She received her architecture degree from Middle East Technical University and her Ph.D. and postdoctoral degrees from Columbia University. She has taught at Columbia University, New School, Pratt Institute, METU, and Humboldt University. Akcan has received awards and fellowships from the Graham Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin, the Clark Institute, the Getty Research Institute, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Mellon Foundation, DAAD, Kinne, and KRESS/ARIT. She is the author of Architecture in Translation: Germany, Turkey, and the Modern House (Duke University Press, 2012), Turkey: Modern Architectures in History (co-author Sibel Bozdoğan, Reaktion, 2012), (Land)Fill Istanbul (124/3, 2004), and Çeviride Modern Olan (YKY, 2009).