REVEALING INSTANBUL

Selva Gürdoğan and Gregers Tang Thomsen are partners at Superpool, architecture practice based in Istanbul, and directors of Studio-X. Their experience in both endeavors creates a platform of debate and action through which they are able to explore this city between two continents.

Selva and Gregers first met at Rem Koolhaas’ studio Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in 2003, where they worked until establishing their own practice. The work of Superpool has been largely exhibited at outstanding places like the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen, Museum for Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK) and Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) in Frankfurt, as well at various biennales such as the 2009 Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, the 2012 Istanbul Design Biennale and the 2013 3rd Lisbon Architecture Triennale.

The branch of Studio-X in Istanbul explores the city’s state of art enabling knowledge exchange among experts, universities, civil society organizations and local governance; supports everyone who would like to do something on urban issues. It works in coordination with Columbia Global Centers inTurkey.

The lecture invites the audience to face Istanbul’s potentials and challenges through the lenses of practice and research.

Selva Gurdogan received a B Arch (2003) from the Southern California Institute for Architecture. She has worked at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam and New York on such projects as Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Beijing Books Building, and Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas. In 2006, she founded Superpool, an architecture practice, in Istanbul together with Gregers Tang Thomsen. She has led the design of Open City: Istanbul and Becoming Istanbul exhibitions, Park for Audi Urban Future Award 2012, and Superpool’s entry for Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms in Expanding Megacities exhibition at MoMA (2014). As of November 2013 she is also the Director of Studio-X Istanbul, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation global network of urban laboratories.

Gregers Tang Thomsen Gregers received an MA (2003) from the Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark. In 2006, after four years at the Office forMetropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam and New York, he relocated to Istanbul to establish Superpool together with Selva Gürdoğan. During his employment at OMA, he worked on Cordoba Congress Center, Beijing Books Building, and Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in Dallas. At Superpool, he has been in charge of many projects, including the Open Library (2006), Dragos Residential Towers (2008), and the exhibition designs for the UAE National Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennial and 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial (2014). He has led the EU FP7 funded TailorCrete research project from 2009 to 2013.