Dr. Meral Ekincioglu

Welcome to my page,

Trained as an architect, I am a scholar with a Ph.D. degree and my scholarly endeavor is based on problem-centered research in architecture. More specifically, I am a scholar in postwar architecture history and the subjects of my current academic study are politics of gender, multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion in my expertise field. In this respect, I conducted my advanced academic research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture Program for two years (1) after my Ph.D. degree in Architecture at Istanbul Technical University. My scholarly project brings into focus a critical insight into the politics of gender in institutional policies, academia, the profession, education, history and history-writing, and examines cross-cultural relations and transnational (design) practice in postwar architecture. Following my productive research process at MIT, I am currently developing the manuscript for my book, and conducting my new research project to “unfold” hidden and silent voices of underrepresented communities in multicultural context of (the US) architecture (history) that is supported by participation of MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.

Based on my advanced academic and archival research during my studies at the MIT, HTC Program, I presented my scholarly project and findings at the MIT-HTC Program, the International Women in Architecture Symposium at Virginia Tech., the MIT-Women’s and Gender Studies Program Intellectual Forum Series, the Women’s Studies Speaker Series organized by Center for the Study of Women and Society at the CUNY-Graduate Center, Harvard University for a talk series organized by New England Turkish Student Association, the 71st Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) - Annual International Conference where I was awarded by a SAH Fellowship. In addition, I was a panelist at “A Convergence at the Confluence of Power, Identity and Design” organized by the Women in Design Group at the Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, and at “A Square and Half - The Colors, A Tribute by Ivaana Muse” at the MIT Museum. In my expertise field, I am an author and a contributor of two international publication projects on women architects (forthcoming 2021).

In order to stimulate critical awareness of gender and women in architecture (in its profession, practice, education, history and historiography), and to give an impetus for new collections in those fields, I created and developed the collection, "Women in Modern and Contemporary Territories of Turkish Architecture" at MIT. Conducted for Archnet, online source of MIT and named one of the top 20 architecture websites by the Global Grid in 2016 (2), this is the first project on documenting the leading figures of the first and the second generations of Turkish women architects as a digital collection, open to international scholars and based on my scholarly research, literature review and texts. In addition, I am a certificate holder by Consortium for Graduate Studies, Gender, Culture, Women & Sexuality (GCWS) at MIT.

In light of my expertise field in architecture, my aim is also to contribute to heated discussions on full citizenship in today’s academia and society through architecture history, theory and criticism. On this basis, I was one of the speakers at WikiConference North America (MIT, 2019), and will speak at the 51st NeMLA Annual Convention organized by Boston University. I am also a contributor of the first exhibition on Citizen Tales Commons at the Emerson College-New Urban Art Gallery.

As a special Turkish fellow, I began my Ph.D. dissertation research at the Harvard University, Aga Khan History of Art and Architecture, Ph.D. Program in 2006, conducted it for 10 months, and continued this advanced academic research at the Columbia University, Graduate School of Planning and Preservation, Ph.D. Program as a research scholar (2008-2009). Based on my dissertation research at Harvard and Columbia universities, I completed the first Ph.D. dissertation on the practice history of Tekeli-Sisa Architecture Partnership (1954, Istanbul-present) and obtained my Ph.D. degree in Architecture at Istanbul Technical University in 2011. My secondary academic fields are sociology, theory and the modern history of the architecture profession, modernization of architectural design practice, relationship between the design architect and the client, and their historical thresholds in postwar Turkey.

While conducting my Ph.D. dissertation research at Harvard and Columbia universities, I presented my two academic papers at "Media in Transition 5 and 6", two international conferences organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Comparative Media Studies in 2007 and in 2009. With my editorial background and scholarly formation, my academic papers discuss the historical progress of professional architectural journalism, its significant editors, their journalistic criticism, recent development in architectural media in Turkey and their impact on the built-environment in the country.

With my editorial and architectural background on modern Turkey along with my scholarly perspective, I also conducted an extensive project on "Arkitekt", the leading professional architectural journal published in modern Turkey (1931-1981) for Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals at Columbia University while conducting my Ph.D. dissertation research at that academic institution in 2008-2009. Entering 50 years of architectural data (1931-1981) from modern and contemporary Turkish architecture, editors, architectural historians, critics, practitioners, etc., my contribution to Avery Index to Architectural Periodical was to support scholarly research on alternative modern and contemporary architectural examples in relation to my native country and its unique architectural culture in between East and West.

In order to bring into focus the creative potential of diversity and multicultural perspective as related to immigrant architects and underrepresented communities in the U.S. architecture, I conducted two short documentary film projects in 2017 and in 2016. My most recent short documentary film project, “Unfolding the Turkish Chapter at Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Architecture” aims to indicate the lack of undocumented backgrounds of women and gender in the U.S. architecture education. My second short documentary film project elaborates the educational background and professional career of the first woman architect from the Princeton University, School of Architecture. Following my advanced academic research project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, my descriptive text on this short documentary film was published by Architexx. This short documentary film was the top video among the video collection of Archnet, online source of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 2016. In addition, I conducted a short architectural film project on the MIT, non-denominational Chapel, a significant iconic architectural design by Eero Saarinen, a Finnish-American architect in postwar U.S. in the MIT campus’ postwar architecture. All of those short documentary and architectural films are based on my scholarly and archival research, text and were aired in the U.S. in 2016 and in 2017.*

I received my Bachelor and Master degrees in Architecture from Istanbul Technical University. Following my education, I maintained productive dialogs and collaboration with Turkish academia by promoting critical discussion platforms to re-evaluate existing curriculums and the academic agenda. In relation to my master thesis (1996), I took the first step with Prof. Dr. Safak Ural at the Department of Philosophy at Istanbul University to organize “Architecture and Philosophy I”, the first national symposium which offered a rich academic platform to discuss the influence of philosophy on architecture through the extensive participation of philosophers, professors and practitioners in Turkish architecture. Bringing together professors, scholars, critics in Turkish architecture and in the field of philosophy, I served as its organizing committee member and delivered my published presentation (2001). Considering its success and positive feedbacks, this first academic event turned into a national symposium series organized under various philosophy-architecture themes. Prior to Istanbul Technical University, I pursued my education at the Erenkoy Girls High School founded in Istanbul in 1911 and one of the oldest surviving girls' high schools in modern Turkey.

In Istanbul, I taught advanced architectural design studio and various courses related to the history, theory and discourse of 20th century modern and contemporary architecture and its practice at the Yeditepe University, Department of Architecture. Established in 1996, Yeditepe University is one of the well-known foundation universities in the Republic of Turkey. All courses by the Department of Architecture are offered in English and the university is a signatory to Student Exchange Protocols with over 30 universities in the United States.

In the end of the 1990s, I began to work as the architectural journalist and the editor in Istanbul. As the co-founding editor and the foreign affairs representative at the leading architectural journals of Turkey (Tasarim in 1996; Arredamento Mimarlik in 1999-2001; PORTFOLYO in 2002-2005), I established very nurturing and communicative dialog with academia, professionals and design practitioners in Turkish and world/global architecture. Having numerous published articles, interviews, translations, my 19 editorial monographs are available at leading academic libraries in the U.S., such as at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library of Columbia University, the Frances Loeb Library of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the Rotch Library of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Architecture & Planning. As the general publishing coordinator and architectural journalist, I always put my readers’ learning needs at the forefront of my investigative journalism through my highly informed research and writings. As a professional practitioner in architecture, I worked for various architectural offices and firms in Istanbul in the 1990s. In 1996, my graduation project was nominated as the award candidate at the Fifth National Architecture Awards organized by the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, and I partipated in the Fifth National Architecture Awards Exhibition with this project.

I am the member of the Middle East Studies Association (2017-present), Society of Architectural Historian (2017-present), the friend of Boston Society of Architects (2015-present), Society of American Archivist (2018-present), the honorary member of the World Architecture Community (2008-present) and the Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA, 2019-present). Based on my scholarly studies, my biographical information has taken its place at the Biographical Database of the International Archive of Women in Architecture, a joint program of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the University Libraries at Virginia Tech.

In addition to my scholarly studies and projects in architecture, my another mission is to support creative artistic, cultural events and inclusive approach in architecture, academia and society in various ways: I volunteered for the organization of KidsBuild! held at Boston Society of Architects space (2019), the 25th Harvard Arts First Festival (2017), the Common Boston Festival by Boston Society of Architects Foundation (2017), was a singer at the MIT’s Women Chorale (2006-2007), organized two piano recitals by Gulsin Onay (a world renowned Turkish woman virtuoso in Western classical music and the soloist of the Presidential Symphony in Ankara) at MIT and Harvard University (in collaboration with the MIT-Turkish Student Association and the Harvard-College-Turkish Student Association in 2015), have been playing and singing to support local artists in Cambridge-Boston, and for elders in collaboration with an organization in Boston, and took a part of Mayor Marty Walsh's campaing to support his agenda on equity and inclusion for the social and cultural progress of Boston. I am a member at the MIT’s Women League (2014-present) and Harvard Neighbors (2006-2007; 2017-present).

As a contributor of SAHARA, a digital image archive developed by the Society of Architectural Historians in collaboration with Artstor and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, architectural photography is my deep-interest. In addition, I am a fanatic appreciator of some electro/acoustic guitarists and bass players (in jazz, jazz-rock/fusion and progressive rock, like Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Eberhard Weber, Dave Holland, Mike Stern, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John McLaughlin and Robert Fripp), and singing with my acoustic guitar (lead vocal in alternative and folk rock as the rhythm guitar) is one of the deepest ways for me to connect with my inner-self and establish a creative dialog with people.

For any inquiries, please contact me directly.
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Thank you for reading my page;

Meral Ekincioglu, Ph.D.

meral@meralekincioglu.com

meralekincioglu.blogspot.com

(1) My advanced academic research project at the MIT, HTC Program examines the postwar history of Turkish women architects with my specific research problem and is also the first scholarly and advanced study on the early women architects from the Princeton University, School of Architecture (Class of 1970 and 1971). I met those women architects in person, Professor Robert Geddes, the first dean of the Princeton University, School of Architecture and discussed my findings. As those women architects expressed, there is no scholarly study on their career hi/story, and Professor Robert Geddes, the pioneering professor at the SoA to admit early women architecture students told that he does not know any research study on the early women architects from the Princeton University, SoA. (The sound record of my conversation with him is in my personal archive). Following this, I visited Beverly Willis, the founder of Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (2016) and shared my findings on those women architects. As she expressed, she does not know any research or publication on early women architects from the Princeton University, SoA. When I contacted Professor Mary McLeod, a feminist architecture historian at Columbia University, GSAPP, all architecture historians at the Princeton University, School of Architecture, Monica Ponce de Leon, the woman dean of the Princeton University, School of Architecture, President of Princeton University by e-mail and asked for their scholarly, architectural views or any comments / contributions to my advanced academic research on the early women architects from that school (2015-2016), none of them shared scholarly or architectural research, publication, comments or contributions to this research subject. In addition, I could not reach a study on this subject at the library of the Princeton University, School of Architecture. (2014-2016). In the final of my advanced academic research at the MIT-HTC, I shared my detailed research file to the Head of Program and Rafael Reif, the MIT President, My all presentations as a speaker and an invited speaker (2016-2018) are based on my advanced academic research project at the MIT, HTC Program (2014-2016). The academic sponsor of my advanced academic research project is the MIT, HTC Program and "all rights reserved".

(2) For MIT-Archnet Award, see: https://akpia.mit.edu/blog/archnet-named-one-top-20-architecture-sites-2016, accessed on 1.5.2019

* These short documentary and architectural films were produced by Turkish American TV under the direction of Dr. Hurriyet Aydin Ok. In 2007, Turkish American TV Television received the Community Service Award from the Turkish-American Association of Washington, DC (ATA-DC) and was also awarded by the Community Access Magic (CAM) Awards in the International Category from Prince George's County Community TV (PGCTV)in 2007 and 2008. The most recently, TATV received "Excellence in Media" Award at the 32. Annual National Turkish American Convention organized by the Assembly of Turkish American Association (ATAA), the Federation of Turkish American Associations (FTAA) and Turkish American Cultural Centers (TACC) in 2012.

• Ekinci oglu, M., 2006-2007, Theory and History of the Architecture Profession.

(with essential principles of a Ph.D. in Architecture).
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(Special Turkish Fellow, the Harvard University, History of Art and Architecture, Ph.D. Program; academic sponsor: Harvard University.)

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• Ekincioglu, M., 2007, 2008-2009, Early History of Architectural Record.

(with a specific research problem and time period).

(A systematic and close-reading on its founding and early editors’ articles, Ph.D. dissertations, scholarly essays and architectural articles on professional architecture journalism, in-person appointments with Robert Ivy, Dr. Suzanne Stephens, John Morris Dixon, William Menking, e-correspondences with some pioneering architecture journalists in the U.S. with suggestions by Dr. Suzanne Stephens and Architectural Record, attending the course on history of architectural criticism offered by Dr. Suzanne Stephens at Barnard College as a non-registered, guest scholar with her permission throughout the 2008-2009 academic term, etc.).

• Ekincioglu, M., 2008-200 9 , Robert Gutman Papers Collection

(with a specific research problem and time period).
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(Research Scholar, the Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Ph.D. Program; academic sponsor: Columbia University.)

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• Ekincioglu, M., 2008-2009, the Practice History of the SOM-NYC in the 1960s-1970s

(with a specific research problem).

(A systematic, in-depth, archive-based research study on four significant architectural buildings designed under Gordon Bunshaft’s leadership; with support by the SOM-NYC Office; a close reading on Ph.D. dissertations, monographs, scholarly essays, architectural articles, oral history project with leading design partners and remarkable team members of SOM, some archival materials from Avery Drawings and Archive at Columbia University.)
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(Research Scholar, the Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Ph.D. Program; academic sponsor: Columbia University.)

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• Ekincioglu, M., 2014-2016, Uncovering Education and Professional Career Herstory of Turkish and Turkish-American Women Architects in Postwar U.S. (with a spesific research problem, time period, theoretical analysis).

(With MIT's academic sponsorship, systematic, advanced, in-depth archive-based academic research project as one of the significant feminist cases from a modern and secular Middle East region in multicultural U.S. architecture. Systematic archival research at MIT, Harvard University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Vassar College, the American Institute of Architects' records, IWIA at Virginia Tech., systematic archival research in Istanbul).
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(Visiting scholar, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-History, Theory and Criticism in Architecture Program; academic sponsor: Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

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• Ekincioglu, M., 2015-2016 , Uncovering Early Herstory of Co-education at the Princeton University-School of Architecture. (with a specific research problem and time period).

(With MIT's academic sponsorship, in-depth, systematic, archive-based academic research project by making an in-person appointment and e-correspondences with Professor Robert Geddes, the first dean of the Princeton University-School of Architecture, and with MIT's academic sponsorship. Systematic, archival research at Princeton University, Harvard University, Vassar College, systematic archival research by making appointments and e-correspondences with the first three women architects).

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(Visiting scholar, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-History, Theory and Criticism in Architecture Program; academic sponsor: Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

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• Ekincioglu, M., 2018-present, Diverse and Inclusive Historical Documentation Practice and Methods at Pioneering Schools of Architecture in the U.S.

(with a specific research problem).

Participants: Architecture record archivist at the Yale University-School of Architecture; special collection archivist at the Harvard University-Graduate School of Design; librarian at the Princeton University- School of Architecture; curator at the architecture and design collections at the MIT Museum; architecture, urban planning, and visual resources librarian at University of Michigan; art, architecture & engineering library; head of special collections at University of Rice; and library manager at the Kappe Library-SCI-Arch and the director at Archives & Records at the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

• Ekincioglu, M., 2019, 2022-present, Hacking the MIT-McCormick Hall’s Archive: Architecture and Wellness. (With a specific research problem and time period).

(With systematic, in-depth archive research at the MIT-Architecture Collection at the MIT-Museum, systematic, in-depth, advanced academic research project, in-progress. Its abstract was accepted by “the 76th Society of Architecture Historians, Annual and International Conference”, virtual session, 2023).

• Ekincioglu, M., 2021, Research on Luigi Horn Mumford (Oral History Project for the Society of Architectural Historians – Women in Architecture Affiliate Group).

On May 6, 2021, I received an invitation e-mail by Anna Sokolina from "the Society of Architectural Historians - Women in Architecture Affiliate Group" to “invite me to lead an oral history project, Luigi Horn Mumford, who is a 90-year-old retired architect and was one of the few women hired at Skidmore Owings and Merrill in the mid-century period”. On the same day, I responded and wrote that “I had conducted a systematic academic research project on the practice history of the SOM-NYC Office, read “Ph.D. dissertation by Professor Reinhold Martin”, “SOM Monograph by Professor Nicholas Adams”, know “the Oral History Project by SOM partners and team members, https://digital-libraries.artic.edu/digital/collection/caohp”, (last accessed on 5.25.2021) during my research scholarship at the Columbia University, GSAPP, Ph.D. Program, and could conduct this Oral History project with her. Upon positive e-mail by her, I began to research on Luigi Horn Mumford and women architects in the SOM’s herstory. While conducting research on this research subject with my full effort and sharing my knowledge resources on SOM with her, on May 2027, she sent an e-mail and wrote that “Luigi now claims she doesn’t have much to say”, “Rebecca Siefert would take over the lead”, “please confirm and we will go from there”.

• Ahmad Khalouf: After a personal experience, I am assured that having a place that I can approach easily is the best option to live a happier, healthier and better life.

• Alia Sameh Gaber Elsobky: The main weakness behind the ineffective response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in some countries has been the failure to understand and take account of the interdependencies that spread the effects of the pandemic across social, technological, economic contexts and healthcare.

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• Aslinur Akca: In the COVID-19 process, I think we have realized that we need to prioritize human comfort, the journey that people will experience, and the emotions they will feel, rather than our aesthetic concerns.”..

• Asya Islam: To make cities healthier, cross-disciplinary collaboration of public policies, urban planning, and design employing open public spaces, parks, urban forests, and integrated blue and green infrastructure is required.
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• Aya Ahmad: designers, planners, and public health officials should cooperate to build healthier cities during and after this crisis. More studies are required on improving the disease prevention theory through good design of contemporary cities, and researching health design strategies.

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• Azad Gover: Unlike all other places, hospitals are the places where public health is most affected. …Especially, COVID-19 test rooms, the emergency room of the hospitals, the core and circulation paths such as elevators and stairs are at great risk….

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• Benan Yilmaz: The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is to be well informed about the disease and how the virus spreads.
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• Beren Su Cakmakoglu: We can always use a biophilic approach. Plants have the ability to both absorb and catabolize a variety of dangerous environmental pollutants. Because indoor plants need little energy and are inexpensive, they may be one of the most ecologically beneficial air purification methods available

• Bilal Ilker Altan: In line with WHO COVID-19 guidance for food businesses on food safety, restaurants, breakfast and dining room and bar staff should regularly perform hygiene practices (frequent handwashing, respiratory hygiene, frequent cleaning / disinfection of work surfaces and touch points).

• Buseyne Yilmaz: Especially in pandemic conditions, mental health should be given importance in the workplace.

• Damla Alay: “….In the climate zone we live in, it is of great importance to know the warnings and data related to the air conditioning systems that we have to use frequently, even in our homes….

• Daneh Hatem Mohammad Ali Naddah: Mental health is as important as physical health. In the current competitive environment with increasing stress in the workplace, workers are more prone to mental health problems.

• Devran Polat: The pandemic process has left many effects on the whole world and its effects still continue. It has had especially economic and psychological effects on societies.…The first effect on me was the psychological effect and I think it left that impression on a lot of people.

• Dilanur Celik: Many events or developments in the history of mankind have changed the course of history and caused periods when “nothing was the same as before”….COVID-19 has affected almost two years and many points of our lives. The most affected of these was our behavior in public health and shared spaces.

• Duygu Demir: One of the tools that have most significantly aided us in this process has been technology. But…not everyone has had easy access to this area. Due to a lack of technology resources, especially in this case (COVID-19), many students were denied access to education.

• Ece Nur Findikci: Being able to control your own environment while working gives people motivation.

• Elif Tugce Unen: During the COVID-19 process…our eyes are too tired due to online education. Being in narrow areas in terms of psychological understanding also affects us mentally.

• Ecem Dede: as the emphasis has shifted to physical isolation and minimizing touch whenever feasible, we can see increasingly segregated designs with cubicles and greater individualization. (for working environments).

• Elif Nur Hologlu: In this period, which we spent at home with the pandemic, people were cut off from daylight because there were not enough balconies or terraces in most of the apartments. This situation has created psychological discomfort in many people, both in terms of health and psychology.

• Emine Aras: My office doesn't have a balcony area, so people have to go downstairs to get some air. In this case, it causes more time to waste, and things get delayed.

• Emre Gul: This new normal has resulted in unique needs and requirements in our personal and working spaces which will change and influence building architecture and especially the interior design and spatial planning.

• Enes Ulger: This pandemic has affected and changed a lot of things in our lives. One of the most important of these is the quarantine process and home closure. In this process, people faced a lot of problems because they could not get out of the houses they lived in.

• Esma Pek: Physical proximity between people is a major factor in the formation of bacteria and diseases.

• Esmanur Ergun: Today, depending on the number of busy employees in office environments, the correct design and implementation of air conditioning and ventilation systems has come to the fore.

• Esra Ozdogru: Our mission is to design healthy, sustainable and healthy spaces for people and humanity that are compatible with the natural environment.

• Firat Yildirim: When we are heading towards a relatively uncertain future by questioning our environment and trying to keep up with changes, it seems that the future of cities and architectural practices will be greatly affected by this change depending on individual and social norms.

• Gamze Sahin: Efficient results in terms of public health could be achieved by using materials that minimize contact and have the lowest bacteria level in toilets.

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• Gamze Sen: At the very beginning of Covid-19, we were living in a 90 m² 2+1 flat with my family of 4. We were using a common room with my brother…With the Covid-19 pandemic, we realized how important it is for the individual to have their own private space.

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• Gokcenur Ugurlu: While people escaping from the crowd in public areas tended to their private spaces more, this situation started to show its effect in space designs.

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• Huseyin Furkan Turkcan: some colleagues may find that they are more isolated from the rest of their company by having to work remotely.

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• Ilknur Hangul: The use of plants showed its value during the covid era. It both gives peace to people and contributes to the ecosystem by exhibiting an environmentalist approach…

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• Irem Duzler: Food-related discomfort experienced by visitors during travel is an important issue that needs to be addressed. Because the inconveniences to be experienced in this process will negatively affect both the health of the visitors and the pleasure arising from the service received by the visitors.

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