From September 2011, Hilde Blank will be head of the Man and Public Space design department at Design Academy Eindhoven. Hilde (TU Delft, urban development) is the owner/director of BVR urban development consultancy in Rotterdam. Her activities range from offering integrated and strategic projections to creating concrete and location-specific designs, including the accompanying strategies for realisation or development. Hilde is used to operating on an administrative level, enjoys putting things into action, and takes responsibility for the concrete details of any complex spatial assignment.
From 1993-1998 Hilde worked for the Eindhoven Municipality as a co-ordinator for urban planning; she has been on a number of (national) committees advising on art in public spaces, and when she worked in Delft she was a project manager on the redevelopment of the Delft city centre. Hilde is on a number of advisory committees, writes essays, chairs debates, gives lectures, and she is on judging panels for a range of contests as well as on different selection committees.
Hilde’s key qualities lie in her ability to provide concrete interpretations for policies that are often phrased in abstract terms. She excels at finding effective combinations, both in spatial terms and in terms of a program, in order to kick-start a specific area. Her approach, creating integrated teams with all the different stakeholders, stirs enthusiasm in everyone involved. Hilde enjoys working for combined commissioners consisting of public, private, and social parties.
Recent projects by Hilde Blank include: team manager AtelierOverijssel, an integrated structural projection and masterplan for Nieuw Valkenburg, a spatial projection for the A12 zone, The Testing Grounds Schiphol, a feasibility study for Binckhorst Den Haag and ateliermeester Randstad 2040.
Design Academy Eindhoven trains individuals to connect with the world through integrity, courage, and understanding. The academy currently holds around 700 students, divided between its Bachelor’s and Master’s courses. The Man and Public Space department prepares students to become designers of public spaces.