Sibel Bozdogan

Sibel Bozdogan is a prominent architectural historian and theorist in Architecture and Design. She earned her B.Arch in 1976 and M.Arch in 1979 from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, and a PhD in 1983 from the University of Pennsylvania, with a dissertation on the architectural profession in Chicago from 1871 to 1909.

At MIT's Department of Architecture, Bozdogan served as Assistant Professor from 1991 to 1996 and Associate Professor from 1996 to 1999 in the History, Theory, and Criticism section. She returned as a visiting lecturer at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, and Fall 2015, teaching seminars including Orientalism & Representation, Civic Architecture in Islamic History – Istanbul: From Imperial Capital to Global City, and Global Perspectives on Modern Architecture. Her research explores trans-national histories of modern architecture and urbanism in Europe, the U.S., the Mediterranean, and the Middle East, emphasizing Turkey, Orientalist representations, civic architecture in Islamic history, and cosmopolitan modernism. Key publications include her award-winning book Modernism and Nation Building: Turkish Architectural Culture in the Early Republic (University of Washington Press, 2001), Turkey: Modern Architectures in History (Reaktion Books, 2012, co-authored with Esra Akcan), Sedad Hakki Eldem: Architect in Turkey (Concept Media, 1988), and Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey (University of Washington Press, 1997, co-edited with Reşat Kasaba). She has published extensively on postwar Turkish modernism, residential architecture, industrial architecture, and architectural historiography.

Bozdogan held professorial roles as Chair of Architecture at Kadir Has University (2014-2017) and Professor at Istanbul Bilgi University (2006-2011), served as Visiting Professor at Boston University (2018-2021) and Harvard GSD lecturer since 2000, and directed Liberal Studies at Boston Architectural Center (2004-2006). Awards include the 2002 Alice Davis Hitchcock Award and Koprulu Book Prize for her 2001 book, the 2018 Turkish Chamber of Architects National Award for lifetime contribution, Aga Khan and Keyman fellowships, and MIT's Ford International Career Development Chair (1993-1996). She co-curated the 2010 Istanbul Bilgi University exhibition "Istanbul 1910-2010: City, Built Environment and Architectural Culture" and served on MIT's History, Theory, Criticism admissions committee (1995-1999).