WHO
Name: Murat Dede, Founder and Creative Director
Education: İzmir University of Economics, Interior Architecture (2010); La Sapienza University, Rome, Exhibition and Public Space Design
Field of Study: Interior Architecture
Urbanjobs is a design studio that views space as a holistic experience shaped by material, texture, and light. The studio specialises in hospitality, retail, residential, and office design, creating environments that merge sensory layering with a strong spatial identity.
WHY
Year Established: 2019
Inspiration to Start:
After years of collaboration with talented creatives, Murat Dede felt a growing desire to establish a studio that reflected his own rhythm and perspective. Rather than pursuing a solo career, he aimed to cultivate a studio culture where design felt both intuitive and intentional. This vision led to the birth of Urbanjobs, which began organically but with the ambition to create work that communicates through material, light, and time.
First Major Commission:
The studio’s first commission was Zula Harbiye, a compact restaurant located below street level in one of Istanbul’s vibrant neighbourhoods. The project presented significant constraints, including low ceilings and limited natural light, which inspired a sculptural approach to design. By utilising concrete, brass, and shadow, the team created an atmosphere that felt both grounded and unexpected. This project garnered attention from renowned restaurateur Alan Yau, leading to further opportunities in interior and product design.
Future Plans:
Urbanjobs is currently preparing to launch its second design publication, focused on a new restaurant project for two-Michelin-starred chef Osman Sezener. The studio emphasises the importance of sharing the design process and narrative, rather than just the finished work. Additionally, Murat plans to explore product design, with several ideas in development, and has secured a new studio space set to open in 2026, aimed at fostering a collaborative and intentional work environment.
WHAT
Key Projects:
Batard
Batard represents a milestone in small-scale atmosphere building, designed to evoke ease, familiarity, and quiet elegance. The restaurant features white marble tabletops, robust built-ins, and sun-worn blue awnings, creating a sense of permanence and an immediate, lived-in quality.
Assembly Buildings
This project reimagines the contemporary workplace by blending co-working, hospitality, and public life into a layered environment. Assembly Buildings encourages multiple modes of being throughout the day, fostering a rhythm of focus and pause, solitude and social exchange. It embodies Urbanjobs’ ethos of designing spaces for productivity, adaptability, and human connection.
Scalla
Scalla is defined by its geometry, natural light, and raw materiality, exemplifying a meditation in restraint. Recognized by the Turkish Architecture Yearbook, the project showcases the studio’s ability to create environments that are architecturally disciplined and emotionally grounded, inviting stillness and attention through texture, proportion, and calmness.
WHERE
For more information about Urbanjobs and to explore the studio’s innovative projects, visit its Instagram: www.instagram.com/urbanjobs/
