Zeynep Kuban

İTÜ’s Project coordinator Prof. Dr. Zeynep Kuban Tokgöz is an archaeologist and art historian, teaching art & architectural history in İTÜ Faculty of Architecture since 1987. Kuban Tokgöz has widely published, participated in international research projects and has been a visiting scholar abroad multiple times (Ludwig Maximilians University, Institute for Middle and Near Eastern Studies in 2016, in Berlin Technical University in 2005, 2000, 1998 and 1996). She has been giving a variety of courses in undergraduate, graduate and PhD level on the history, culture and theory of art and architecture, concerning the early and middle ages to today. Particularly, the undergraduate course titled ‘Layers of Istanbul’, which she has been executing since 2001, is a very suitable and accommodating course for this research project, due to its focus on the layers of the city from the perspective of architectural history and issues of heritage. In addition to her teaching in the university, she is also the founder of “Children’s Limyra”, a summer school project that was launched by the excavation team in order to reach out to children at an early age to sensitize the children to their historical and natural environment in the Ancient city of Limyra in Finike, Antalya, Turkey. From 2011 to 2016 she organized one week workshops with a team graduate and PhD students from İTÜ Faculty of Architecture to tell about the arcaeological findings of the excavation and historical background of the ancient Lycian capital city Limyra to the children of nearby village via drama, music, art, dance workshops and other visual materials. Her experiences of organizing and working with various age groups from 5 to 30+ in the dissemination of art & architectural history knowledge, as well as awareness on historic & cultural heritage preservation is essential for this project.