Dalokay was born in Elazığ in 1927 to İbrahim Bey and Emine Hanım, in an AleviKurdish family who had relocated from Pertek.[1][2] He completed his elementary and secondary education in Elazığ. He left for Istanbul for higher education, where he attended and graduated from the Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Architecture in 1949.[3] His lecturers were Clemens Holzmeister and Paul Bonatz.[3] Following his graduation in 1949, he entered the Ministry of Works and the Post and Telecommunications Department.[3] In 1950, he settled in Paris to begin postgraduate studies at the City Planning Department of Sorbonne University in Paris, France, but did not graduate.[3]
His design for the Kocatepe Mosque in the Turkish capital, Ankara was selected in the architectural competition in 1957 but, as a result of criticism, was not built.[6] Later, a modified design was used as a basis for the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan.[3] In Pakistan, he was also the architect of two not realized buildings, then of the constricted monument Summit Minar, Lahore and is considered a major Turkish influence in Pakistani architecture.[3]
Death
Vedat Dalokay passed away along with his wife Ayçe Dalokay (aged 64) in a traffic accident near Kırıkkale on 21 March 1991. His son Barış Dalokay (aged 17), who was injured in the accident, also died on 27 March 1991.
