Berru Zeynep Koksal
ExhibitionsPublications
About
Berru Zeynep Köksal’s work operates between architecture, fabrication, and object design, with a focus on material as both a spatial and cultural medium. Her practice investigates how architectural thinking can extend beyond buildings into objects, processes, and systems of production.
Working across professional offices, independent practice, and art contexts, she engages design through making—developing projects that move between drawing, modeling, and full-scale fabrication. Central to her work is an ongoing exploration of concrete as a tactile, expressive material, particularly through BRUTPEN, her independent line of handmade concrete writing instruments.
Her approach situates architecture not only as a discipline of buildings, but as a way of constructing relationships between form, weight, perception, and use.
Education
Berru holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a minor in Sustainable Design from the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, where she was awarded the Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship.
She previously studied architecture at the College of Marin, where she graduated as an Honors student and member of Alpha Gamma Sigma.
Experience
Berru’s experience spans architectural design, landscape design, and fabrication-based practices across the San Francisco Bay Area.
She is the founder of BRUTPEN, an independent design and fabrication practice focused on concrete as a tactile medium. Through this work, she leads the full process of design, prototyping, and production, with pieces exhibited and sold through galleries and cultural institutions.
Her professional experience includes roles at Feldman Architecture, where she contributed to schematic design and visualization for high-end residential projects, and ATK Design, where she worked across all phases of residential and hospitality projects—from concept development to construction documentation and site coordination.
She currently works with Loretta Gargan Landscape + Design, developing landscape proposals with an emphasis on material assemblies and spatial sequencing, and has collaborated with Catherine Wagner Studio on fabrication for sculptural and photographic works.
Recognition
Her work has been exhibited and distributed through galleries and institutions including Et al. Gallery, 500 Capp Street Foundation, and William Stout Architectural Books, as well as events such as the Renegade Craft Fair and Future Finds at Bather’s Library.
Her writing and design work have been published in TRACE Magazine at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, and she contributed to the Turkish translation of The Short Story of Architecture.