Team
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Marco Broekman
Floris van der Zee
Belinda van der Lingen
Irene Swinkels
Partner, senior urban planner, architect
Partner, senior urban planner, architect
Office Manager
Office coordinator
Robert ten Elsen
Senior urban planner
Robert ten Elsen (1968) is registered Master of Urbanism with extensive experience in strategic planning and design. His career is peppered with knowledge about Dutch and Asian urban development and transformations. After living and working in China for many years, he returned to his native country in 2020. At BURA he wants to use his knowledge and skills with regard to strategic interventions, but also to tackle the contemporary challenges in sustainable and complex urban developments.
Christa Rinzema studied Architecture at ETH Zürich and lives in Amsterdam since 1995. After working for fourteen years as senior architect at de Architekten Cie. on architectonical and urban planning projects like Funenpark Amsterdam, she set up her own office and became periodically guest teacher at the Faculty of Architecture & Built Environment at TUDelft and at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. Since 2021 she works as senior projectleader at BURA urbanism.
Bart Claassen (1982) is an urban designer, who graduated from the TU Eindhoven on a research about heat mitigation in cities. He worked in architectural and urban design companies in the Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium. Bart worked on projects on various scales, ranging from small scale architectural interventions to eco-districts, and in different countries. Bart has a special interest in sustainability within urban design.
Jordy Stamps (1988) is an urban geographer and urban designer. He studied at Utrecht University (NL) and NHTV (NL) and has been working at BURA since January 2017. There he works on projects in the field of research, strategy and urban development plans. From his start, Jordy has been involved in the urban development plan for the new Merwede urban district in Utrecht; a green, car-free city district with amenities within easy reach.
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Christa Rinzema
Senior architect
Bart Claassen
Senior urban planner
Jordy Stamps
Urban geographer, urban designer
Yunshih Chen
Jacopo Grilli
Geert Das (1979) has worked in urban research since his graduation in 2009 from the TU/e as an architect. He worked on a range of research projects for the university and as a freelance researcher. Among his work are historic studies on post-war inner-city redevelopment in the Netherlands and on the relation between religious heritage, landscapes and urban morphogenesis. At BURA he will lead our research projects and will support the research for the design projects.
Yunshih Chen is an architect from Taiwan. She has worked as architecture and urban designer in private offices and the Municipality of Taipei. During 2015-2017, she attended the European Post-Masters in Urbanism in TU Delft where she graduated with Cum laude. She is enthusiastic in various urban questions, especially in landscape infrastructure, design with water and the integration of urban thinking and architecture.
Martha Seitanidou (1992) is an architect from Greece and recently acquired her Master of Architectural Urban Design at TU/e in Eindhoven. She is currently following the professional traineeship (BEP) for receiving the title of urban planner. She has a special interest in projects that designed on a base of innovation create spaces which are both functional and pleasant. Her motto: work together, design for the people and make the world better.
Jacopo Grilli (1991) is an Urban designer from Italy, graduated in Urbanism at The Politecnico di Milano in 2015. He worked for several design firms in the Netherlands, developing an approach to urban design, related with arts and concept. He obtained the master degree in Urban Design at the Academy of Architecture of Amsterdam in September 2020.
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Martha Seitanidou
Geert Das
Researcher, architect
Urban designer
Architect
Urban designer
Saskia Kleij
Yara Alnashawati
Basia van Rijt
Milja Hartikainen is an architect from Finland. She graduated cum laude after studying at Aalto University and TU Berlin. Previously she worked in architecture and urban design offices, in Finland and in the Netherlands, and at the architecture faculty of TU Berlin. Working on projects from building and neighbourhood scale designs she designed both concepts and realisations. Her aim in work and design is to imagine and facilitate better and more resilient (urban) life with empathy.
Saskia Kleij is an assistant urban designer. She graduated in History of Art at the University of Amsterdam with a specialisation in history of architecture and urbanism. In september 2019 she started the master Urbanism at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. She is especially interested in the interdisciplinary character of urbanism and the wide range of aspects that are important in an urban design, like sustainability, the experience of the user and the history of a place.
Basia van Rijt (1991) is an urban designer. She graduated in urbanism from the TU Delft in 2017. Besides working as a designer she teaches at the TU Delft and the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam. By using research as a design method she aspires to contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive future.
Yara Alnashawati (1991) is an architect from Syria, has a master's degree from the MA+U academy of architecture in resilient cities and adaptive architecture. She got her bachelor's degree in architecture and urban planning from Damascus university. worked for several architectural and research offices in the Netherlands and Syria, on various scale projects from regional strategy, hospitals, to private.
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Milja Hartikainen
Urban designer
Urban designer
Urban planner
Architect
Steijn Visser
Steijn Visser (1999) is studying Built Environment at the “Hogeschool Utrecht” and will be graduating at the end of this academic year. He is planning to study the master Urbanism at the “Academie van Bouwkunst” in Amsterdam to become an urban planner. Currently, he is doing a 9-month internship at BURA and will focus on topics like urban health, climate adaptation, high-rise buildings and transformation.
Viktoria Papoutsidaki (1996) is an ambitious student who will get a Diploma in Architecture at the end of this year. She studied at the University of Patras, also the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology [Erasmus+]. Motivated in an attempt to obtain an all-embracing knowledge of architectural and urban design. During her 6-month internship, at BURA she aims to acquire skills and hands-on experience from a multidisciplinary team that will help her to become a better designer.
Margaux Demange (1996) comes from the National Higher School of Landscape Design of Versailles/Marseille in France. She is in Master one and is currently on exchange with the international EMILA program (European master in landscape architecture) at the Academy of Architecture of Amsterdam. She is an intern at Bura for 6 months. She aims to add to her profession as a landscape designer, an experience within a multidisciplinary team and to acquire new skills.
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Intern
Margaux Demange
Viktoria Papoutsidaki
Intern
Intern
Photo credits: Joost Bataille
Former team members: