portfolio 2023

tpor - folio

selected works 2020 - 2023

02.01.1998, Mersin

Kerkstraat 2611 GX, Delft, Netherlands

kopanyaren @gmail.com

+31 629403004

EDUCATION

August 2021 - July 2023

Technische Universiteit Delft | Delft, NL

Master of Science in Architecture

Cum Laude (Distinction)

Middle East Technical University | Ankara, TR

Bachelor of Architecture

Honours Degree (CGPA 3.4/4)

EXPERIENCE SKILLS

ACHIEVEMENTS

January 2021 - August 2021 (8 Months)

June 2019 - August 2019 (3 Months)

Junior Architect | FREA, Ankara TR

Intern Architect | Baraka Architects, Istanbul TR

Office, design and applications

June 2018 - August 2018 (3 Months)

October 2016 - June 2020 2023

Intern Architect | YDA Group, Ankara TR

Construction Site, fine works

BK-Archiprix 2023 | National Archiprix Nomination

3rd Prize | Bursa Hanlar District Urban Design Competition Team Project

Selected Work | Turkish Association of Architects “Steps 2019”

Turkish | Native English | Advanced

German | A1, (learning is in progress)

Rhinoceros + Grasshopper

Revit

AutoCAD

Lumion

Enscape

Keyshot

Adobe Creative Suite

Creative uses of ChatGPT & Midjourney

(Elementary)

Unreal Engine

Adobe Substance Painter

Autodesk Maya

Projects

Selected Works, 2020 - 2023

This portfolio consists of selected work from the last three years, encompassing professional and personal work from the undergraduate thesis project to the master’s graduation project and everything in between. The scope of the selected projects ranges from urban design to interior design, with tasks involving different scales and multifaceted skills and disciplinary knowledge. Within this diversity there are examples that reflect innovative design approaches as well as the use of softwares and teamwork that require a wide range of skills.

architecture as a

Sounding Board

Friedricshain, Berlin Graduation Thesis, TU Delft, 2023

Public Building Graduation Studio 2022-2023

The proposed project aims to explore the relationship between architecture and communication by recognising architecture as a medium. In this case, architecture is seen as an urban collective infrastructure that not only accommodates but also produces diversity in every sense. In this context, the Public Condenser of the 21st century is envisaged as an active infrastructure that plays an urban role, serving various forms of expression and ideologies.

The envisaged project recognises the historical conflicts and culture of unrest in Berlin and aims to address them through architecture as a means of communication. By adapting to the changing dynamics of information transfer and creating spaces for expression and communication, the project seeks to build a more inclusive and diverse urban environment where people can come together and share ideas and perspectives.

Public Condenser | New Urban Lounge & Commons

The proposed project in Berlin seeks to use architecture as a medium for communication, addressing the city’s history of conflict and unrest. It envisions a Public Condenser as a versatile urban infrastructure, providing physical and virtual spaces for diverse expressions and bottom-up media formations. This project aims to bridge gaps in communication platforms, fostering inclusivity and participation in the urban environment.

Places Berliners represent themselves

photograph

A protest outside the DDR parliament on 7 November 1989 calling for the Wall to come down. It did so two days later (Brian Harris)

pyschogeographic map memory and experince based mapping method of Friedrichshain neighbourhood

Architecture as a Sounding Board

perspective

exterior approach

mass development

site section

1 site 2 excavating the ground

4 suspended volumes

3 structural cores & beams

5 slabs & mezzanines 6 roof, overall configuration

underground connection between Neues Deutschland and the Sounding Board

program breakout floors, circulation, different uses

perspective

exhibition space

cross cut

1 recording studios

2 exhibition space

3 foyer

4 activism ground

upper floor plan

debate room, coworking space, discussion area, making rooms

Architecture as a Sounding Board

perspective coworking space

ground floor plan

cafe, foyer, entrance, library, activism ground

perspective making rooms, greenscreen studio

cross cut

1 inhabitable roof

2 debate auditorium

3 cafe

4 activism ground

structural breakout

skin layers with various transparency levels

The aim of the proposed project is to differentiate the outer layers of the building as much as possible, emphasising transparency and the feeling of being suspended in the air. For this purpose, more transparent layers are used at the base of the building, while more opaque layers are seen as you go up. In this way, the solidity is almost exclusively realised on the top floor, which is the roof layer, the socalled inhabitable infrastructure.

technical decisions

reduced climate control interventions through inwardly staggered eaves on the façade

gradual decrease in transparency from roof to floor (hovering sensation)

climate introduced climatic features for summer & winter solstice scenarios

fener houses

Haliç Sanat/Art

Istanbul, Turkey

Professional Work, FREA, 2021-2022

Client: Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality

Nestled within the historic Fener and Balat neighbourhoods, the Fener Houses, also known as Stone Rooms, stand as enduring testaments to the late 18th and early 19th-century urban evolution. Originally serving a multifaceted role as warehouses, workshops, commercial hubs, and even venues for accommodation and entertainment, these five distinct building blocks have weathered the passage of time. Meticulous restoration efforts unearthed hidden architectural treasures, including original carvings and reliefs, while preserving the building’s authenticity. Beyond the walls, a thoughtful landscape redesign was undertaken to unveil the sunken layers below, establishing a more accessible and aesthetically pleasing approach to these historical gems. Together with neighboring cultural institutions, the Istanbul Art Museum and Contemporary Art Museum, this revitalization effort breathes new life into the Golden Horn district, offering a precious gift to the people of Istanbul.

Fener Houses / Golden Horn Art

strategy

revealing the sunken floors and adapting the landscape

interventions

landscape adjustments, concept design

threee focal points

Balat -Fener, Istanbul

Focal Point 1, Golden Horn Art-1 was a building with limited interaction with its surroundings and retained its isolated and lonely character due to its location sandwiched between two two-way roads. In order to resolve this situation, some landscape design decisions were taken to strengthen its relationship with its surroundings and to provide a continuous route between other focal points, and the decision was taken to function the interior with an exhibition.

Focal Point 2, Golden Horn Art-2 At this point, the building and the adjacent historical fortification and bastion are located well within the city, but due to the problem of functionalisation, it lives a life disconnected from the city. The decisions taken are in a way to make this structure and its surroundings a part of the targeted art route

Focal Point 3, Golden Horn Art 3: Due to its location, the building has an isolated character as in Focal Point 1, but its surroundings are more suitable for hosting collective activities. In this context, the exhibition function has been introduced to the building as well as landscape decisions that will make the area more experienceable.

interior phtograph restoration of the original tissue and the window frames (both interior and exterior)

Fener House 1 real-time photos, technical drawings

bird eye view façade renovation, landscape design

Fener Houses / Golden Horn Art

As a result of the overlapping ground layers over time, we have redesigned this building, almost the entire entrance floor of which has remained underground, in order to bring it to our day and to host an exhibition in it as desired.

As a first step for this, we have brought the elevation under the ground back to the surface of the day and gained access to it and provided the opportunity to experience the building as 3 floors as it was when it was first built.

The narrow and well-like internal spatial formation of the building helped us to emphasise the staircase we proposed as an element of experience and to take advantage of the lack of currently destroyed slabs.

Although the application could not be realised for budgetary reasons, the proposal for this focal point also offers a walking and viewing area that relates to the city wall in route experience.

Fener House 2

real-time photos, technical drawings

interior photograph focal area 2, proposed exhibition

We proposed integrating the isolated building into the art route and linking it with nearby historical ruins. This involved raising its ground level, creating a sloping approach, and adding stepped transitions and seating areas. Additionally, we revitalized the landscape with a potential café to enhance the overall experience. Most project decisions have now been implemented and shared with users

Fener House 3

real-time photos, technical drawings

exterior photograph approach to focal area 3

Fener Houses / Golden Horn Art

003 salon

Brussels, Belgium

MSc2 Studio, TU Delft, 2022

MSc2 Interiors, Buildings, Cities Studio 2022

Pair work w/ Thomas Misset

The project focuses on transforming a small room within the BOZAR museum in Brussels, originally designed by Victor Horta. It is aimed to improve connectivity with the upper bookstore and lower auditorium.

A central circle with two balconies is introduced for enhancing connections between spaces. The first balcony extended from the upper bookstore, creating a comfortable seating area. The lower balcony served as a dynamic backdrop for the theater.

Inspired by Horta’s work, we incorporated themes of superimposing rooms and half-circle terminations. Acoustical curtains added versatility.

Our material choices honored the building’s heritage, referencing elements like herringbone floors and steel railings.

The room’s flat floor allowed flexible use, with informal seating along the edges, accommodating various arrangements. This circular space, supported by the bookstore balcony, served as a central point for events, performances, and views.

physical model 1:20

photo

The existing room was isolated from its immediate surroundings. While there was a visual connection to the bookstore, it provided limited access to its users. Additionally, the auditorium beneath the bookstore was divided by a non-load-bearing wall, contributing to the building’s labyrinthine layout, making navigation challenging due to the closed relationships between rooms.

As a result, a series of interventions were devised based on the concept of unveiling these closed relationships. This involved reducing dividing elements and establishing a continuous flow among different spaces and elevations.

middle

pivotal centre stair cascade

scenography superposition

rounded end balcony scene

window rythms

strategy & interventions diagrams

facing towards bookstore & auditorium

facing towards entrance of the room

facing towards the salon

cross sections

longitudinal section superpositioning the scenery

aralık [interval]

Bursa, Turkey

3rd Prize-Professional Work, FREA, 2021

Client: Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Urban Design Competition Project

The proposed project delves into the spatial memory of Bursa Çarşıbaşı UNESCO Heritage Area through abstract repetitions. It examines temporal intervals in various elements like streets, bridges, gardens, trade structures, and everyday life, viewing them through a historical lens. These intervals, ranging from linear to transient, form a complex interplay of connections, coincidences, and demolitions.

The city thrives in these intervals, whether between old and new, two inn walls, or levels. Each time, a new configuration emerges, creating a dynamic urban tapestry. The inn architecture, a symbolic element, introduces varied intervals, akin to the diversity found in overlapping walls or brickwork. Yet, no repetition mirrors its predecessor entirely.

The project proposes a holistic, fluid, and transformative ‘contemporary’ Interval as the core design principle, embracing Agamben’s notion of disjunction and displacement in contemporaneity. This interval embodies a subtle threshold between the “not yet” and the “no longer.”

In this context, the Interval-space characterizes the relationship between the evolving commercial, cultural, and social hub in Çarşıbaşı and the adjacent, obsolete civil architectural fabric. It transcends physical barriers, facilitating fresh encounters, unions, gatherings, and occasional rifts with its adaptable structure. By reimagining the herringbone construction in two dimensions, it offers both familiarity and distinction, promising a novel experience on every visit to the area.

site plan tresholds urban analysis

reading the district

tresholds within the Hans courtyards

district after proposal

spatial development strategy & intervention

Existing Situation

Tresholds

Positive open spaces are created in accordance with the scale of the fragmented, defined historical texture formed after the eaves, level arrangement and central bank extensions.

Removal

After the demolition of the buildings and the reconstruction of the central bank, a large undefined void is created in contrast to the historical texture.

Intervention

Reference Lines

Trade Center

Current Status

The arcade, which forms the character of the building, continues along the street ensuring spatial continuity.

After Reconstruction

With the demolition of adjoining buildings and blind facades, it will be revealed.

Intervention

The building is extended in the direction of its side facades.

Proposal

The arcade, which had previously lost its continuity on the street due to the widening of the blind facades, restores its spatial continuity.

In the 1930s, the Dutch cultural theorist Johan Huizinga coined the term Homo Ludens to describe the crucial role of play in human cultures. Similarly, water has long represented a leading actor in the shaping of Rotterdam. From the city’s perpetual entanglement with water flow to Rotterdam prominence as Europe’s entrepôt, Rotterdammers’ relationship with its water is multifaceted. Homo Aquaticus is hence both a reflection and an ode to the longstanding and intimate connection between the city and its water.

HomoAquaticus

Rotterdam, Netherlands

MSc1 Studio, TU Delft, 2022

Public Building MSc1 Studio 2022: The Blue Forum

Metropolitan Group Work w/ Harin Naik, Billy Chen

The Blue Forum proposal for Rotterdam aims to integrate the concept of water, both physically and symbolically, into the city’s core. The architectural centerpiece, inspired by historical research of Hofplein, embraces the site’s existing complexity rather than replacing it. The new Forum condenses post-war arrangements into three key layers within a modular superstructure.

In contrast to the surrounding plan-centric architecture, the Blue Forum takes inspiration from Cedric Price’s Fun Palace and organizes its program in sections. Internal spaces are arranged three-dimensionally as co-dependent modules, allowing for flexibility and expandability. Elevated above ground level, the Forum minimizes disruption to existing buildings and liberates the ground as a seasonal floodplain.

Within the superframes’ void, the three core layers interact, revealing the urban water flow. The project aims to revive the city’s connection with water, using industrial materials to reference the site’s heritage. The superframes support program modules, elevated platforms, and rainwater-capturing features. The proposed Forum is not a single building but a network of modules, walkways, and landscaping - a flexible canvas for the evolving city and its relationship with water.

1. Foundation

2. Superstructural Frames

3. Primary Connections

4. Secondary Structure

5. Extensions and walkways

6. Façade and Roof Structure

7. Services

8. Ecological Greens

interventions

matrix of steel frame structure + different uses of landscape

1:500 model photography

006 Heroes of Kaş

Kaş, Antalya, Turkey

Competition, Individual Work, 2020

Memorial Statue Project Competition

The heroes of Kaş, Captain Mustafa Ertuğrul Aker and Lieutenant Yusuf Ziya Erdil, may have returned to the earth in body, but their spirits were too courageous and steadfast to be contained by the planet.

The Monument of Respect was designed with the intention of not only commemorating these heroes, which hold great significance not only for the people of Kaş but for the entire Turkish nation, but also of engraving their memory in the collective memory of the town, almost as if carving a “steel” stronghold.

Heroes of Kaş

The idea of the “Wall” as a warning and reminder

site plan

different focal points targeting the site (from see & square)

Disintegration of the Wall with the concern of ensuring the interaction between the city and the sea

Arranging the fragmentation on linear axes in order to ensure its harmony with the silhouette and its permeable characteristic

The relationship of the wall with the ground and the emergence of possible interactions

The submission of the ground to nature and the freedom of the earth

figure placement

translating figure to cellular pattern

ground design

allowing cracks by disconnecting the reinforcement

perspective

overall configuration

the panels placed according to the optical calculations

view from republic square, heroes of Kaş

Heroes of Kaş

view from sea, Turkish flag

1:20 detail section

The design features a symbolic wall representing our heroes’ protective role for the nation. However, concerns about its imposing presence prompted a reevaluation. To balance this, an optical illusion using digital technology was created.

The integration of technology and visual arts aims to showcase our heroes’ achievements. Republic Square and the harbor offer different perspectives for viewing.

Corten steel, known for its durability and evolving patina, was chosen to emphasize the monument’s endurance and connection with history.

The monuments will naturally evolve over time, reflecting nature’s influence. Sustainability is promoted through the use of native plants. Through material and form, the design embodies our heroes’ strength and enduring impact on the nation.

006

injecting colours

Bodrum, Turkey

Undergraduate Thesis, METU, 2020

Injectingc Colours: Revitalizing Neighbourhoods

Bodrum, formerly known as “Halicarnassus of Caria,” is a historic port city in southwestern Turkey. Its strategic location and natural resources have led to waves of urban migration over the years. In the 1960s, it attracted intellectuals, artists, and writers. In the 1980s, a neo-liberal financial model brought cooperative summer houses. Since 2015, Bodrum has become a haven for various demographics seeking safety, affordability, and inspiration.

With its rich history of migrations, conflicts, and achievements, Bodrum

has evolved into a multi-layered region. Today, tourism dominates, significantly influencing the town’s current state. The research focuses on potential stigmergic opportunities post-removal of the bus terminal. Despite its touristic orientation, the project aims to reintroduce a sense of neighborhood to the city, emphasizing the “Right to Be Lazy” for all, and fostering a strong community. The spatial interventions are carefully designed based on programmatic and spatial relations, offering both positional and structural flexibility to reinvigorate Bodrum in a productive manner.

COAST : Features of *Brand Bodrum*

Bodrum plays a crucial role in the country’s economy through its tourism sector. This industry is heavily influenced by the region’s climate and geography, leading to significant seasonal fluctuations that can challenge the idea of harmonious coexistence.

TÜRK KUYUSU ST : Local Features

Türk Kuyusu Caddesi in Bodrum showcases diverse architectural styles and local heritage, reflecting the town’s enduring identity amidst evolving times.

SITE : Hosting Collective Functions

Contrary to Bodrum’s perceived disconnect between people and activities, the central Bazaar stands out for its:

Self-organization

Strong sense of unity

Community spirit

Diverse range of activities

These traits are being considered for broader program applications

Understanding Halicarnassus

matrix

as a toolkit for potential combinations between existing and injected colors(acts). site plan

As one of the “translocation act”: manoeuvre of adaptation is used by exposing what has been already underneath of the ground: heritage. By doing so, injections evolved around the contextual inputs (elements within the neighborhood) in set of stigmergic occasions in which missing colors have been injected consecutively.

SITE design strategy, iterations, end result

site perspective program 3 different acts & their implementations

site section

With the emergences of different needs in a small proximity, citizens of Bodrum can experience the sudden encounters within the variety of uses and spatial configurations. They come upon, meet, explore and realize their surroundings, their neighborhoods.

selected works 2020-2023 yaren kopan