Esra Akcan

Esra Akcan’s research on the modern and contemporary architecture and urbanism foregrounds the intertwined histories of Europe and West Asia. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at Cornell University. She completed her architecture degree at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey, and her Ph.D. and postdoctoral degrees at Columbia University in New York. She taught history-theory classes and architectural design studios at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Humboldt University in Berlin, Columbia University, New School, and Pratt Institute in New York, and METU in Ankara. Akcan received awards and fellowships from the American Academy in Berlin, University of Illinois at Chicago, Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin (Transregional Studies Forum), Graham Foundation, Clark Institute, Getty Research Institute, Canadian Center for Architecture, CAA, Mellon Foundation, DAAD and KRESS/ARIT. She is the author of the books Architecture in Translation (Duke University Press, 2012), Turkey: Modern Architectures in History (Reaktion, 2012, with Sibel Bozdoğan), Çeviride Modern Olan (YKY, 2009) and (Land)Fill Istanbul: Twelve Scenarios for a Global City (124/3, 2004). She has also authored over a hundred articles in scholarly books and professional journals of multiple languages on contemporary theory (critical and postcolonial theory, globalization), modern and contemporary architecture in West Asia, Ottoman architectural photography, established Euro-American architects’ engagement with the Gulf States and the Middle Eastern diaspora in Europe. She is currently completing her book Open Architecture.