B. Deniz Çalış Kural is an architect and historian. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Middle East Technical University (METU) in 1995; Master’s Degree from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY in 1998, and her Ph.D. in Architecture from METU in 2004. She held scholarships and fellowships from TUBİTAK NATO Scholarship (1996-2004), Harvard University Dumbarton Oaks Garden and Landscape Studies (2003-2004), TUBİTAK Bideb Scholarship (2015-2016), and, an associateship at Harvard University Aga KhanProgram for Islamic Architecture (2015-2016). She has taught courses on landscape architecture, Ottoman landscape culture; arts and architecture of the Islamic world, and, the history of urbanism in Constantinople/Istanbul at the University of Virginia (UVA) in the School of Architecture, Department of Architectural History in 2010-2011; has been a full-time faculty in Bahçeşehir University (2007-2011), Yeditepe University (2005-2007) and METU (1998-2000). Çalış acted as Head of the Department of Architecture at Istanbul Bilgi University (2021-2023), Director of the Graduate Program in Architectural History, Theory and Criticism at Istanbul Bilgi University (2015-2022), and as Vice Dean at Yeditepe University (2007). She is the author of the book Şehrengiz, Urban Rituals and Deviant Sufi Mysticism in Ottoman Istanbul (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014 - with a second paperback edition in 2018 by Routledge). Her research topics include cross cultural interactions across the early modern Mediterranean landscape cultures; Ottoman space practices,  (16th c.- 18th c.) including Ottoman garden and landscape traditions, urban culture, as well as, the arts and architecture of the Islamic world. Her portfolio includes multiple scales of design - architectural design, landscape design and urban design. Her most recent project is the urban design of the Beyazıt Square with Ali Kural (https://mag.bilgi.edu.tr/tr/ha...) . Her research and projects are published by Harvard University Dumbarton Oaks Press, TOPOS, Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes, among others.

1998-2004 PhD, Middle East Technical University Faculty of Architecture, Ankara, TR

2003-2004 Junior Fellow, Dumbarton Oaks Garden and Landscape Studies Program

1996-1998 MArch, Pratt Institute School of Architecture, Brooklyn, NY

1997 Special Student, Columbia University School of Architecture, NY, NY

1991-1995 BArch, Middle East Technical University Faculty of Architecture, Ankara, TR   

Research Interests: Gardens and landscapes of the early modern Mediterranean and cross cultural interactions; history of gardens and landscapes of the Ottoman and Islamic cultures; Ottoman space culture; Ottoman imagination; vernacular landscapes; urban history and urban culture of Istanbul/Constantinople.

Design Interest: Teaching and practicing in architectural, landscape and urban design.