Cumartesi Aurası: Meral Ekincioğlu “Hacking! COVID-19: Science in Architecture and Urban Systems”
Cumartesi Aurası disiplinler arası konferans dizisinin konuğu Doktora sonrası bilimsel araştırmalarını yürüten mimar Meral Ekincioğlu. Konferans, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) çatısı altındaki farklı laboratuvarlarda COVID-19’dan korunma, önleme ve COVID-19 sonrası yaşama yönelik fiziksel alanlar, yapılı çevre ve kentlerle ilgili ilham veren bilimsel araştırma projelerine odaklanacak.
Erginoğlu & Çalışlar Mimarlık sponsorluğunda gerçekleşen etkinliğe katılım herkese açık ve ücretsizdir. Eventbrite üzerinden kayıt olan katılımcılara Zoom oturum linki e-posta yoluyla iletilecektir.
Etkinlik dili İngilizce’dir ve Türkçe simultane çeviri yapılacaktır.
[ENG]
The next online conference of “AURA on Saturday” series will host architect and scholar Meral Ekincioğlu. This online lecture will focus on some recent inspiring scientific research projects related to physical spaces, built environment and cities that have been conducted by several labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for protection, prevention from COVID-19, and adaptation to post COVID-19 way of life.
Sponsored by Erginoğlu & Çalışlar Architects, the conference will be held in English and simultaneous Turkish translation will be provided. Attendance is free of charge with a registration at eventbrite. Zoom session link will be sent to the participants via e-mail.
Hacking! COVID-19: Science in Architecture and Urban Systems for a Better World
As we have been going through a systemic transformation at the global scale due to the unprecedented effects of COVID-19 pandemic, architecture and urban systems are not exception within this challenging landscape. Although the unknowns about this infectious disease still abound, human-oriented scientific thinking, (advanced) technology and innovation seem to be decisive to lay the foundation for a healthy post-pandemic built environment, design thinking, production methods and practice of architects and urban designers. On this basis, this online lecture will focus on some recent inspiring scientific research projects related to physical spaces, built environment and cities that have been conducted by several labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MIT-Affiliated Companies for protection, prevention from COVID-19, and adaptation to post-COVID-19 way of life. Playing a key role in the development of many aspects of modern science and technology, the Institute has been operating with its mission of service to the world, and hacking important problems for betterment of humankind since its establishment (1861-present). With its community and affilated companies, its response to COVID-19 for healthy physical spaces and cities invites us to reconsider the vital role of scientific thinking and research not only in public health and societal needs but also in architecture design thinking, its practice, education and their connections with relevant disciplines for a better world. In light of these issues, this online lecture aims to emphasize how to deploy architecture design and cities as active agents in the fight against this (coronavirus) pandemic, and the next one through the lens of science.
Meral Ekincioglu, Ph.D.
MIT, visiting scholar
Columbia University, research scholar
Harvard University, special Turkish fellow
About Meral Ekincioğlu
Trained as an architect, Meral is a scholar with Ph.D. Degree in architecture. She conducted her recent advanced scientific research project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture Program for two years after her Ph.D. Her expertise field is feminist encounters between postwar US and Turkish architecture by focusing on intersectional feminism and intertwined history of architecture. With her findings, she is the first scholar to uncover “history of Turkish women architects in postwar US” and “early women architects from the Princeton University, School of Architecture”. Offering a critical insight into systemic equity, racial justice, inclusion and multiculturality in academia and profession of architecture, she presented her findings at the MIT-HTC Program, the MIT-WGS Program, Harvard University, the 73rd Society of Architectural Historians (SAH)-Annual and International Conference where she was awarded by a SAH fellowship, the International Women in Architecture Symposium at Virginia Tech., CUNY, Boston University, the 53rd Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Annual Meeting, the Society of American Archivists-Research Forum-Foundations and Innovations (2020), Emerson College, etc. She is also a certificate holder by the Consortium for Graduate Studies, Gender, Culture, Women & Sexuality (GCWS) at MIT, created and developed a collection on pioneering women architects from modern Turkey for the MIT-Archnet. She has been currently serving as a “Society of Architectural Historians, Women in Architecture Affiliate Group (SAH WiA AG) registers committee member” to support and promote equity, diversity and inclusion in architecture (history). In addition to these, she is a researcher and a team member of Citizen TALES Commons, Boston-based international and multidisciplinary scholarly platform on inclusive citizenship and civic engagement in academia and society.
Meral began her Ph.D. dissertation research at Harvard University as a special Turkish fellow, continued this advanced research study at Columbia University with academic research support by Kenneth Frampton and Reinhold Martin as a research scholar. In this respect, her secondary scientific research fields are interaction between design architect’s creativity and large-scale clients’ economic and commercial expectation in the private sector, sociology, theory and history of the architecture profession and architecture design practice in postwar time period. Based on those studies, she obtained her Ph.D. degree in architecture at Istanbul Technical University where she was a Ph.D. candidate. Obtaining her Bachelor and Master Degrees in architecture at the same university, she conducted her architecture design practice in the private sector, teaching practice in architecture education, and publishing practice in architectural journalism. With her studies on architecture and media, she was also a speaker at the MIT-Media in Transition 5 and 6, two international conferences. Advanced technologies and their innovative contributions to production process and methods of architecture design practice are among her recent architectural interests. (For more, please: meralekincioglu.com)
AURA on Saturdays [Cumartesi Aurası]
AURA on Saturdays is a multidisciplinary conference series within the certification program of the Istanbul Architecture and Urbanism Research Academy – AURA Istanbul. It aims to create an environment of discussion, gathering and exploration in architecture, urbanism, art, technology, literature, and philosophy.
