Ufuk Ersoy, Ph.D.
Co-Director of the Design and the Built Environment Ph.D. Program, Associate Professor
Contact
School of Architecture
Office: Lee 3-115
Email: uersoy@clemson.edu
Education
Ph.D. in Architecture, University of Pennsylvania; M.S. in Architectural History and Theory, University of Pennsylvania; M.Arch., University of Pennsylvania
Research Interests
History & Theory of Architecture
Ersoy has taught across diverse graduate programs at Clemson University, including the Master of Architecture Program, the Design and the Built Environment PhD Program, and the Rhetoric, Communication and Information Design PhD Program. His students have received numerous awards and taken part in national and international art and architecture exhibitions. He has previously held teaching positions at the University of New South Wales (2001-2016), Izmir Institute of Technology (2002-2012), and the University of Pennsylvania (2001-2002).
Ersoy is a researcher in architecture history and theory. He has written widely about building materials' cultural and professional history and architectural narratives. Some of his recent publications are a co-edited special issue of World Architecture on "Architecture in Turkey: A Glocal Production" (2010); 100 Years of Clemson Architecture: Southern Roots + Global Reach (2015); "Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper: Transfiguration through Glass, or Vertical and Horizontal Transparencies: Mies van der Rohe," in Companions to the History of Architecture (2017). He has given lectures in many architecture schools, such as Chinese University of Hong Kong, GSD Harvard, Newcastle University, Seoul National University, University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, and Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center.
Ersoy completed his M. Arch., M.S. in Architectural History & Theory, and Ph.D. in Architecture degrees at the University of Pennsylvania. During his graduate studies, he won the James Smith Warner Memorial Prize for “outstanding work in architectural design.” Apart from his scholarly work, Ersoy practiced with Clarissa Mendez and lead a section of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Waterfront Project (2012). In 2010, he won a prize in the Izmir Opera House competition in collaboration with Tozkoparan Architects, Izmir and Ove Arup, London.
He is currently working on two writing projects. His essay about the philosopher Paul Ricoeur's interpretation of architecture is anticipated to be published in early 2025. The latter is a co-authored book project that aims to introduce critical phenomenology to architecture by questioning the priority given to some exclusive cultural norms and political premises in the discipline and profession. Both projects might result in funded research projects facilitating the organization of thematic symposia or conferences.
Awards
Robert Mills Professor in Architecture (2018-20), Creativity Professor (2015-17)
Selected Professional Works
Books (Edited)
U. Ersoy, D. Anderson and K. Schwennsen (Eds.), 100 Years of Clemson Architecture: Southern Roots + Global Reach, Centennial Proceedings (Clemson University Press, 2015).
Journal Articles & Book Chapters (Published)
U. Ersoy, “Narrative/Anlati,” in An Architecture History Index/Bir Mimarlik Tarihi Dizimi, ed. by T. E. Altan and S. Enginsoy Ekinci ( Middle East Technical University Press, 2019).
U. Ersoy, “Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper: Transfiguration through Glass, or Vertical and Horizontal Transparencies: Mies van der Rohe,” in Companions to the History of Architecture Volume IV, edited by D. Leatherbarrow and A. Eisenschmidt, (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017).
U. Ersoy, “Glass as Light as Air, as Deep as Water," in The Material Imagination: Reveries on Architecture and Matter, edited by M. Mindrup (Ashgate, 2015), 155-68.
U. Ersoy, “To See Daydreams: The Glass Utopia of Paul Scheerbart and Bruno Taut,” in Imagining & Making the World: Reconsidering Architecture & Utopia, edited by N. Coleman (Peter Lang, 2011), 107-38.
U. Ersoy, “The Fictive Quality of Glass,” Architecture Research Quarterly 11, n.3/4 (2007): 237-43.
Edited Journals
Editor of World Architecture special issue, “Architecture in Turkey: A Glocal Production,” with S. Yucel Young. WA 241, n.7 (2010).
