Some spaces make you hold your breath.
Others let you breathe.
I design spaces that help people learn, heal and connect.
Shaped by light, rhythm and sensory experience.
Space influences everything.
Children learn differently in environments that support them.
Patient recover differently in spaces that reduce stress.
People connect differently when a space creates room to pause, reflect and belong.
Every project begins with understanding.
Understanding people, place and potential.
The principle behind everything I design.
Ma (é–“) is the space between things.
The pause between activity and rest.
The threshold between outside and inside.
The moment that allows people to arrive.
Not emptiness, but connection.
For me, Ma is not a style.
It is a way of paying attention.
So Fit & Fun Centre
Sophia’s Children Hospital, Rotterdam
How can a hospital create space for children to simply be children?
A place where children can move, explore and discover what they are capable of..
Inspired by conversations with the children themselves, the So Fit & Fun Centre offers a world apart from the hospital around it.
A new heart for the school
Canadian Academy Kobe, Japan
How can an overlooked atrium become the heart of a school?
Inspired by komorebi, a cedar lattice ceiling transformed a rarely used atrium into a place where students gather, connect and belong.
A new heart for the school community.
Where everyday moments become part of learning.
About
I've always noticed small things.
The way light enters a room in the morning and lands somewhere specific.
How a material can soften a space without drawing attention to itself.
The moment a corridor stops feeling like a corridor.
After almost twenty years of working between the Netherlands, Europe, Argentina and Japan, my years living and working in Japan fundamentally shaped the way I think about space. - not as something separate from nature, but as part of a larger landscape.
I work primarily with schools, healthcare environments and organisations seeking to improve how people experience a place. Whether through transformation, renovation or a new way of looking at what already exists.
Often, I become involved before there is a design brief, when something needs to change, but it is not yet clear what.
Through observation, conversations and spatial exploration, I help reveal the opportunities already present within a place.
Sometimes the most meaningful change begins with seeing a place differently.
From first idea to the day a space opens, I stay closely involved to make sure those qualities are carried through.
Recipient of the Japan Wood Design Award, awarded by a jury led by Kengo Kuma.
Let's start with a conversation.
Not every project begins with a clear plan.
Often, it begins with a feeling - that a place could work better, feel calmer, or reveal more of its potential.
In a short conversation, we can explore that together.