“I find that the rough edges of a city - the parts between a railway and a highway - can be just as inspiring as an architectural masterpiece somehow. It’s about how cities work and grow, and appropriate space.
“When you think about it, that’s how public space should work; give you some sense of belonging, a feeling that you are part of it - rather than feeling transient and just passing through.”
If you were to ask Do Janne Vermeulen about the transformational potential of timber and sustainable architecture, or simply glimpse her impressive portfolio (including HAUT - one of the tallest timber hybrid buildings in the world and Atlas - a multi-award winning project named one of the most sustainable renovated buildings in the world) you might say she was born to do it.
But the founding partner of Team V Architecture didn’t have childhood ambitions to seek out a career in architecture and design. It would be more accurate to say the profession found her.
Team V Architecture
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do in school. I looked at a whole range of options from history to economics to physics and maths. Then, I went to study in London and took an art course.”
In what Do Janne calls ‘a pivoting point’, the then-18-year-old left her hometown in the Netherlands to set up in a new country with a foreign language for an experience that would make her ‘much more bold’.
In London Do Janne took a one-year foundation course in sculpture and her calling started to take shape.
“I really loved the conceptual thinking and translating that to physical form. I discovered my passion for making - how it feels to produce with your hands.”
And upon reaching a ‘fork in the road’ where she had to choose between fine arts or architecture, Do Janne’s path was clear: “I love the way architecture is an answer to the questions posted by society.”
“I really loved the conceptual thinking and translating that to physical form. I discovered my passion for making - how it feels to produce with your hands.”
Team V Architecture
That passion for architecture’s intersection with culture and the human experience has
underpinned the mother-of-two’s hugely successful career. Among her proudest achievements is the renovation of Atlas - the main building of Eindhoven University of technology, which integrated an innovative energy saving light system as a living lab to support research on students and staff, for instance on the impact of artificial light on seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
“What really drives me is to find within each project one thing that both really helps the client and takes it to the next level of innovation and sustainability. With the right structures and spaces, we can give cities a beating heart. Make them non-anonymous, so that if they densify you don’t just become a number or statistic in the population - you become part of it.”
And the best way to do this? With one of Do Janne’s biggest passions - timber.
“Timber could really be revolutionary for the building industry; it can be used for mainframes and gives us architects an opportunity to think about how we transform buildings from their core.
It’s not a cast product - it’s a rational shape but unlike concrete it doesn’t only thrive by repetition.
“With timber we can rethink our public transport hubs and the way we can create buildings that are more transformable, and allow people to appropriate them more.”
Team V Architecture
While strongly against ‘greenwashing’, Do Janne sees the value in the current marketability of sustainable architecture and construction, and believes we should aim for more hybrid building structures rather than taking an all-or-nothing approach.
“If you only accept the highest reach, there’s a lot of baby steps you’re not willing to take. There’s a danger in thinking you don’t have enough budget or resources for an all-sustainable building, so you opt for nothing. I’m of course really in favour of all-timber buildings but I’d be happier if we managed to create 30% of buildings with a hybrid-timber structure than if we were to create just 2 or 3% all-timber buildings.”
If the growth of Team V Architecture, which Do Janne co-founded with fellow architects Jeroen Van Schooten and Gerard Van Hoorn, is anything to go by - the appetite for sustainable construction is only increasing. They’ve expanded their team from 14 to 60 since its inception seven years ago.
Innovative projects in the works include the design of a residential tower and hotel in Amsterdam, a student housing complex in Utrecht and two residential towers of 70 and 100 meters high in Rotterdam.
With architects like Do Janne - described by colleagues as ambitious, precise, empathetic and socially-engaged - at the helm, the future of timber is in good hands.
