Birte Zacharias, architect 

Birte completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at RWTH Aachen, where she studied construction engineering and architecture. In her third year, she went on exchange to the TU Delft, and decided to stay in here to write her thesis. For this, she designed a research centre focused on alternative food production, and authored a book exploring how humans nourish themselves and the ethics of meat production.

Birte feels very much at home at cepezed, drawn by the studio’s high level of ambition - which aligns closely with her own goals of creating architecture that serves both people and the natural world. ‘There’s so much to learn here because of the high standards and the wealth of knowledge within the team. Projects are developed down to the finest detail, and people here genuinely enjoy doing that. It’s a little bit ‘nerdy’, but that’s what makes it fun,’ says Birte.

She thoroughly enjoyed working on The Bridge in Utrecht - the transformation of a former Earth Sciences building into laboratories and office space. Although the existing structure was completely reused, the result feels almost as if it were built from scratch.

Birte also contributed to the theatre in Oss, where the challenge was to connect the existing building to repurposed elements from the Zuiderstrandtheater. She finds the diversity of projects at cepezed truly enriching. ‘You don’t get to design a theatre every day,’ she adds.