concepts · updated 2026-07-19
Cem S. Kayatekin
confidence: medium volatility: warm
Assistant Professor of Architecture (urbanism) at IE University, Segovia, Spain, since 2018. Author of "Steve Baer and the Double-Play Thermosiphon" (ICON, 2025), the archive's most-cited academic source — though his broader published work is in contemporary urban equity/resilience theory, not passive-solar or architectural history.
Cem S. (Sinan) Kayatekin is Assistant Professor of Architecture, specializing in urbanism, at IE School of Architecture and Design (IE University), Segovia, Spain, since January 2018. He authored “Steve Baer and the Double-Play Thermosiphon: Tracing a Passive Solar Innovation in the Steppes of New Mexico,” ICON: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology, vol. 30, no. 2 (2025), pp. 120–153 — the single most-cited academic source in this archive, tracing Baer’s water-based thermosiphon concept from the 1971 stock-pond melter patent through the Cool Cell, Andy Shack, and the Davis-designed buildings.
Education
B.Arch, Auburn University (2005–2009); M.Arch, Cornell University (2009–2010); Ph.D. in Architecture, University of Oregon (2012–2017), advised by Howard Davis.
Field of research
His documented body of work is centered on urban socioeconomic resilience, equity and inclusivity, energy/carbon transitions, blue-green-grey infrastructure, housing and urban form, and “the just city” — not passive-solar technology or building history. Other publications found: “The Meta-Project, Eisenman, and Capital: Lessons for Critical Architectural Practice” (The Plan Journal); “Historic Preservation, Complexity, and the Shadow of Monumentality: The Case of Lutyens’ Delhi”; two ArchDaily pieces on urban resilience and equity (2019, 2020); and several pieces for The Conversation. He is co-founder of an architecture/urbanism practice based primarily in Sri Lanka, named “DICE group” on his IE faculty page but “Blue Dot Studio” elsewhere — an unresolved discrepancy.
Honest gap
No independent evidence connects Kayatekin to prior work on passive solar history, Steve Baer, Zomeworks, counterculture architecture, or New Mexico. The ICON paper reads as a topical departure from his otherwise contemporary-urbanism-focused publication record, not a demonstrated specialization — his credentials as an architecture-history scholar are solid, but his expertise in this specific subject rests on the paper itself, not an established research program. This doesn’t undermine the paper’s citation-level facts (journal, DOI, content), which have been independently confirmed elsewhere in this archive, but it’s worth knowing when weighing his authority on interpretive claims.