Lead Architect - Simzer Kaya
“Every person is born into life as a blank page and every person leaves life as a full book.”
Christina Baldwin
Simzer Kaya was born with her twin brother on 23 December 1985 in Kyrenia, Cyprus to a loving and supporting family. Growing up on a beautiful island where she could touch the soil and being guided by educated parents who were always encouraging about freedom of speech and expression, have shaped her as a social and engaging person.
Throughout her childhood, she fell in love with the nature of the island. At the age of 4, grabbing a pencil and a blank page has led her to draw the very first line of her lifelong career. Mesmerised by trees, people, buildings and the harmony of life, she realised her passion for imagining and creating living spaces for people. Starting the journey of a building on a piece of paper and transferring it to a real existence on the soil, thus being able to “touch people’s lives and bringing happiness” became her motto ever since.
Her affinity for sports began at the age of 7. She became an award-winning tennis player and a successful athlete over time. In addition to her physical improvements, she was determined to feed her hungry artistic soul with music. She became a certified piano player as she grew. As of today, she continues to compose music which she defines as capturing every single moment with musical notes.
Finishing the primary and secondary education in Kyrenia, she continued her further education in Famagusta, Cyprus. Having the same enthusiasm all those years, she majored in Architecture at Eastern Mediterranean University in the pursuit of becoming a successful and globally-known architect. Her love and respect for her profession continued to grow in her heart during challenging educational years. She wowed to be a trustworthy, respected and successful professional in her lifelong career and creating “happy and peaceful” premises being nourished with passion and design. Her artistic soul and hunger for knowledge led her to further education. She studied a Masters Degree in Design at The University for the Creative Arts, Kent, United Kingdom, focusing on “Characterised Designs According to the Different Personalities and Psychologies”. She had the opportunity to emphasise on the role of an architect with the priority of understanding every single human being and designing spaces accordingly in order to create a sense of belonging and attachment.
In 2009, she opened her office in her hometown and started her professional career. Despite her young age, she has become a respected, well-known professional in a very short period of time. Among her projects are mainly custom residential, commercial, industrial and interior design projects.
In order to contribute to enhancing the standards of architectural applications on the island, and providing refreshing solutions to problems faced by architects, she joined the administrative board of Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Architects in 2014. As an individual whose ideas are very much appreciated by older colleagues, she is currently taking part as the general secretary in the Chamber. In 2015, she was the coordinator of the project called “Continuous Professional Development Centre (CPDC) for Architects” which was granted a 3 year fund by European Union. The centre is currently functioning as a self sufficient educational arena for both architects and interested other parties.
In addition to her voluntary administrative duties, Simzer Kaya is the Leading Project Manager of Isı Metal Steel Co.Ltd. which is a well-known steel frame construction company located in Northern Cyprus. The wise ideas and solutions of her father, who is an engineer and runs the company, have been the major influence in her interest in steel frame construction. Together with her father, she is pushing the boundaries of engineering and architecture everyday.
In the interest of blending the theory and application of architecture, sharing knowledge and experience, being an inspiration for her future colleagues, she became a part time lecturer in Faculty of Architecture, Cyprus American University in 2016. Being transferred to the university she graduated from, she has been working as a lecturer in Eastern Mediterranean University giving classes for the last year students since 2018.
Her passion for traveling and seeing infinite colours of the world, being exposed to different cultures and thus understanding various lifestyles and traditions of people of international origins, being more connected to every single living thing on the planet and enlarging her own sense of world, keep growing every single day. She pays special attention to attending international seminars and fairs in order to get acquainted with global innovations and trends, therefore incorporating new ideas to her work and keeping her imagination alive at all times.
She dreams of building an “Art and Culture Centre” on the island which would provide a venue for talented artists of any kind the opportunity of exhibiting their work and ideas. By building this centre, not only she plans to make art more visible on the island, but also enhances the culture and production on the island.
She creates, designs and builds the innovation and will continue to “design life scenarios ” with her passionate soul. She is limitless and open to every kind of new idea.