This is Pien, junior architect at Heiko Hulsker architecten since August 2021. Pien started out studying Beta-Gamma subjects at the University of Amsterdam but shortly realized that this didn’t give her the direction she wanted. Already as a young girl, Pien was occupied with interior and spaces and at an open day visit for architecture at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, it finally clicked. She knew she was in the right place. And this, being in the right place, is of great importance to Pien. After the HvA Pien knew she wanted to pursue her architectural education at the Technical University Delft and moved to Rotterdam to follow her master in Heritage & Design, from which she graduated in 2020. Pien also has a strong passion for hockey and has been playing hockey since she was 7 years old. She got in contact with Heiko through the hockeyclub and eventually did an internship at Heiko Hulsker architecten. She appreciates greatly that she can enjoy the balance of both passions. Creating a comforting place, a good home in which the people stand central, is of great importance to Pien. According to her, architecture should respond to the wishes of the user but also needs to respond to what already is there. In her masters, she learned with great interest about the value of heritage and the existing environment. She finds architecture that responds to the existing environment the most inspiring projects, such as Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright and Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor.
