Deniz Manisali Leba is an Architect / Designer and an Educator, currently based in Amsterdam, NL with 14+ years of international Experience in Architectural Firms and Universities including London, Istanbul and Singapore. She has experience in developing and implementing multiple scale and typology of Projects ranging from Product Design, Cultural Projects to large scale Mixed-Use Project Development as well as strong background in Design Research and Theory.
She has designed and managed multiple international Projects with large inter-disciplinary teams from Concept Design to Construction Documentation and Site Supervision.
In 2007 she graduated with a Master of Architecture and Urbanism from Design Research Lab (DRL) at Architectural Association in London after having received her Bachelor of Architecture and Fine Arts Degrees at Rhode Island School of Design. Her work at the AA has been presented in several exhibitions in London and Thessaloniki and she has been invited to give lectures throughout Europe and Asia.
Between 2007-2011 she worked at ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS in London as an Architect / Designer in various scale international projects ranging from Product Design to Masterplan. She has been a part of the design and execution team of Heidar Aliev Cultural Center in Baku, Azebaijan, completed in 2012, mainly focusing on the Auditorium Design and Execution. Since then, she designed and managed multiple projects in Istanbul, including a Cultural and Sports Centre and a 180,000m2 Mixed Use Development, currently on site.
Currently, she works as Project Manager and Senior Architect at UNStudio in Amsterdam in multiple large scale international projects as Design Manager and Coordinator.
Besides her professional career, Deniz has been an active member of the Academics since 2011. She has taught Design and Architecture Studios at Bilgi University, Istanbul and Nanyang Fine Arts Academy, Architecture and Sustainability Pillar @ SUTD, Singapore. She has also been an invited participant in DOMUS Exhibition Salone Internationale del Mobile MILANO 2012, Istanbul Design Biennale 2012 and Antalya Architecture Biennale 2016.
Her research includes innovative approach to architectural design through the use of data driven computational tools, digital manufacturing techniques and Research as an integrated part of inherently Sustainable design processes. Her aim is to achieve elegance and beauty through design sensibility and intuition with spaces that perform seamlessly. The projects aim to have the user experience / perception and the tactility as an embedded parameter within the process. Her research field expands to multiple scales from product design to master planning.