Agency
The capacity to act meaningfully within one's environment, to shape, choose, and inhabit space on one's own terms.
Yasemin
Tarhan
Architecture for Human Agency.
Designing environments that help people become more fully themselves.
01 — Philosophy
Every design decision influences how we live, move, connect, and feel.
While I believe the real power ultimately resides in people and the choices we make each day, our environment plays a powerful role. It is the container in which our lives unfold, making some possibilities easier and others more difficult.
To me, architecture is as much a process of discovery as it is a process of design. Whether designing for a person, a family, or an organization, understanding who you are—and who you hope to become—is the most meaningful place to begin.
Drawing on nearly two decades of architectural practice, community engagement, research in neuroscience and environmental psychology—and my perspective as a mother of three— I help clients discover what matters most and translate those values into environments that support the lives they want to build.
02 — Practice
Areas of Expertise.
Over the course of my career, I have gained meaningful experience in the following areas, which informs my practice today.
Adaptive Reuse
@ DBP
Identity Expression
@ DBP
Biophilic Design
@ DBP
Mission-Driven Work
@ DBP
Hospitality & Welcome
@ DBP
Large-Scale Projects
@ DBP
Public Art Integration
@ DBP
Façade Design
@ WRNS
Architectural Visualization
@ WRNS
Concept Sketching
@ DJDS
Creative Practice
Personal work
Community Engagement
@ DJDS
Selected work completed at Deborah Berke Partners (@ DBP), WRNS Studio (@ WRNS), and Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (@ DJDS), unless otherwise noted.
03 — Research
Architecture
& Agency
My research explores how architecture can expand human agency, adaptability, and flourishing by translating insights from neuroscience, psychology, and environmental science into spatial thinking.
Adaptability
Environments that evolve with the lives, rituals, and rhythms of the people who occupy them over time.
Multiplicity
Space that accommodates many ways of being, whether solitary or shared, quiet or expressive, familiar or unexpected.
Versatility
Spaces and objects that welcome reinterpretation, resisting the single script imposed by program or use alone.
Affordances
The latent invitations a space extends: a ledge to sit on, a column to lean into, a window that reorients the gaze.
Emptiness
The generosity of unfilled space, held open for imagination, encounter, and the slow work of becoming.
04 — Engagement
Selected engagements.
Talks · Workshops · Community Facilitation · Teaching · Writing
2026
- Mind-Body-Space Symposium·Architecture & AgencyWorkshop Presenter
- Designing Justice + Designing Spaces·Introduction to NeuroarchitecturePresenter
- Food What?!Community Engagement Facilitator
- SNAPCoCommunity Engagement Facilitator
- Stanford Continuing Studies·Brains, Bodies, and BuildingsProfessional Development
2025
- Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture·The Affordant Home: Child-Led Design & the Architecture of GrowthAuthor / Presenter
- WRNS Studio·Introduction to NeuroarchitecturePresenter
2024
- Studio WRNS·Park Day School Architecture WorkshopTeaching
2023
- Studio WRNS·High School Architecture WorkshopTeaching
- UC Berkeley·Third-Year Undergraduate Studio JuryJury Critic
- Studio WRNS·KIPP SF Bay Middle School Architecture WorkshopTeaching
- Studio WRNS·EOYDC Middle School Architecture WorkshopTeaching
2020
- Arredamento·From Respectful to Bold: DBP's Approach to Adaptive ReuseAuthor
- Elele·Deborah Berke & Caroline Wharton Ewing InterviewTranslator
2017
- Healing Spaces·Research InitiativeResearch
2015
- Kotodama·The Evolution of “Yami”: From Tanizaki to SANAAAuthor
- LOG 34·The Intimacy of the TableAuthor
2013
- Yale School of Architecture·Drawing ArchitectureTeaching Fellow
2012
- Yale School of Architecture·Introduction to ArchitectureTeaching Fellow
- Yale School of Architecture·Roman ArchitectureTeaching Fellow
- Youth Architecture Summer Workshop, IstanbulTeaching
2011
- Yale RetrospectaEditor
2009
- Vann Molyvann Monograph, CambodiaResearch Volunteer
2008
- Peter Zumthor Documentary, SwitzerlandAuthor
05 — About
Architect, researcher, mother.
I am an architect with nearly two decades of experience designing across scales, from furniture and interiors to homes, workplaces, hospitality, cultural institutions, healthcare environments, and urban design. My work has spanned every phase of the architectural process, from early visioning and community engagement through design, documentation, and construction.
I studied architecture at Yale University, earning both a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Architecture, and am licensed to practice architecture in New York and California. I am a member of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) and have taught architecture to learners of all ages, from kindergarten and middle school students to high school, university, and professional audiences.
Born and raised in Turkey and now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, I bring a multicultural perspective to my work. Living and working across cultures has shaped how I think about belonging, ritual, hospitality, and the role of architecture in everyday life.
Outside of practice, I am a painter, swimmer, sailor, and the mother of three young children. Many of the questions that drive my research first emerged at home. Watching my children grow has deepened my understanding of curiosity, adaptability, independence, and the powerful role environments play in shaping human development.
- Based
- San Francisco Bay Area
- Licensed
- NY / CA
- Languages
- EN / TR
06 — Contact
Let's begin
a conversation.
For commissions, research collaborations, speaking invitations, or teaching enquiries, I'd be glad to hear from you.