Bio

2025s1027_brigitte%20van%20bakel

Brigitte van Bakel
'I am the architect and founder of AMi. At present I am challenged by projects that include urban scale demands and public space. I specialized in revitalization, renovation, transformation and the implementation of existing buildings, and urban structures. In addition I write and publish on engineering, architecture and urban design. Being a trained expert in human experience, my work is created through a haptic perception .

I graduated in 1997 (TU/e). To gain experience I was employed for several years on large scale projects such as Ypenburg urban plan of 14.000 dwellings, infrastructure and facilities in The Hague; University Hospital Entrance building in Groningen; University main building renovation in Eindhoven; Urban plan with 400 dwellings in Dordrecht. Architect Ashok Bhalotra opened up for me the metaphorical design approach on all scale levels, and urban strategist Frits Palmboom introduced me to the phenomenological perspective on urban design.

I started off an independant practice in 2001. For the first couple of years I advised on governmental, mainly urban projects. As such I was invited to partake in the advisory board of the urban plan for Ede Centrum and also designed and planned for the outskirts and the neighbouring villages. My first commission with a full design brief for a building came through a colleague in 2002. It was a renovation project of a seventies bungalow in the rural area of Grave NL. The project was delivered within the scope of the client and it evoked several publications.

For some years I worked as a free-lance co-architect with a colleague, next to my research on the use of greenhouse principles for human dwelling. This research had a rich off-spring. Not only it inspired students from the ArteZ Academy in their design, it also helped to initiate building with glass projects that use the insights gained from the greenhouses. The project lasted for over two years, and I still draw from the research skills that came with it.

Meanwhile I served by teaching activities and the membership in spatial quality advisory committees in several towns in the province of North-Brabant. Also I helped shape the BNA, the Dutch board of architects. And, I took part in the jury of a competition by Stichting de Verlichting for the illumination of the Waalbrug in my hometown Nijmegen.

In 2006 I was invited to the team of eight architects plus urban- and landscape designer in the Aria Goes quarter. My individual commission was to design two types of dwellings, a free-standing type and a double housing block, sustainable, while drawing inspiration from the local housing tradition. A demand in total of fourty houses in the new built district of Goes. The commission for the project lasted for eight years. It had everything in it to be a pioneer sustainable living project. The houses are designed with a timber frame and have practical solutions to ventilation, insulation and heating to meet energy efficient standards.

In the aftermath of the economical crisis the execution of the completed contruction drawings was delayed for many years. Meanwhile dwellings produced by local architects where introduced to the project. The designs of four of the involved architects were replaced in an attempt to minimize risktaking. After six years of delay I requested the client to be released from the commission, as I could no longer bear the digital designmaintenance for the preparatory, yet unbuilt construction. It was a sad thing to do, both for the client as for the architects and engineers involved in the project. It offered me a chance though, to appreciate architecture as a delicate yet non-negotiable realm.'

COURSES

1992-1997
Diploma University of Technology Eindhoven TU/e Faculty of Engineering Specialized in Architecture & Urbanism.
Components: Spatial Planning, Implementation and Management, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Structural Engineering, Architecture, Architectural Theory and History, Design Projects.

1978-1983
Diploma Academy of Physiotherapy, Arnhem.

1972-1978
Boschveld College Venray _ Gymnasium B, Subjects: Dutch, English, Latin, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

ADDITIONAL TRAINING (selection)

1998‐present
Professional training, including energy concepts, renovation and reuse, green roofs and landscape design.

2002
Legal Skills for Architects.

1997
Project Managment TU/e.

1991‐1992
Contract course Art History Radboud University Nijmegen. Art and Cultural History of the Middle Ages.

1985
Open University UK course "Nature & Industrialisation".

ENTREPENEUR with the multiple identities of Isis Architectuur, Anna Logos, Brigitte F.S.A. van Bakel, Brigitte van Bakel and B.F.S.A. van Bakel / AMi.

2001‐present

  • Urban design 'Nederland wordt Anders' in the demographic area of Groningen.
    Commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (1 year).
  • Urban design several projects Ede city centre, outskirts and villages.
    Commissioned by the Municipality of Ede (2 years).
  • Participation in various design competitions and tender activities
    for combinations of social, state - and commercial real estate.
  • Listing of projects is under construction.

Office tasks

  • Designing; (urban) architectural, structural and technical.
  • Preparing projects for implementation.
  • Supervising the implementation of designs.
  • Advising organizations both public and commercial.
  • Project management. Team management.
  • Supervising trainees.
  • Planning & budgeting.
  • Administration and contracting.
  • Directing the office and the projects.
  • Acquisition, maintaining contacts.
  • Presenting.

EMPLOYMENT as an architect and urban designer

1999‐2001 (2 years)
Urban planning at Projectbureau Ypenburg, The Hague. Mandate 'welstand' and supervision of the public-private cooperation of the urban development. Urban design and spatial planning through all scale levels.

1995-1998 (1 year)
Urban planning & architecture at Kuiper Compagnons, Bureau for Spatial Planning Rotterdam. Various large-scale urban projects.

1999 (< 1 year)
Urbanism & architecture at VHP Urbanists and Landscape Architects, Rotterdam. Project Almere Water Houses.

1998-1999 (<1 year)
Jeanne Dekkers Architecture, Delft. Urban design proposal for the Ypenburg Centre.

SIDE ACTIVITIES
1999‐2009
(Vice) chair / member of committees for aesthetics and spatial quality

  • Municipalities of The Hague (Ypenburg), Ede, Boxmeer
  • Mooi Brabant: Mill, St. Oedenrode, Bergeyk, Veghel, Uden NL

2005 - 2006 (1 year)

  • Educator ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem NL; Ongoing Workshop,
    for second and third-year students of architecture. 'Atelier Praktijk',
    design with glass-house buildings, human dwellings in an urban setting.

2005 - 2012 (7 years)

  • Guest teacher Mondial College Nijmegen
    in collaboration with Architectuur Centrum Nijmegen NL

2000 - 2012 (12 years)

  • Vice Chair / Secretary / Board Member / Member of the BNA Arnhem-Nijmegen NL

LANGUAGES AND SKILLS

  • German and English, fluently
  • French and Spanish, basic skills
  • Sanskrit basic reading skills
  • All the usual planning, writing, design and presentation programs
    Adobe Photoshop and Indesign, Autodesk CAD programs Architecture & Revit

    Word & Excel
    Website Content management.

INTERESTS
Dancing and walking, cooking, music, film, reading, walking, nature & gardening, caring for (small) animals.