2026a-mine-arbay

title: Mine Ozoguz Arbay

HTGAA Spring 2026' type: home

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About me

I am Mine Özoğuz Arbay, PhD, an Assistant Professor in Interior Architecture and Environmental Design.
My research and teaching explore biodesign, bio-based material systems, and color–light interactions as tools for experimental and sustainable design thinking.

My work focuses on understanding design as a research-driven and process-oriented practice, where materials—especially living and time-based systems—are not merely shaped, but cultivated, observed, and interpreted.

This website documents my academic and experimental work during HTGAA Spring 2026, with a particular emphasis on:

  • research questions rather than final products,
  • laboratory-based experimentation,
  • iterative learning,
  • and critical reflection through documentation.

Contact info

Focus of HTGAA Spring 2026

During this term, my work is structured around research-based design exploration, addressing the following themes:

  • Biodesign as a methodological framework
  • Living systems and material agency in design
  • Biomaterials and microbial processes
  • Color and light as emergent, time-based phenomena
  • Ethics, sustainability, and more-than-human perspectives

Rather than presenting finalized outcomes, the emphasis is placed on process transparency, experimental rigor, and reflective analysis.

Homework

This section includes weekly reflections, reading responses, and short analytical texts that support the theoretical grounding of the studio and laboratory work.

Homework entries are used to:

  • articulate emerging research questions,
  • connect theory with practice,
  • and critically reflect on ongoing experiments.

  • Week 1 HW: Principles and Practices

    Governance as a Design Decision Tree This project treats governance not as an external constraint added after design, but as an integral part of the design process itself. Key technical uncertainties and scaling decisions are understood as ethical and governance decision points. Decision Point 1: Living vs. Non-Living Pigment Systems At the current stage of the project, it is not yet determined whether pigments will be used through living bacterial systems (e.g., embedded or encapsulated) or extracted from non-living biomass after bacterial deactivation. This unresolved decision is treated as a critical ethical limitation.

  • Week 2 HW — DNA Read, Write & Edit

    title: ‘Week 2 HW: DNA Read, Write & Edit" weight: 10 Week 2 — DNA Read, Write & Edit Part 1 — Benchling & In-silico Gel Art Lambda DNA Restriction Digest (Insert screenshots and explanation here)

  • Week 3 — lab automation

Labs

The Labs section documents material and laboratory-based experiments, including protocols, observations, visual records, and preliminary evaluations.

Rather than controlled results alone, this section values:

  • unexpected outcomes,
  • failures and limitations,
  • and the role of environmental conditions in material behavior.

Projects

Projects are developed as open-ended research inquiries rather than conventional design assignments.

Each project is structured as a research log, documenting:

  • the initial research question,
  • experimental methods,
  • iterative testing,
  • critical reflections,
  • and future research directions.