Introducing Isabel van der Zande, EAHN Secretariat, ®MIT, TU Delft

The EAHN Annual Business Meeting in Leuven gave committee members a first opportunity to meet the organization’s new administrative assistant, Isabel van der Zande. Starting on 1 December 2007, Isabel joined the ®MIT Research Center team in the Faculty of Architecture at the Technische Universiteit Delft. ®MIT
has generously offered to sponsor the EAHN by allowing Isabel to staff our secretariat one day per week. She will coordinate development of our new website and assist with newsletter production, conference planning and other tasks.

The EAHN committee gave Isabel a warm welcome in Leuven, and we enjoyed getting to know her over the course of the weekend. “I’m glad to have the opportunity to contribute to the EAHN by starting up something from scratch, and helping it grow into a more professional organization,” says Isabel. “My work for the EAHN is very interesting because of the international contacts. After intensive e-mail contact with committee members, it was a pleasure to meet all of them in person.”

Isabel studied urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture in Delft. During her studies she spent six months in Valencia, Spain taking courses in the history of art and architecture as well as polishing her Spanish. From 2003-2007 she organized exhibitions and conferences about architecture, art and design. Her work for ®MIT will consist of project management for restoration projects, organizing lectures, exhibitions and other events, and coordinating the center’s newsletter. As an ®MIT employee she is also on the organizing committee for the 2008 Docomomo conference in Rotterdam (www.docomomo2008.nl). ®MIT is a new department within the Delft Faculty of Architecture which focuses on restoration, modification, intervention and transformation of historic buildings. Supplementing the research center, a related educational program has been established. Professor Jo Coenen chairs the department of ®MIT, and Marc  Visser directs the ®MIT research center. For further information: www.rmit.tudelft.nl.