He received his undergraduate degree from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in 2005, followed by a MSc. degree in the same university. Together with Sevince Bayrak he founded SO? Architecture and Ideas in 2007. They won numerous awards in architectural competitions, including Young Architects Program in Istanbul Modern, in collaboration with MoMA – PS1. Their project, Sky Spotting Stop, has been realized in the courtyard of Istanbul Modern in 2013 and exhibited in MoMA and MAXXI. It is also published in Architekturführer Istanbul. In 2015, they won the invited international competition by Royal Academy of Arts and Turkishceramics and their project Unexpected Hill was realized in London. They were invited to Istanbul exhibition in MAXXI with their work called Lost Barrier and the work was acquired to the permanent collection of the museum. Their work has been nominated to EU Mies Awards and Aga Khan.

Oral Göktaş lectured in various symposiums and conferences in different cities such as London, Florence, Rome, Bordeaux, Graz, New York and Ljubljana about public space. He taught at Bilgi University in 2016 and has been teaching in MEF University since 2017 where he currently runs the graduate program called Alternative Architectural Practices.

House of Chickens

Client Palanga Art and Architecture Farm
Project Type Chicken Coop
Date Completed 2018
Collaborators Asmaz
Design Company SO?
Photographer Ali Taptık

Being part of an art and architecture farm that aims to revitalize a neglected rural area into an attraction point without losing its value of rural characteristics, this small building aims to use design as a transforming tool. The main question that the project aims to response is “Can design have a transforming effect on the rural environment without dominating nature?”. Throughout the 20th century, the design has been used as a medium to implement modernity on various parts of our urban lives. Today, the contradiction between urban and rural is sharpened and the values of rural environments that have been neglected for a while are being rediscovered again. Rural is not only an option for retreat any longer, but it is also steadily becoming a way of life that people would prefer instead of a never-ending struggle in a chaotic urban environment.

Hope on Water

Client İKSV
Project Type Post Emergency Housing
Date Completed 2019
Collaborators Metal Yapı, Fibrobeton, Bogazici University Coastal Engineering Lab
Design Company SO?
Photographer Kayhan Kaygusuz

“Hope on Water” is an interdisciplinary research project, which includes an education experiment and a prototype “Fold and Float”. Designated emergency assembly points in the case of an earthquake in Istanbul were announced in 2001. Since then, most of these public spaces have been built up, which raises the question of where everyone will be housed in the case of emergency. The idea of designing a speculative prototype of a floating emergency house came out of this fact: what if the response is not about stable land, but manageable water? Fold&Float is now floating on Golden Horn the area that will not be impacted by an earthquake’s tsunami. The floating prototype was exhibited at Rahmi M. Koç Museum.