Feyza Mutlu is an architectural designer who graduated from Rice University with a Master of Architecture in May of 2025 and Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and minors in psychology and sustainability in May of 2022. She grew up in Northeast Ohio, travelling to Turkey in the summers to visit family. Her studies at Rice presented opportunities to visit various countries in pursuit of deepening her understanding of architecture globally. The Morris R. Pitman Fellowship award allowed for the study of brutalist structures in Japan. The Rice School of Architecture Paris program led to travel in domestic France, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Italy. The Research Platforms studio brought urban discoveries in Hong Kong, and the global workshop initiative allowed for familiarity with Catalan and Andalusian architecture in Spain.
Seven years of extensive study, studio projects, and travel culminated in the thesis presented here. Feyza’s interest in psychology, combined with the desire to make design and beautiful spaces accessible, is the fuel for her thesis. She believes there is beauty in the mundane and that everyone deserves to experience pleasant spaces. Read more on this in the preface and concluding remarks of the thesis.