Murat Yavuzoglu

Murat began his studies in Istanbul, moving to the Netherlands to complete his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. He then worked as an architect at a number of renowned architecture and engineering firms, gaining lots of experience on large-scale international projects such as Schiphol ICS and the King Abdulaziz International Airport, and on retail projects such as the Sofia Forum Shopping Mall.

Subsequent experience at some of the world’s largest construction companies, such as the American-Turkish consortium Bechtel – ENKA, completed his development as a construction all-rounder. As site architect on the Muscat International Airport assignment in Oman, for instance, he was jointly responsible for the smooth running of a project meant to deliver an airport fit to handle twenty million passengers a year. This particular project was instrumental in expanding his technical knowledge of construction and improving his project management skills.

“The most fascinating and challenging part of my job is working out how to translate carefully considered and rigorously analysed concepts into something concrete that not only appeals to my colleagues for multiple reasons, but also, and more importantly, to a building’s eventual occupants.”

Inspired by his site architect experience, Murat sought to further his understanding of project management, particularly in relation to Building Information Management, and moved to London for postgraduate studies. He remained there after the course, having taken a job at the renowned architectural firm of Pascall+Watson, where he worked as a technical architect on complex logistics projects such as the London Stansted Airport Transformation Programme.

“Using less and wasting less. Sustainability is supported by many factors, but these, in my view, are the main ones. I’ve witnessed far too much waste since entering the industry, at work but particularly on building sites. Waste of effort, materials, time. At the same time, design and construction is becoming increasingly complex owing to the ever-increasing volume and variety of data at our disposal. This is why using BIM to create and manage these data has become crucial to successful delivery. I should mention here that there’s a difference between BIM as Building Information “Management” and BIM as Building Information “Modelling”. Using both allows you to efficiently manage, process and exchange all relevant information with all parties involved in a project, thanks to the degree of precision with which you can mimic reality. To get the most out of this approach, you need to use BIM from sketch design all the way to delivery, maintenance and in-use operation. And the time and effort saved should be invested in innovation and design.”

Murat joined Paul de Ruiter Architects as an architectural engineer in January 2021, and has since worked on various assignments such as the Lloyd Yard and Amsterdamse Poort residential projects.

“I find working here to be hugely inspiring, and my colleagues all share my conviction that BIM remains the most sustainable and efficient way to design and erect architectural structures. We’re a good fit, in other words.”