Ali C. Höcek
Principal

Ali C. Höcek, the principal of ACHA, is a Turkish-American architect who has been practicing independently for over thirty years. Höcek received a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, his Master of Architecture from Syracuse University, and his RIBA Part I from the Architectural Association where he studied with Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid. Höcek later collaborated with Hadid as in-house architectural consultant to the Guggenheim Museum. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), and holds architectural licenses from five states. His firm has received numerous professional awards and recognitions for its work, including from the AIA and the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, and for prefabricated informal housing in Nicaragua, and community facilities in disenfranchised neighborhoods of NYC. He is a professor of architecture at the City College of New York, where he has taught studio design for over three decades to graduate and undergraduate students.

His firm’s projects range from the design of museum exhibitions to hotels and community-based buildings, as well as a broad range of residential buildings and interiors, communal rooftops, hotels, and the preservation of landmarked buildings. Höcek continues to research, write, and speak about the theories and practices influencing architecture. He is drawn to the complexities of arguments made by post-war European avant-garde groups, particularly the Situationists International, as well as the geo-political disruption of territories, and the prefabrication of buildings.

Ali is also a founding member of CARRRE (Collective Action for Readiness, Recovery, Resilience). CARRRE is a collective of U.S.-based Turkish-American architects and academics who have partnered with AIANY and Salt-Istanbul to focus on the rebuilding efforts in Türkiye and Syria after the February 6, 2023 earthquakes. CARRRE combines the resources and talents of internationally-based architects, urban planners, engineers, and academics to collaborate with similarly situated local professionals, businesses, community organizations, municipalities, and builders in the affected regions.

The rebuilding effort provides an opportunity to advance new technologies and architectural and construction processes to create a safer, more sustainable, resourceful, and resilient built environment. Through its contributions, CARRRE hopes to build awareness about the rebuilding efforts and to give Turkish architects, planners, and engineers more agency for future projects, provide resources in ongoing efforts, and improve lives through design.

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Over time, his professional practice, academic career and non-profit pursuits have each served to inform the work of the other, providing a unique and evolving foundation supportive of inspired collaborations and inter-disciplinary exchanges.

Inspired by both theory and practice, Höcek’s work is generative and builds upon a responsive partnership with each client. Höcek’s research serves to inform the firm’s work in the creation of space and the quality of the interactions of those people who inhabit it. Ultimately, this cross-over came to bear in the design of the Avari Hotel in Pakistan. The original hotel was designed by Alexis Josic of the Paris-based firm Candilis Josic Woods, which was prominent during the late 1950s and 1960s and who participated in the avant-garde thinking among architects at the time. ACHA’s later analysis and design for the Avari Hotel addition was informed by Höcek’s research of the practices and theories from this period.

In addition to his professional practice, Hӧcek teaches design studios in both the Master of Architecture and Undergraduate programs at the Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York, with an emphasis on exploratory and experimental pursuits, as well as environmental sustainability and resiliency. Recently, Höcek’s studios have researched the space between governmental and non-governmental medical care in Panama and the cross-territorial flow of migrants at the Mexico-Guatemala border, exploring how constructed, natural and virtual environments are leveraged by peoples to sustain a sense of community within a field of radical displacement.

Within a substantial portfolio of high-end apartments and houses, ACHA has developed designs for affordable housing and efficient construction techniques. The latter is seen in a wide range of designs for educational buildings and residential buildings. Among the firm’s work with community based non-profit organizations is a community garden pavilion in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. The Powell Garden Pavilion in Brownsville emerged from Höcek’s philanthropic work with Claus Meyer, a co-founder of the Noma restaurant in Copenhagen for whom Höcek had designed the Brownsville Community Culinary Center (BCCC), a teaching kitchen and restaurant. Through his work with the BCCC, Höcek partnered with Ms. Brenda Duchene, who, through her local non-profit, Isabahlia Ladies of Elegance Foundation, operates agricultural and healthy food education programs in five community gardens in Brownsville.

ACHA has employed numerous City College students and graduates, also referring many for work in other architectural firms. Hӧcek established the student and faculty exchange program between the schools of architecture at City College and Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, Turkey, and also founded the Bahçeşehir Exchange Program SSA Donor Fund.

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Cynthia Corsiglia
Director of Operations

Cynthia Corsiglia brings over two decades of experience as a lawyer specializing in the financial services industry to ACHA’s programming, development, and operations. She has worked as outside general counsel, chief operating officer, and chief compliance officer across disciplines to help build, support, and guide business management teams. Her work has always encompassed a broad range of responsibilities, developed during her years of private practice in NYC and as general counsel and chief compliance officer of Crédit Agricole Structured Asset Management Advisers in Paris, France. She is known for her ability to provide practical solutions, spot issues and manage risk. She previously practiced law at Sidley Austin LLP and Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts, LLP. She has volunteered with Lawyers Foreclosure Intervention Network to negotiate mortgages on behalf of homeowners facing foreclosure and with Northeast Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (NeVOSH), to assist in the administration of pop-up medical clinics in Central America.

All of these roles prepared her to support and advance the work of ACHA, not only with respect to the intricacies and demands of the architectural profession, but also because of her commitment to service and respect for collaborative pursuits. She has a keen appreciation of the social, cultural and ecological challenges of our built environment, and of architecture’s ability to improve lives through better design.

Cynthia is also the Project Director for CARRRE (Collective Action for Readiness, Recovery, Resilience). CARRRE is a collective of U.S.-based Turkish-American architects and academics who have partnered with AIANY and Salt-Istanbul to focus on the rebuilding efforts in Türkiye and Syria after the February 6, 2023 earthquakes. CARRRE combines the resources and talents of internationally-based architects, urban planners, engineers, and academics to collaborate with similarly situated local professionals, businesses, community organizations, municipalities, and builders on the ground in Turkey.

The rebuilding effort provides an opportunity to advance new technologies and architectural and construction processes to create a safer, more sustainable, resourceful, and resilient built environment. Through its contributions, CARRRE hopes to build awareness about the rebuilding efforts and to give Turkish architects, planners, and engineers more agency for future projects, provide resources in ongoing efforts, and improve lives through design.

ACHA’s principal, Ali C. Höcek is also a founding member of CARRRE.

Sarwat Yunus
Associate Architectural Designer

Sarwat Yunus’s close attention to detail enables her to manage projects effectively from concept and design development to construction administration, providing leadership and quality control. Since joining the firm in 2016 and being promoted to Associate Architectural Designer in 2019, she has led the development as project manager and designer for numerous high-end residential, retail, residential, rooftop, museum/gallery and mixed-use projects. Yunus also works with Höcek and Dang on ACHA’s competitions and philanthropic projects.

Ms. Yunus graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Sustainability at the City College of New York. She has experience in sustainable design and resiliency, project management, construction administration, construction documentation and design.

She is also a LEED Green Associate and a member of the American Institute of Architects.

Pauline Dang
Associate Architectural Designer

Pauline Dang favors strong conceptual thinking and creativity in the designing of ACHA’s clients’ spaces and is influenced by the intersection of architecture with arts, culture, and sustainability. Since joining the firm in 2019 as Associate Architectural Designer, she has led the development as project manager and designer for numerous high-end residential, retail, rooftop, museum/gallery and mixed-use projects. Dang also works with Höcek and Yunus on ACHA’s competitions and philanthropic projects.

Ms. Dang received her Master of Architecture at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, and Bachelor of Arts from New York University.