Esra Akcan is a Turkish-American architect, academic and author. Currently, she is the Michael A. McCarthy Professor in the Department of Architecture and the resident director of Institute for Comparative Modernities at Cornell University.
AkcanâÂÂs research on modern and contemporary architecture and urbanism focuses on the intertwined histories of Europe and West Asia, and on understanding architectureâÂÂs role in global, social and environmental justice. Akcan has also authored over 150 research articles on critical and postcolonial theory, racism, immigration, architectural photography, translation, neoliberalism, and global history.
Akcan has received numerous awards and fellowships including Carter Manny Award from Graham Foundation and the Berlin Prize from American Academy in Berlin.
She completed her Bachelors and MasterâÂÂs degree in architecture from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey. She then moved to USA and earned her M.Phil., Ph.D. and postdoctoral degrees from Columbia University in New York.
Akcan has taught at University of Illinois at Chicago, Humboldt University in Berlin, Columbia University, New School, Pratt Institute in New York, and METU in Ankara. She is appointed as Professor of architecture at Cornell University.
AkcanâÂÂs research on modern and contemporary architecture and urbanism explains the intertwined histories of the world, with special emphasis on Europe and West Asia. She specializes in architectural history and theory, along with migration and diaspora studies. Her research explores the geopolitically conscious design practice, critical and postcolonial theory, immigration, translation, racism, architectural photography and neoliberalism.
AkcanâÂÂs books offer new ways of understanding the global movement of architecture, local and distant producers, and also the receivers of architecture. Her book âÂÂâÂÂArchitecture in Translation: Germany, Turkey and the Modern HouseâÂÂâ 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. This book is reviewed as an âÂÂindispensable readingâ and a work that âÂÂsets the stage for future workâ Kyle Evered, from Michigan State University, reviewed the book as âÂÂclearly a âÂÂnext step' in scholarly works ⦠also an ideal âÂÂfirst stepâ toward analyzing more critically the dynamics of interaction and exchange that we today otherwise generalize under terms like modernization, globalization, or developmentâ¦. The most readable and thoughtful history of ideasâÂÂ.
âÂÂâÂÂTurkey: Modern Architectures in HistoryâÂÂâÂÂ, published in 2012 and co-authored with Sibel BozdoÃÂan, was reviewed by Bülent Batuman, as âÂÂwell beyond a descriptive overview of modern Turkish architectureâÂÂ. He stated that the book provided a âÂÂmasterfully told history of Turkish architecture from the 1920s to the 2010sâ and that it is âÂÂa very well written text, easy to read for even non-architectsâÂÂ
Akcan published âÂÂâÂÂOpen Architecture: Migration, Citizenship and the Urban Renewal of Berlin-Kreuzberg by IBA-1984/87âÂÂâ in 2018. This book defines open architecture as the translation of a new ethics of hospitality into design process and focuses on formal, programmatic and procedural steps towards open architecture during the urban renewal of BerlinâÂÂs immigrant neighborhood. In a positive review of the book, Clemens Filkenstein wrote that âÂÂOpen Architecture, with its innovative methodology and style, becomes a manifesto to propagate not only spaces of hospitality but the writing of âÂÂopen architectural history.âÂÂâÂÂ