nur Dinç, Berna Kural, Zeynep Sude Koca, Zeynep Zerrin Erkol, Öykü Jeyan Taşdan, Elif Kızıl, Özgü Su Toptaş, Duygu Nisa Aydoğdu, Huriye Özge Şengözen, Deniz Doksat, Beyza Nur Şevval Ulubey, Ilgın Altun, Nazlı Sena Ceylan, Sude Filiz, Müge Elçi, Ezgi Sever, Rana Çeltek, Yaren Turna, Umay Ülker, Serra Nur Çalışkan, Gökçe Gölge, Begüm Düzer, Orçun Çarlık, Atamer Yavuzarslan
Kartal, Istanbul, Spring 2023. Developed through the Design/Build course in collaboration with İPA, the Karlıktepe project engaged students in the transformation of a public open space in Kartal through community-based, full-scale making. The process began with site analysis and conversations with local residents, which identified a need for additional seating in the neighborhood. Students collectively developed a family of curved seating elements using reclaimed timber sourced through İBB Park ve Bahçeler Müdürlüğü, moving between drawing, model-making, material studies, workshop fabrication, and construction on site. Working directly with excavation, ground preparation, concrete, mortar, timber assembly, and finishing allowed design decisions to be continually tested and adjusted through the realities of construction.
KÖŞE KARLIKTEPE
Design Build | 2023 Spring
CREDITS
Course Instructors: Bahar Aktuna, Esra Karahan
Students: Melis Acar, Cihan Akkum, Cansu Aktaş, Haci Batikan Atila, Özgür Aytaç, Muhammed Enes Aziret, Nazlı Sena Ceylan, Sude Filiz, Yusuf Güler, Emine Selen Şahin, Mehmet Emin Şeker, Doğa Taşarkuyu, Öykü Jeyan Taşdan, Elçin Nur Türeli
Tectonic Matters | 2022 Fall
SEMPERIAN PAVILION
CREDITS
Course Instructors: Bahar Aktuna (University of Florida) & Erum Ahmed (Guest Instructor, Perkins Eastman)
Students: Ödül Okur, Elif Piskintaş, Melis Acar, Şiir Ayoğlu, Hasan Murad Çobanoğlu, Faris Kishi, Ahmet Vefa Aktaş, Neris Ersoy, Feride Dilan, Oğuzhan Tekin, Orhun Doğukan Buhur, Yusuf Güler, Selen Özmehak, Bengi Su Kurtuluş, Doğukan Şanlı, Salih Güney, Orçun Mert Çarlık, Merve Özer, Şevval Buket Yılmazgöz, Dilek Birgün, Serdar Çelikkol
Yeditepe University Campus, Istanbul, Fall 2022. Developed as the full-scale project of the Tectonic Matters course, the timber pavilion explored tectonics through the relationship between design, material, detail, and making. Following theoretical studies, case analyses, and hands-on exercises, students worked with Semperian tectonic paradigms and their corresponding modes of making—casting, assembling, and weaving—to collectively design and construct a social space for an underused campus courtyard. The class developed four interconnected tectonic systems—footing, frame, skin, and seating—through cast concrete footings, an assembled timber frame, movable seating elements, and a woven rope canopy. The full-scale construction became a means of testing how material properties, connections, and processes of making could actively inform architectural design.
Design/Build | 2022 Workshop
ARKA
CREDITS
Project Facilitators: Charlie Hailey (University of Florida) & Bahar Aktuna, Ece Ceylan Baba, Berna Göl, Burçin Başyazıcı, Esra Karahan, Giuseppe Resta, Cem Topçu, Eren Okar, Nilay Yurtsever, Erdal Kondakçı (Yeditepe University)
Student Participants: Alphan B. Tevetoğlu, Bahar Irmak, Berna Kural, Buse E. Kule, Ece Özkan, Erzan Fettah, Esra Güney, Deniz Doksat, Elif Kızıl, Eylül N. Dinç, Lara Portakal, Melis Acar, Nazlı S. Ceylan, Salih Güney, Sırma Evcen, Umay Ülker
With the support of: TÜBİTAK BİDEB, Gerflor Group, Türk Ytong Sanayi A.Ş., and Yeditepe University Project Management Office
Yeditepe University Campus, Istanbul, June 2022. The ’22 Design/Build Workshop focused on exchange was a six-day intensive workshop at Yeditepe University that brought together architecture students and faculty to design and construct a full-scale outdoor learning space on campus. Conceived as an extension of the classroom into the landscape, the project explored alternative settings for sitting, gathering, studying, exchanging ideas, and informal teaching. The workshop began with site analysis, sketching, and collective design discussions. Full-scale prototypes were then constructed directly on the sloping site, allowing participants to test scale, material, structure, and spatial relationships through what was described during the workshop as sketching with material. Design and construction continued simultaneously as students worked in groups, developing the project through direct engagement with timber, AAC blocks, tools, details, connections, and ground conditions. The resulting installation, X-Change Unit, comprised four interconnected structures developed as a shared place for exchange within the university campus.
