She received her undergraduate degree from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in 2005, 2014 in the same university. Together with Oral Göktaş she 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. This 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. Their projects have been nominated to EU Mies Awards and Aga Khan. They were invited to the Istanbul exhibition in MAXXI with their work called Lost Barrier and the work was acquired to the permanent collection of the museum.

Sevince Bayrak has lectured in various symposiums and conferences in different cities such as London, Magosa, Florence, Rome, Bordeaux, Arles, Graz and New York about public space. Her book, from her dissertation called Story of a Square is published in July 2019. She teaches at MEF University since 2015.

Sky Spotting Stop

Client İstanbul Modern / MoMA PS1
Project Type Installation
Date Completed 2019
Collaborators Emre Otay, Oğuz Cem Çelik
Design Company SO?
Photographer Muhsin Akgün

Sky Spotting Stop is an installation that shades the courtyard of Istanbul Modern while floating gently on the hidden waters of the Bosphorus. While the illuminated mirror plates create an invariably changing background for night events, they provide constantly swinging shadows during the day. On the ground, an altering landscape made of reused vehicle tyres which are covered by fishnets transforms the courtyard to a new stop for sitting, resting, gathering, playing, or sky spotting.

Sınırdaki Barınak Cabin on the Border

Client Private
Project TypeDwelling
Date Completed 2017
Collaborators Asmaz
Design Company SO?
Photographer Oral Göktaş

Cabin on the Border is a tiny, transportable, prefabricated and affordable off-grid living unit for 4-6 people. It is located in a village near the border of Turkey and Greece. It is used as a space to experience a way of life in dialogue with nature in a rural environment. Architecture has been used as one of the efficient tools to dominate nature in the 20th century. What if we revisit our relationship with nature, as it was before the industrial revolution and the age of modernity? Is it possible to re-adopt architecture as an apparatus to get closer to nature, instead of dictating it? Cabin on the Border has occurred in search of responding to these questions, and its main function is to advance the current discussion about the relationship between humanity and nature, in the age of Anthropocene.