Finegold Alexander Associate and Design Manager Özge Diler Himes recognized the importance of the contexts in which building lie. It's led her to a career of projects across a large range of sectors and sizes. In our May Staff Spotlight, we sat down with Özge to learn more about her design inspirations and guiding principles in her work.

Q: What inspired you to become an architect/designer?

My interest in architecture started when I visited a university architecture department during a high school tour. I remember myself looking through the glass of a design studio classroom and being very impressed with the big space set up and all the physical models that were done by the students. With the rest of the tour, I sensed a very different way of seeing the world by studying architecture. I was intrigued by the ability to affect someone’s life through space.

I ended up studying in the exact architectural studio I saw through the glass.  

Q: If you could give advice to a young designer, what would you say?

Travel to new places as much as you can. There is a lot to learn from existing buildings and public spaces. Traveling and seeing different spaces, whether internationally or within your own city, are crucial to developing a design sensibility. Sketching the spaces you like while traveling would be even more effective, as it gives you some time to observe what really works well in that space, what the proportions are, how the light comes in, and how people use it.

Q: Do you have any guiding design principles in your process?

With my master’s degree being in urban design, I am very interested in how the context could play a role in shaping building forms. That’s also part of the reason why I love working with existing buildings. Existing buildings have their own character, and it always gives the designers a great context to draw inspiration from and respond to.

Besides context, responding to the client and community’s particular needs, sustainability goals and overall quality of the interior are all things that need to be taken into consideration while coming up with design ideas. It is a very complex process, but very rewarding in the end!

Q: What have been some of your career highlights/proudest achievements so far?

Being promoted to Design Manager has been a career highlight and enables me to contribute to the concept designs of many projects across the office simultaneously. I really enjoy getting to work with each of the different project teams.

I’m also very proud to see projects that I work on come to life. I will always remember when I first visited The Commons project at Babson College’s Horn Library after it was fully constructed. After looking at the digital model for so long during the design phase, it was an amazing feeling to finally be in there in person and see how the students were using the space!

Q: Do you have a favorite city to visit for architecture?

No big surprises here - my favorite city is Istanbul. I love how the Bosphorus is such a big part of the city – it is not a border that divides the city between the European and Asian sides, but rather a living thing with its changing colors every day, ferries traversing it, seagulls flying over it… I also love the moments when you’re walking on a narrow, hilly street in Istanbul, you turn the corner and suddenly the Bosphorus view appears at the end. Besides the historical architectural landmarks, there are also very nice examples of contemporary architecture that blends into the city fabric.

I think Barcelona is also a great city to visit– both from an architectural and urban design point of view. Barcelona’s superblocks give an amazing fabric to the city and this fabric lets landmark buildings like Gaudi’s stand out. I don’t think cities where each individual building is trying to be iconic are very successful. There should be a nice balance between the regular city fabric and the landmarks. Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City is a great book to read about this topic and the elements that make a city memorable.

Q: Do you have a favorite building or perhaps a favorite architect?

I feel like I learned a lot from visiting Louis Kahn’s buildings. His work always brings me back to the fundamentals of forms, materials, and light. Kahn’s works remind me how much you can do with simple design moves. I visited the Trenton Bath House last summer. While it is not open to the general public, I was able to get permission to enter. Besides the play of the simple geometric shapes, it was incredible to see how lightly the roof touches the walls and how shifting the planes slightly in plan can create opportunities to get light, define entries, etc.

The American Folk Art Museum in New York by Todd Williams and Billie Tsien that was demolished was also one of my favorite buildings. Such an amazing façade treatment, scale, and materiality in a tight urban lot!