Nicolás van Drunen, architectural engineer 

At the TU Delft Faculty of Architecture, Nicolás studied sustainability in architecture. He graduated with a 66-hectare sustainable tourism plan in the ‘Equatorial Andes’ with bamboo as one of the main construction materials, after which he moved there to start as an independent architect in Ecuador.

In 2016, Nicolás participated in the NEC-SE-GUADUA, the first National Building Code for Bamboo Construction in Ecuador. 'I think my fascination for bamboo stems from my childhood in Ecuador, where it has been traditionally used for centuries. Which makes it especially nice that cepezed also uses bamboo in projects, both for sustainability and aesthetic reasons.' Says Nicolás.

The integral design and material approach at cepezed appeals to Nicolás. Especially to create high-quality buildings that are aware of today's sustainability challenges. For instance, Nicolás considers building section D(emontable) to be a good example of what this approach can achieve.

Nicolás happily works at cepezed on various projects, including the international headquarters of Fugro and the Police Assembly Site Drachten. At the Police Assembly Site, the challenge was to connect the different buildings without any loss of their own identity. Even though the building was designed to be flexible for future different user needs.