Erkin Özay is a registered architect and award-winning educator. Özay is interested in the roles of urban institutions and the multiplicity of city-making practices. He investigates how institutional settings and urban interventions can serve as shelters from the structural inequities that burden the lives of vulnerable urban communities.

Özay is the author of several publications, most recently including the book Urban Renewal and School Reform in Baltimore: Rethinking the 21st Century Public School, which bridges facets of urban design, development, and education policy in its examination of the East Baltimore Redevelopment Initiative, one of the most aggressive urban renewal initiative in recent American history, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of predominantly Black households.

A founding member of the Urban Design Research Group within UB's Department of Architecture, Özay's teaching focuses on contemporary challenges of housing and urban revitalization in weak market cities. He seeks to expose students to the multifaceted nature of urban practices, beyond traditional and prescriptive models.

Özay's research and teaching have been widely recognized by the professional community and architectural academy. He has served as a panelist and speaker on several AIA events on school design, urban design education, and community-based practice. Özay is also a recipient of the AIA/ACSA Housing Design Education award.

Prior to joining UB's School of Architecture and Planning, Özay taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), University of Toronto and Northeastern University. He was the Aga Khan Fellow at the Harvard GSD from 2011-2013.

A registered architect in Massachusetts and his native Turkey, he also practiced with Foster and Partners, Hashim Sarkis Studios, and Peter Rose and Partners. 

• BArch, Middle East Technical University
• MArch, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

• Aga Khan Fellow from 2011-2013
  
• 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale exhibition- post-Katrina high-density housing development in New Orleans
• Panelist and speaker on several AIA events and recipient of the AIA/ACSA Housing Design Education Award