Burak Pak
Circular housing, earthquake resilience and the social conditions of architectural change.
TÜBİTAK 2232-A
A Computational Design Framework
We explore how prefabricated housing can support earthquake resilience while enabling components to be disassembled, adapted and used again. Our team is developing a computational design framework grounded in component data and performance assessment.
İstanbul University
International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers Programme
Project 125C917 · October 2026–October 2029
TÜBİTAK 2232-A · Research focus
How can prefabricated housing meet earthquake-resilience requirements while remaining repairable, adaptable and available for use again?
We are developing a computational design approach that brings seismic performance into the same assessment as disassembly, material recovery, environmental impact and long-term cost. The aim is to help architects and public partners compare housing options before construction, including what happens when homes need to be repaired, moved or reconfigured.
The research concerns both rapid-response housing and longer-term transitional homes. Two digital prototypes will be evaluated through simulated earthquake loading, assembly and disassembly scenarios, and repeated deployment. Planned pilot studies focus on İstanbul’s Fatih district, where site availability, infrastructure, access and local planning conditions will inform the design work.
With residents, municipal teams, civil-society organisations and small businesses, we will examine the practical conditions for putting these systems into use. Co-design sessions and virtual walkthroughs will inform how housing is arranged, used and managed.
2026–2029 · Planned work
Seven connected work packages bring architectural design, computational assessment and participation into a shared research process.
Document reversible prefabricated components, connections and construction systems. A shared knowledge base will relate their material properties to adaptability, disassembly and seismic performance.
Planned output · Component library and assessment vocabulary
Develop a common method for comparing structural behaviour with environmental impacts, material flows, life-cycle cost and social value across repeated use.
Planned output · Evaluation framework and indicators
Use geographic information and multi-criteria assessment to compare potential sites by hazard, accessibility, infrastructure and readiness for occupation. Examine the tenure and governance arrangements needed to activate them.
Planned output · Siting tool and activation guidance
Connect building information modelling with life-cycle assessment, material-flow analysis and life-cycle costing. Encode selected seismic and circular-design requirements so designers can assess alternatives during design.
Planned output · Circular design tool and digital material passports
Develop rapid-response and transitional housing as digital prototypes. Assess simulated seismic performance, assembly and disassembly time, repair needs and the value retained through successive deployments.
Planned output · Two digital prototypes and performance documentation
Bring residents, public partners and practitioners into design sprints and virtual walkthroughs. Study usability, participation and residents’ influence over design decisions alongside the technical evaluation.
Planned output · Co-design findings and training resources
Investigate leasing, deposit-and-return and shared ownership. Develop material-passport records and a marketplace prototype to support component tracking, refurbishment and redeployment.
Planned output · Material-bank registry and circular service models
Assessment
Design alternatives will be assessed through seismic behaviour and component recoverability; assembly and disassembly time; embodied environmental impacts; material and economic value retained per square metre; and residents’ participation and influence. These are research questions and planned evaluation criteria, rather than reported performance results.
The work develops through iterative design, simulation and stakeholder review over the three-year project. Planned outputs include a component knowledge base, computational tools, digital housing prototypes, material-passport records and training resources.
Earlier applied work: Solidary Mobile Housing ↗︎ WoonBox ↗︎Wider research
I explore how architects can combine circular design with social participation: retaining and adapting buildings, organising material reuse, and involving the people who inhabit and maintain them.
Research on digital design methods and artificial intelligence examines how architects can assess existing resources and develop options for adaptation, reuse and recovery. Recent work includes AI-driven circular design and circular housing for earthquake resilience in Türkiye.
Through collaborative housing projects, I study how residents and civil society organisations participate in design decisions. This work addresses the distribution of knowledge, resources and authority across the design process.
My work on collective spaces, participatory mapping and civic platforms explores how people use and govern shared urban resources. Studies of digital participation also examine whose experiences are represented and who can contribute.
I develop and study teaching practices in which students collaborate with community partners on real spatial questions. Design-build projects, live projects and reflective inquiry connect architectural learning with residents’ everyday experience.
I founded Altering Practices to bring critical spatial research into dialogue with collaborative learning and practice. Through Alt_Shift, researchers and designers work with citizens, civil society organisations and public partners on the social and political conditions of spatial change.
About the collective| Project | Funder |
|---|---|
| Enhancing the transdisciplinary capacity for situated creative practices | KU Leuven IOF |
| Rethinking circular architectural design as a participatory and inclusive practice | FWO-Vlaanderen |
| Proof of Concept for the Solidary Mobile Housing Co-Creation Model and the Realized Housing Prototype (PoC SMH) | Innoviris Brussels |
| Solidary Affordable Housing for the Houseless: A Mobile model in the Brussels Capital Region | Innoviris Brussels |
| A Virtual Environment for the Analysis and Evaluation of Alternative Urban Development Projects for the Brussels Capital Region | Innoviris Brussels |
| Remaking the Public Space | Erasmus Lifelong Learning Intensive Programme (European Commission) |
| Incubators of Public Spaces | JPI Urban Europe (European Commission) |
| Linking places through artistic practices | Creative Europe (European Commission) |
| SArPe – Socially situated Architectural Pedagogies | Erasmus+ (European Commission) |
| Circular Housing for Increasing Earthquake Resilience in Türkiye | TÜBİTAK 2232-A |