New Names at KHAS Faculty of Art and Design

Aslı Kırbaş, Interior Architecture and Environmental Design 

Aslı Kırbaş graduated from Bilkent University, Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design in 2012 and received the title of interior architect. After graduation, she took part in various projects’ design and construction stages as an interior architect for four years. She graduated from ITU Interior Architecture Design International Master’s program in 2019 and ITU Architecture History Master’s program in the same year. During her graduate education, she spent an education period in Switzerland at The University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) in 2017. She attended a workshop at the USA University of Cincinnati. She has continued her PhD at Hacettepe University Interior Architecture and Environmental Design Program since 2020. She has been teaching interior architecture departments of universities since 2016. Her fields of study include architectural history, architecture in transition periods, architectural historiography, modern architecture, interior design, and reuse of interior spaces.

Ayşe Draz, Theatre

Ayşe Draz, a performance-maker with a fluid identity, completed her undergraduate degree in Theater, (acting) International Studies and Comparative Literature at Northwestern University. Then, she completed her master’s degree in ‘devising’ at Middlesex University after spending a year at Bard College Berlin. She received her doctorate from Istanbul University’s Dramaturgy and Theater Criticism department with her thesis titled “Documentation in/of Performance Art” in 2023. Draz, who was among the founders of Theater Hemhâl in 2018, has been the performing arts editor of Art Unlimited magazine since 2015 and is a member of the Theater Critics Association and AICA. She continues collaborating with local and international artists from different disciplines, engaging in productions and research with her various identities.

Dilara Kelle, Interior Architecture and Environmental Design

Dilara Kelle completed her undergraduate education in 2007 at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Interior Architecture. She then completed her master’s in Environmental Control and Construction Technology program at the same faculty in 2014. She continued her doctorate in acoustics in the ITU Construction Sciences program and received her doctorate in April 2023. In her projects, she adopts a functional and pragmatic approach that focuses on user comfort and needs. In addition to design studies, the design of building elements and detail solutions for sound insulation in architectural projects, acoustic designs of auditoriums, concert halls, cinemas, and television studios, and acoustic performance evaluation are among her fields of study. She also lectured on sustainability and energy-efficient building design.

Gizem Aksu, Theatre

Gizem Aksu, a Berlin-based independent choreographer, dancer, and academic from Istanbul, graduated from Boğaziçi University Department of Political Science and International Relations (2010) and Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts State Conservatory, Department of Contemporary Dance (2014) with honor degrees. After completing her M.A. (2016) and Proficiency in Art (2021) programs in the same department, she became Dr. and taught many courses. She has participated in many festivals, biennials, and residency programs with her works and received awards in Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, India, Spain, Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Turkey. The artist approaches the body as a collective and relational process and choreography as a constant excavation to find and reveal certain relations embedded in physical, societal, and historical bodies. Her artistic language has expanded into a broader ground, including installation, film and text; she prefers to include this ground in choreography where her whole body (of knowledge) pulsates.

Mine Koyaz, Architecture 

Mine Koyaz graduated from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Architecture, in 2013. Following her undergraduate education, she completed her master’s studies on “Material Selection Tool in Building Element Design” at Istanbul Technical University, Environmental Control and Building Technologies Program in 2016. In 2022, she completed her “Human Centred Performance Approach for Adaptive Facade Design” doctoral thesis at Istanbul Technical University, Construction Sciences Program. During her doctorate, she spent a year as a guest researcher at T.U. Delft, Department of Architectural Engineering and Technologies (AE+T); participated in national and international collaborations, published journal articles, and attended conferences. Starting in 2014, Mine Koyaz worked at various universities as a research assistant and later as a lecturer, and she continues her work in the fields of building element design, building materials, and technologies, building physics, environmentally conscious building design, architectural design, human-centered design, and facade design.