Born and raised in de western coastal city of Izmir, Turkey, she knew from a young age she wanted to be a designer. Excelling in math and physics, but also good at drawing and interested in art, the choice for architecture was quickly made. After her bachelor in Ankara, she moved to Milan to do an internship on retail design as well as studying at the Polytech University.

For her master’s degree she moved to Delft where she focussed on complex projects and was member of the team that designed an integral plan for the recovery and revival of the city of Beirut, Lebanon. Her focus was the design of a partly underground cultural center, functioning as a kind of hospital for art works, and as a new platform for Lebanese artists living in the diaspora, to reintegrate and be part of a new cultural infrastructure for the city, that is badly damaged by civil war, the huge explosion in the port and the recent collapse of government institutions.

Right after her graduation she found a job at ZJA, which attracted her because of the attention for public architecture and big and complex projects. At ZJA she looks forward to exploring and learning many different aspects of the design process, from the conceptual to the practical, and from the technical aspect to the research that ZJA undertakes. 

What does she like to do when not working? 

‘I am fond of traveling, sailing and surfing. But I also like to visit museums and go horse back riding. I miss being around my St Bernhard dog, she is staying at my parent’s in Izmir now.’