Ayla Karacabey
Ayla Karacabey Chatfield was a Turkish architect who practiced in the United States. She worked with Marcel Breuer, Edward L. Barnes Associates, and finally, her own private practice. She is known for her work and research into the field of urban design.
Personal life and education
Karacabey was born in Bursa Province, Turkey in 1939.The government of Turkey was more progressive than previously, which gave women the opportunity to attend higher education. This allowed Karacabey to complete a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from Istanbul's American College for Girls in 1954. Since the courses were taught in English, Karacabey was able to attend Vassar College, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in art history in 1956. She was then admitted to the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, where she completed a Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree in 1960. While at Harvard, the term urban design was used for the first time in the architecture school's curriculum, which she later discussed in a 1961 article for the Alumnae and Alumni of Vassar College Bulletin. In 1973 she received a Master of Philosophy in Architecture, Architectural Technology, and Urban Planning from Columbia University.
Karacabey died in 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.
Career
Karacabey's first job post university was at Marcel Breuer associates, where she worked from 1960 to 1962. Breuer, the designer of the Wassily chair amongst others, was an emigree of the Bauhaus and can be seen as Karacabey's role model in her professional life. She absorbed many of his ideas such as modernism, vernacular architecture, and regionalism. Karacebey worked on a ski resort in Chamonix during her time there. Following her time at Marcel Breuer, Karacabey worked at Edward L. Barnes associates from 1962 to 1967, then the Architects Design Group of New York in 1967 and 1968.In 1968, Karacebey started her own firm. Some of her projects included the Student Union at the University of Florida, a speculative design for a resort town in Turkey, and the Esmerelda Resort Condominiums. Her work is strongly rooted in her education at Harvard and her modernist mentor Breuer.
After returning to Turkey, Karacebey taught at Yeditepe University from 2005 to 2012.