Zeynep Çelik

Zeynep Çelik is a Visiting Professor at Columbia University. She holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley; an M.Arch from Rice University; and a B.Arch from Istanbul Technical University. Her research focuses on colonial and Ottoman architectural history, postcolonial theory, and the intersections of photography, urbanism, and empire. She has curated major exhibitions such as 'Palestine from Above' and 'Camera Ottomana,' exploring visual and spatial colonial legacies. Çelik has received prestigious awards including the Tamayouz Award (2019) and the Giorgio Levi Della Vida Award (2019). Her work critically examines how colonial and orientalist frameworks shaped architectural canons and urban spaces in regions like Algeria, Palestine, and the Ottoman Empire.

• Education: PhD, UC Berkeley; M.Arch, Rice; B.Arch, Istanbul Tech
• Exhibitions: Curated 6 major shows on colonial visual culture and Ottoman modernity
• Fellowships: Guggenheim (2004), ACLS (multiple years), NEH (2012)

Her scholarship bridges architectural history with critical postcolonial theory, analyzing how built environments encode colonial ideologies. Recent work investigates late Ottoman spatial visions of Palestine and the afterlives of colonial monuments in North Africa.