As a Junior Designer whose studies included minors in architectural engineering and sustainable environments, Vera collaborates with project teams in devising holistic project solutions – that is, solutions emerging from both systems-thinking and attention to details – for diverse community, education, and healthcare projects. She agrees with Antoine de Saint-Expéry, author of the classic book The Little Prince, that “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”It’s therefore with thoughtfulness and compassion, along with a keen appreciation for our human connection to nature, that she consistently looks beyond a building’s physical expression to the human needs and experiences that inspire it. In this, she’s particularly drawn to the honest materiality, efficiency of space, and personal scale of Japanese architecture, pointing to architect Terunobu Fujimori as a particular source of inspiration for meaningful designs that can be simultaneously practical and fantastical. Her fascination with materiality also motivates her to experiment with wood, metal, and digital fabrication, an effort that also includes making furniture, as demonstrated by her coffee table “Swivel Beetle” which received a Cradle 2 Cradle Award for most sustainable piece of furniture.
