Abdüssemi Aydın is a first-year PhD student in Art History at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University, specializing in Islamic art and architecture. His research explores architecture, architectural patronage, and urban heritage in the early modern Ottoman Empire, with a particular focus on the ways architectural production intersected with political and social change.

Before joining Tyler, Aydın earned an MA in the Archaeology and History of Art program at Koç University in 2026. His master’s thesis, “The Tophane District in the Eighteenth Century in the Context of Sultanic Architectural Patronage,” examined the transformation of Tophane in eighteenth-century Istanbul, focusing on the role of sultanic patronage in shaping the district’s architectural and urban landscape. He received his BA in History from Ibn Haldun University in 2023.