Ecem Çınar

Interior Designer

Ecem’s work focuses on creating spaces, experiences and atmospheres that can be enriching for those who inhabit it. She plays an active role in designing  working, learning and community spaces. She completed her BA in Interior Design at Kocaeli University. Before receiving her bachelor’s degree, her designs were shortlisted by several national furniture and product design competitions.

She started her career at Salon as an interior designer on the Museum of Istanbul project. She continued to gain experience by working on hotels, work spaces, residential buildings and culture centers and urban strategy projects. She has participated in large and small scale architectural competitions and has received awards from some.

Ecem enjoys taking different roles, such as design researcher, service designer and facilitator. She designs and facilitates workshops on topics like participatory design, community-centered design.

Elif Özüçağlıyan

Architect

Born and raised in Istanbul, Elif completed her BA in Architectural Design at Istanbul Bilgi University.
Right after her graduation, she started off her career at Erginoğlu & Çalışlar Architects as a junior
architect. She has participated in architectural works with different scales and typologies and worked in
several interior construction sites for six years. Projects that she was involved in gained national and
international acclaim, attending competitions and festivals such as the World Architecture Festival.

Working on several schemes and layouts of both prestigious and boutique offices, she gained experience
in understanding the needs of clients and guiding them on what is suitable for their working habits and
corporate identity. She created a “Workplace 101” guide for newcomer clients, introducing a brief history
of workplace types and ways to find the right look and feel for the corporate identity.


Elif feeds from the realization of ideas into reality. She specialized in concept design and the design
development phases of complex geometries during her time at the practice. Meanwhile, in 2018, she
used this passion to recreate her year one pavilion group project ‘Carapace’ for the 16th Venice
Architecture Biennale for the Time Space Existence exhibition by the European Culture Center with the
invite of BİLGİ Faculty of Architecture, giving Istanbul Bilgi University the title of the first university to be
invited from Turkey to attend the event.


She continued her career at Bilgin Studio, participating in several concept and construction projects. Later
on, she entered OSKAD, getting more experience in the business’s construction and project management
side.


At the same time, Elif is a professional singer/songwriter and an amateur graphic/brand designer.

Aleyna Türker

Architect

Growing up a part of a diverse family and living in different cities, Aleyna constantly questioned the impact of culture, climate, religion, and sociology had on architecture. Her experience at The Pratt Institute School of Architecture allowed her to investigate the relationship between psychology and the built environment, while also acquiring and refining several practical skills. Her master’s at UCL Bartlett, Situated Practice focused on the relation of conceptual spatial theories in art, architecture, performance, urbanism.

Throughout her education, she was able to solidify and expand her design skills and practice through various studio projects, ranging from residential to commercial and from urban design to astronautic infrastructure. Working between scales, joining the Nasa TransitHub Team to explore the limits of technology, and having the platform to experiment with inflatable systems, propulsion methods, and robotics reinforced her interest in pushing both technical and intellectual boundaries through her practice. Her experiences at ZOOM TPU and Salon Alper Derinbogaz exposed her to different team dynamics, through which she learned to manage conflicts and become familiar with many forms of productive collaboration.

Gizem Akın

Architect

Gizem is an experienced architect who graduated in the top three of her architectural design faculty in Istanbul Bilgi University where she developed her interest in architectural design, urban development, graphic design and visualization. She likes to take part in projects that have a positive social and environmental impact using the discipline of architecture as well as other areas of design via collective ideas and solutions.

During her career, she has worked with various architectural design companies in London focusing on large-scale, mix-use and residential projects as an architect and spatial strategist. She has taken part in an urban design competition in Peru along with CDS and joined several workshops held by AA (the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London).

Since she joined ATÖLYE in 2019, she has been working in service and architectural design projects mainly in Qatar, Japan and the UAE. Her experience in different fields brings her the practice of thinking across scales and helps her to blend different levels of user experiences and architectural approaches, from the scale of a furniture to a city. Her works also have appeared in national and international publications such as Architizer, XXI, and Arkitera. Her projects also have received several awards such as iF Design Awards and Architecture Masterprize.

Güray Oskay

Director

Güray has over two decades of experience in a variety of scales from interiors to masterplans, spanning a global geography.

A Yıldız Technical University graduate, Güray started his career with Prof. Ihsan Bilgin, where his first projects were the Ottoman Bank Museum and Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence. He has worked on top-tier projects, gaining experience in a variety of sectors such as hospitality, work spaces, retail, residential and exhibition design before starting his own practice.

During this period he also tutored architectural design studios in Gebze Technical and Maltepe Universities. Before joining ATÖLYE Güray spent five years as a senior associate at Tabanlığlu Architects – leading several large scale international projects, competitions and exhibitions.

A man of many hats, Güray is one of the three organizers/curators of the contemporary art exhibition Değiş Tokuş Sergi, and has written and published short stories in renowned literary magazines.

Güray is the founder and frontman of two blues bands, one of which released its debut album during the pandemic and gained global recognition.

Seda Duran

Architect

Seda is a passionate architect who thrives on seamlessly merging technology and architecture. With a career spanning six years, she has worked in prestigious design offices in Istanbul, gaining invaluable experience in the various stages of design, production, and application. Seda’s contributions to diverse projects of different scales and typologies have garnered national and international acclaim, including recognition from the esteemed World Architecture Festival. Her primary focus is creating spaces that effortlessly blend with nature while enhancing the human experience.

Seda, driven by innovation, is constantly incorporating technological advancements to push the boundaries of architectural design. Her experience has fostered a deep understanding of the symbiotic relationship between technology and architecture. Whether it involves sustainable materials, smart building systems, or digital design tools, she embraces technology’s transformative potential to create aesthetically captivating and environmentally conscious spaces.

In addition to her professional endeavors, Seda dedicates herself to continuous learning and growth. She is an ardent researcher, actively engaging in ongoing studies to remain at the forefront of emerging trends and developments in the field. Through her work and studies, she aspires to design architectural solutions that not only respond to present needs but also anticipate future challenges.

Perihan Saad

Interior Designer

Perihan studied Interior Design at Faculty of Fine Arts, Alexandria University. She started her career at a boutique Interior Design studio in Alexandria, where she worked on a variety of residential and commercial projects.

After moving to Dubai in 2018, she joined I-AM Middle East as an Interior Architect and was involved in projects within multiple sectors such as banking & finance, retail, F&B, real estate & hospitality. Her first project was rolling-out the new concept for Mashreq Bank in the UAE.

Before joining ATÖLYE and during her five years with I-AM, Perihan successfully turned highly complex design concepts into reality. She managed and led several top-tier projects in the GCC region and dealt with some of the distinguished clients such as Mashreq, FAB, Al Dawaa Pharmacy, Banque Saudi Fransi, National Aviation Services/Collinson and TAV/Abu Dhabi Airports.

Sibel İlgen Türker

Architect

Sibel joined ATÖLYE in 2019 as Senior Architect where her work focuses on designing creative workspaces and environments, spatial strategy and detailed design.

With a degree in Architecture, as well as a Masters in Architectural Design, her expertise is grounded in designing projects from concept to detail design and construction.

Sibel has led various architectural projects ranging from hotels, housing complexes, museums, schools, high-tech centers, retail and cultural centers. Her role involves designing architectural projects from concept to execution.

Previously, she served as senior architect in Teget Architecture, co-founder at S2 Architecture, architect at Arup and architect at Şanal Architecture participating in projects at various stages as concept design, schematic design, detailed design, construction drawings and construction supervision.