About

Passionate researcher, lecturer, and entrepreneur who synthesises the research in the fields of architecture, computational design, digital and robotic fabrication, human-robot interaction (HRI), and human-computer interaction (HCI).

Research:  

PhD researcher, KU Leuven, Belgium  (2018 – Present) 

• • • Created a declarative programming language grammar that interprets real-time sensor feedback for interactive and improvisational fabrication processes 
    • Implemented the language grammar by using Python, C# and Network communication protocols to control collaborative robotic arms on-the-fly
    • Developed an interactive robotic fabrication system 
    • Introduced novel interaction models and workflows that integrate materiality and  human collaboration into digital fabrication  

Teaching/supervising: 

Teaching Assistant, KU Leuven, Belgium (2018 – Present)

• • • Developed robotic fabrication design studio including its program, assignments, and teaching content, led all lectures and hands-on fabrication sessions
    • Taught computational design software Grasshopper, created online tutorial series, led exercise sessions
    • Supervised master theses, evaluated/graded student projects and theses 

Academic Tutor, Bauhaus University-Weimar, Germany (2016 – 2017)

• • • Organised interface design and prototyping workshop series for graduate students 
    • Taught programming of micro-controllers and basic sensors 

Entrepreneurship:

Neudeli Start-Up Fellow, Bauhaus University-Weimar, Germany (2017-2018) 

• • • Developed concept of augmented materials that are tangible interfaces to support modelling complex geometries such as folded surfaces 
    • Designed working prototype by using printed electronics on foldable film papers
    • Organised and tutored “Augmented Materials & Hybrid Design Mediums  Workshop” at CAADFutures 2017 Conference, Istanbul Technical University 

Selected Work Experience: 

Student Software Developer, Zalando Tech Hub, Germany (2017 – 2018) 

• • • Worked in web service-based real-time data projects by using Go, HTML SQL

Junior Architect, KOOP-HC Architekten, Germany (2014 – 2015)

• • • Contributed to development of architectural design projects and delivered technical/visual drawings, models 

Education: 

Ph.D. (Architectural Robotics), KU Leuven, Belgium (2018 – Present)

• • • KU Leuven Research Bursary (100%) funded PhD research titled “Material-sensitive robotic fabrication for architectural design” 
    • Supervisors: Prof. dr. ir. arch. Andrew Vande Moere, Prof. dr. ir. h.c. Herman Bruyninckx, Dr. Corneel Cannaerts 

M.Sc. (MediaArchitecture), Bauhaus University-Weimar, Germany (2015 – 2018)

• • • Master Thesis titled “Augmented materials: Physical crafts in digital iterations”
    • Supervisors: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Reinhard Koenig and Prof. Dr. sc. hum. Dipl. Chem. Jens Geelhaar 

M.Sc. (Design computing), Istanbul Technical University, Turkey (2013 – 2015)

• • • Master Thesis titled “The roles of design representations in architectural design thinking” 
    • Supervisor: Dr. Elif Sezen Yagmur Kilimci 

B.Arch, Istanbul Technical University,Turkey (2009-2013)

Erasmus scholar, Technical University of Munich, Germany (2011-2012)

Publications (Peer-Reviewed):
Tokac, Iremnur, Benay Gursoy, Herman Bruyninckx, and Andrew Vande Moere. 2022. “Craft-Inspired Digital Fabrication: A Study of Interactive Robotic Clay Carving.” In Symposium on Computational Fabrication (SCF ’22), October 26–28, 2022, Seattle, WA, USA. Seattle, WA, USA: ACM. 10.1145/3559400.3562003 

Tokac, Iremnur, Johan Philips, Herman Bruyninckx, and Andrew Vande Moere. “Fabrication grammars: bridging design and robotics to control emergent material expressions.” Construction Robotics 5, no. 1 (2021): 35-48. http://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-021-00053-0

Tokac, Iremnur, Herman Bruyninckx, Corneel Cannaerts, and Andrew Vande Moere. “Material sketching: Towards the digital fabrication of emergent material effects.” In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1-6. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3313036

 

Invited Talks/Presentations: 

“Transforming unpredictable material effects into aesthetic expressions via sensor-informed fabrication grammars” at Robotic Fabrication: Sensing in Additive Construction Workshop in 2021 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2021)

“Digital fabrication tools as active crafting tools” at Troubling Innovation: Craft and Computing Across Boundaries Workshop in CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Weaving the Threads of CHI) 2019

 

Art Exhibitions, Design and Presentation Awards: 

“Transforming unpredictable material effects into aesthetic expressions via sensor-informed fabrication grammars” in IROS 2021, Presentation award, Prague, Czech Republic (2021)

Crystallization Morphology, in “Agar! Agar!”, Exhibition at Schillerpalais (TOP) Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany (2016)

MIMED National Architectural Design Student Projects, Special Jury Award, Istanbul, Turkey (2010)  

Skills:

Computer-aided design: Grasshopper, Rhinoceros, RhinoDeveloper, AutoCAD, Revit

Software/Hardware development: Python, C#, Arduino/micro-controller (C/C ++ based), Go Lang (Google), Processing (Java based), HTLM/SQL

Visual and Communicative: Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Latex, Microsoft Office

Languages: Turkish (Native), English (Fluent), German (Basic)