Özgün Balaban

Özgün Balaban is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP and a postdoctoral researcher at TU Delft at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. He is a computational design researcher and an electrical engineer. He received his Ph.D. from the Architecture and Sustainable Design Pillar at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) in 2019, with the dissertation titled “Understanding Urban Leisure Walking Behaviour: Correlations Between Neighbourhood Features and Fitness Tracking Data”.

His research interests are data-informed design and urban planning, machine learning in design, the use of game environments for design research, digital heritage, building information modeling, and geographic information system.

Özgün is involved in the IEBB project (Integrated Approaches for the Energy Transition in Existing Buildings) as a postdoctoral researcher. He is using machine learning models for fast assessment of building renovation using 3D printed building elements. He was part of Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore at the Big Data Informed Urban Design and Governance research group.

Özgün holds a master’s degree from Istanbul Technical University in Architectural Design Computing graduate program. His master’s thesis is about the use of algorithmic ways to check fire code compliance with the title “Automated Code Compliance Checking: A System for Checking Fire Codes”.