Architecture Through Dialogue: Per Se 2015-2025

Architecture Through Dialogue: Per Se 2015-2025, a book aiming to comprehensively share the first decade of Per Se Mimarlık, a young architectural practice, with the architectural community, has been published by YEM Yayın.

Edited by Müge Cengizkan and Ali Cengizkan, and designed by Dilara Sezgin, Architecture Through Dialogue: Per Se 2015-2025 presents the office's practice from its establishment to the present, not only through completed buildings but also through the processes that brought these buildings into existence and the modes of thinking shared through dialogue.

Müge Cengizkan and Ali Cengizkan, the editors of the book, which argues that Per Se Mimarlık’s architectural and urban designs of the last decade, as well as the group's patterns of existence and behavior, will open new doors in Turkish architecture, state: “It is evident that they prioritize elevating the place of architectural practice and environmental design activities in society. This is demonstrated by their intense communication; their entrepreneurial spirit, which proves that practice is not limited solely to project management; and their open, collective, and inclusive, yet also participatory and persistent negotiation skills, which aim to influence both potential individual clients and public local and central administrations. All these characteristics indicate that Per Se knows that architectural design does not end at the drawing board; it is concerned with the final product, and even with the journey and future of the final product in this world. If we have been able to articulate the output of Per Se Mimarlık in its first decade under the leadership of Ali Derya Dostoğlu and Uğur Özer through this book, then our expectations for what they can produce in the coming decades have risen.”

The story of Per Se Mimarlık stretches back to the "reflex of co-ownership" between its founders, Ali Derya Dostoğlu and Uğur Özer, dating from their Galatasaray High School years. The office, named "Per Se," which means "by itself, on its own" in Latin, adopts this definition as a reflection of both its partnership processes and its search for an intrinsically consistent architecture that does not require external references.

The conceptual map of Per Se Mimarlık is examined in the publication around four thematic axes: "Tectonic. Simple. At the Border of Rural and Urban.", "Connecting to the Place.", "Creating Public Space.", "Multi-Actor. Collaboration. Negotiation." Haluk Uluşan, Melis Cankara, Burcu Göksoy, and Han Tümertekin, who address this ten-year output on a thematic basis in the book, add depth to this young architectural practice with their writings.

While the book records the fluent ease and confident expressions in Per Se's works, this unique architectural practice's emergence is accompanied by interviews with many clients and stakeholders, from Şafak Baba Pala to Ahmetcan Taşdemir, from Merve Gedik to Ömer Selçuk Baz, who are given the same careful consideration as the buildings and projects themselves. These interviews reveal the collaborations before, during, and after the design of the buildings, documenting a way of "owning the built environment as a multi-subject."

For Per Se Mimarlık, which shuttles between the dynamism of Istanbul and Bursa and the rural reality of Çanakkale, this book is not merely a destination but represents a new beginning. Seeing their tenth year as a threshold, the team, with this publication, both honestly opens up the past decade for discussion and demonstrates the will to explore the boundaries of a flexible practice for the coming period. Architecture Through Dialogue: Per Se 2015-2025 is a book that proves architectural design is not just a final product, but rather a continuous state of becoming and an arena for social negotiation.

WHO IS ALI DERYA DOSTOĞLU?

Born in Philadelphia. After Galatasaray High School, he began his architectural education at ENSA Paris-Belleville and completed it at MSGSÜ, graduating first in his class in 2009. He received his master's degree from Pratt Institute, also graduating first in his program. In 2018, as part of his doctoral research at ITU Architectural Design PhD Program, he was a visiting researcher at MIT and received his doctorate in 2024.

He taught as a part-time lecturer in the Department of Interior Architecture at Istanbul Bilgi University in 2016-2017 and 2021. In 2021-2022, he led the Application Project Workshop in the MSGSÜ Architecture Department. In 2025-2026, within the scope of the Istanbul Chamber of Architects' "I2P / Idea To Product" project, he and his partner Uğur Özer took over the leadership of the "Design Fabrication" course at MEF FADA.

Since 2015, he has been continuing his professional work within Per Se Mimarlık, which he co-founded. The projects "Çoker House," "EMKO Electronic Factory," "Çağlayan and Alper House," and "Baruthane" were selected for the Turkish Architectural Yearbook in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively. Baruthane was also a finalist for ArchDaily 2024 "Building of the Year." Together with his partner Uğur Özer, he participated in the 2023 edition of the Young Architects Selection and Exhibition organized by The Circle. In 2025, the team was awarded the Arkitera Young Architect Award, and in 2026, the prestigious Europe 40 Under 40 Award, which honors promising architects and designers in Europe.

He is a member of the Galatasaray Association, Galatasaray Sports Club, and İstanbulSMD.

WHO IS UĞUR ÖZER?

Born in Tekirdağ. After Galatasaray High School, he completed his architectural education at ENSA Strasbourg. During his undergraduate and graduate studies, he worked as an intern in various offices in Strasbourg.

He continued his career, which began at G. Studio in Strasbourg and PDA offices in Istanbul and Algeria, within Per Se Mimarlık, which he co-founded in 2015. The projects "Çoker House," "EMKO Electronic Factory," "Çağlayan and Alper House," and "Baruthane" were selected for the Turkish Architectural Yearbook in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, respectively. Baruthane was also a finalist for ArchDaily 2024 "Building of the Year." Together with his partner Ali Derya Dostoğlu, he participated in the 2023 edition of the Young Architects Selection and Exhibition organized by The Circle. In 2025, the team was awarded the Arkitera Young Architect Award, and in 2026, the prestigious Europe 40 Under 40 Award, which honors promising architects and designers in Europe. In 2025-2026, within the scope of the Istanbul Chamber of Architects' "I2P / Idea To Product" project, he and his partner Ali Derya Dostoğlu took over the leadership of the "Design Fabrication" course at MEF FADA.

He is a member of the Galatasaray Association, Galatasaray Sports Club, and İstanbulSMD.