Career Outside the Box #1: Başak ALKAN, Perkins&Will

Perkins & Will's Başak ALKAN was our first guest in "Non Line Architecture", the second of three thematic seminar series organized by the Department of Architecture. We had a career-oriented conversation with Başak Alkan.

While talking about the projects she realized at Perkins&Will, an international company, Alkan also emphasized the relationship between the built environment and health in the city planning process.

Bașak Alkan is a senior urban designer and senior associate at Perkins&Will. She centers her design practice on the principle that great design can significantly impact the health of its users. Working across disciplines and sectors, she enables clients to formulate and design for outcomes related to human health and resilience. Her portfolio includes a master plan and zoning framework for a 1,000-acre multi-institutional health district in Baton Rouge, a community-centered master plan for an aging acute-care hospital in Atlanta, a transformative design for a 16-acre student health and residential district at UVA, and a resilience plan focused on health and equity for the City of Louisville.

A sought-after facilitator of interactive planning processes, Bașak works closely with government, institutional, and community stakeholders to find common ground for a shared future. She has enabled the implementation of these visions by devising customized master plans, designs, and zoning regulations that are adopted into city codes. An AICP-certified planner, Bașak holds a Master of Architecture and a Master in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.