Esra Akcan

Esra Akcan is a Professor and the Michael A. McCarthy Professor of Architectural Theory in the Department of Architecture, and the Resident Director of the Institute for Comparative Modernities 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 at UI-Chicago, Humboldt University in Berlin, Columbia University, New School, Pratt Institute in New York, and METU in Ankara. Akcan received awards and fellowships from Cornell University (Provost, Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities), Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Graham Foundation (3 times grantee), Canadian Center for Architecture (2 times scholar), American Academy in Berlin, UIC, Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin, Clark Institute, Getty Research Institute, CAA, Mellon Foundation, DAAD and KRESS/ARIT.

Akcan's research on modern and contemporary architecture and urbanism foregrounds the intertwined histories of Europe, West Asia and East Africa, and offers new ways to understand architecture's role in global, social and environmental justice. Her book Architecture in Translation: Germany, Turkey and the Modern House (Duke University Press, 2012) offers a new way to understand the global movement of architecture that extends the notion of translation beyond language to visual fields. It advocates a commitment to a new culture of translatability from below and in multiple directions for cosmopolitan ethics and global justice. Turkey: Modern Architectures in History (Reaktion/Chicago University Press, 2012, with Sibel Bozdoğan) is part of a series that aims at an inclusive survey of modern world architecture and is the first volume in any language to cover the entire 20th century in Turkey. Open Architecture: Migration, Citizenship and the Urban Renewal of Berlin-Kreuzberg by IBA-1984/87 (Birkhäuser/De Gruyter University Press, 2018) defines open architecture as the translation of a new ethics of hospitality into design process. It exemplifies formal, programmatic and procedural steps towards open architecture during the urban renewal of Berlin's immigrant neighborhood, by giving voice not only to the established and understudied architects who were invited to build public housing here, but also to noncitizen residents. Building in Exile: Bruno Taut (Niggli, with Bernd Nicolai) explains the continuing relevance of Bruno Taut in imagining architecture's role for global and climate justice. Her book Abolish Human Bans: Intertwined Histories of Architecture (CCA, 2022) builds on her theory of architectural translation to construct an activist gesture against the racist anti-immigration policies of ruling powers. She has edited Art and Architecture of Migration and Discrimination (with Iftikhar Dadi, Routledge, 2023). Currently, she is writing Right-to-Heal: Architecture in Transitions After Conflicts and Disasters.

 

Akcan has also authored over a hundred and fifty articles and essays in scholarly books and professional journals of multiple languages on critical and postcolonial theory, racism, immigration, architectural photography, translation, neoliberalism, and global history. She has participated in exhibitions by carrying her practice beyond writing to visual media, and has taken leadership positions including the IES Director at the Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Institute for Comparative Modernities at Cornell University, as well as the Director of Graduate Studies at UIC. As a director at the Einaudi Center, and member of the Academy in Exile in Germany, she participated in finding academic homes for scholars at risk. She has advised almost 40 doctoral students (14 as primary advisor) in Architecture History, Art History, and related programs.

Related Pages

• CV

Related News

• Art and Architecture of Migration and Discrimination: Turkey, Pakistan, and their European Diasporas
• Cornell AAP Faculty and Alumni Respond to the Venice Architecture Biennale's Call to Reflect and Reimagine
• Campus Rallies to Support Syria, Turkey Earthquake Survivors
• Support During the Crisis in Turkey and Syria
• Partitions of Europe and Healing Spaces of Expulsion

Classes (Selected)

 

• ARCH 1802/5802 History of Architecture IIThe history of the built environment as social and cultural expression from more recent times to the present. Architecture and urban design themes, theories, and ideas are addressed in greater detail leading to the present time.
• ARCH 6308/ARTH 6308/SHUM 6308 Mellon Expanded Practices Graduate Seminar: Migration and DiscriminationThe history of the built environment as social and cultural expression from more recent times to the present. Architecture and urban design themes, theories, and ideas are addressed in greater detail leading to the present time.
• ARCH 3819: Open ArchitectureThe history of the built environment as social and cultural expression from more recent times to the present. Architecture and urban design themes, theories, and ideas are addressed in greater detail leading to the present time.
• ARCH 6800: Architecture and JusticeThe history of the built environment as social and cultural expression from more recent times to the present. Architecture and urban design themes, theories, and ideas are addressed in greater detail leading to the present time.
• ARCH 6801: (Foundations of the Discipline): Writing ArchitectureThe history of the built environment as social and cultural expression from more recent times to the present. Architecture and urban design themes, theories, and ideas are addressed in greater detail leading to the present time.
• ARCH 3819: Climate : History : ArchitectureThe history of the built environment as social and cultural expression from more recent times to the present. Architecture and urban design themes, theories, and ideas are addressed in greater detail leading to the present time.
• ARCH 6805: Practicum: Building Exhibitions in the Age of ReparationsThe history of the built environment as social and cultural expression from more recent times to the present. Architecture and urban design themes, theories, and ideas are addressed in greater detail leading to the present time.

 

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)

• Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University (2019–20)
• Canadian Center for Architecture (two-time awardee: visiting scholar in 2009, and research fellow in 2019)
• Graham Foundation (four-time awardee: special recognition for a doctoral dissertation in 2003, publication grants for Architecture in Translation in 2010, and Open Architecture in 2017, CCA Singles as a group project in 2020)
• Berlin Prize, American Academy in Berlin (2016–17)
• Getty Research Institute (2008–09)

Exhibitions and Presentations (Selected)

• ArchitectuREfugee, competition entry for Turkish Pavilion, 2016 Venice Biennale of Architecture, finalist
• Urban Renewal and its Discontents: Kreuzberg-IBA '84/87, Istanbul Design Biennale, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul (2012)
• (Land)Fill Istanbul: Twelve Scenarios for a Global City, First Architectural Festival of Istanbul, Darphane, Istanbul (2004)

Publications (Selected)

• Abolish Human Bans (CCA Singles, 2022)
• Open Architecture: Migration, Citizenship and the Urban Renewal of Berlin-Kreuzberg by IBA-1984/87 (Birkhäuser-De Gruyter, 2018)
• Architecture in Translation: Germany, Turkey and the Modern House (Duke University Press, 2012)
• Turkey: Modern Architectures in History (Reaktion/University of Chicago Press, 2012)