"You can be yourself at VDNDP. People are really listened to. We are at each other's eye level, regardless of position. I like working here because of the openness and equality."
Theresia van Koppen came to the Netherlands from Munich in 2019. With experience at architectural firms in Germany, she started at VDNDP as a Building engineer.
"I first worked at a small architectural firm in Amsterdam. When that firm collaborated with VDNDP on a project, I was in the office here for 3 months. During that period I experienced the pleasant working atmosphere. I wanted to work at a somewhat larger firm and at VDNDP it just felt right."
“I love both creativity and engineering. In Munich, I had already spent a lot of time working on the technical phases—similar to the Dutch TO and UO phases. VDNDP applies that knowledge to projects starting from the VO and DO phases.”
“What struck me right from the start was the weekly kickoff meeting, both at the office and for each project. Everyone briefly shared what they were working on and how they were doing. There was a real focus on the people, not just the projects. I still feel that way today.”
"My role varies from project to project. Sometimes I am lead modeler and develop detail fragments, exploring how to model everything. Other times I step in in the middle of a project. Then I'm responsible for details while a colleague creates the model."
What project do you look back on with pride?
"The Tetem project in Enschede. That's an apartment complex on the site of the fireworks disaster - the last lot to be rebuilt. I was able to work on the model and details there independently. It is almost completed. I have been to the construction site 2 times. It's nice to see now what it looks like in real life."
"We have annual development meetings where you can indicate how you want to develop. I indicated that I am considering project leadership, but also have doubts. I really like my current job - especially the details and modeling. At the same time, project leadership seems like a nice challenge to me. The nice thing is that you are allowed to have those doubts. One of the partners literally said, "You don't have to know now. I get the space to grow in what I do."
"People are really listened to and we are taken seriously. We have good standards and share knowledge with each other. We work efficiently and everyone can learn from each other. For example, if someone finds a tool that makes working in Revit more efficient, they share it with everyone. We have channels and moments for that. So we can all benefit directly from that new knowledge. We're looking at how we can all get better. You notice that in everything."
"Very open. You can say anything to anyone. There is respect, you can be yourself. It's much less hierarchical than I was used to in Germany. There, older colleagues were looked up to more. Here it feels more equal. We also know from each other what projects we are working on. We easily ask each other 'how did you solve this over there?' I like that."
