Mike grew up not far from Aalsmeer, on the edge of the Westeinderplassen, a complex of lakes. After secondary school, the TU Delft seemed the best choice. Mike’s brother was studying architecture, and Mike thought his interests would take him in the direction of town and country planning. But once in Delft it quickly turned out that his fascination for large railway stations was going to determine his course of study. For his master’s he chose as a subject the renovation of Brussels Zuid station.
After graduating he started applying for jobs, and because of his preference for infrastructural architecture, such as stations and bridges, his eye fell on ZJA. He has been working at our office on the Pedro de Medinalaan since January 2023.
Does he have a vision for the future?
‘I once wanted to design something to go in a theme park, like De Efteling. I did an internship at a company that does things like that, so really that dream has already come true. Maybe I’ll do more along those lines one day. I’m a great fan of theme parks, where magnificent illusions are conjured up with a minimum of resources.’