Ingrid van der Heijden (1968, The Netherlands) is an architect and founding partner of Civic, an office for public architecture. After a career in international marketing (Transavia airlines, SNS bank) and a professional training as a cabinet-maker, she discovered she had the spatial skills, drive and stamina to find her way in architecture. Her background makes her approach simultaneously broad and deep. She focuses on how architectural design and innovative material use can work in function of social encounter and interaction. Ingrid conducts an ongoing research into the evolution of building types, the sensory qualities of materials and experiments and the possibilities of 21st century craftsmanship. New ideas and proven strategies reinforce each other. She has been a key player in valued projects such as the innovative glass brick façade with interactive software (lighting, odor and sound) in Willem II-passage (Tilburg, NL) and the sustainable algae bridge (Geneva, CH). New on her list is the recent completion of LocHal, the public library of Tilburg in an industrial monument.