Bilge Kose

Bilge Kose is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP. She is a historic preservationist, designer, and interior architect. She received her Ph.D. from the Graduate Program of Conservation of Cultural Heritage at Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2018, with the dissertation titled “Responding the Challenges of Preservation an Industrial Network as Heritage: Turkey Cellulose and Paper Factories.“

Her major research interest is focusing on the challenges of preserving the complex nature of industrial heritage places originated from their interrelations with different aspects in different periods and scales. In her research, she discusses the physical, socio-cultural and economic interactions of industrial heritage places in the object, interior, building, urban and country scales throughout different time periods they exist.

Bilge conducted her research at Columbia University GSAPP in 2014 as a visiting scholar. Her research was also awarded by SALT, a contemporary art and research institution in Turkey in 2015. Additionally, she worked on the adaptive re-use and preservation project of First Paper Factory of Turkish Republic as a historic preservationist, interior architect, and consulter in Ka.Ba. Architectural Preservation Firm, which have received worldwide recognition with prestigious international preservation awards and nominations including Europa Nostra.

Bilge holds a master’s degree from International Masters in Interior Architectural Design (IMIAD) and conducted her master’s research in İstanbul Technical University (ITU) and The University of Applied Sciences and Arts of South Switzerland (SUPSI). During her masters, she concentrated on the spatial alterations of re-used heritage places and completed her master’s in 2009 with the thesis titled “Reused Industrial Buildings and Their Interior Interventions: A Case Study in Istanbul, Santralistanbul.” She graduated from Bilkent University, Ankara, Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design in 2006. She worked as a research assistant in the Faculty of Architecture at Cankaya University in Turkey between 2010 and 2013.