Philip Vandermey
Assistant Professor
Philip Vandermey is a Dutch-Canadian architect and Founding Partner, together with Jessie Andjelic, of the award-winning architecture office SPECTACLE Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism Inc. (SPECTACLE) and an Assistant Professor at SAPL.
Vandermey studied architecture at SAPL and at the L’Escola Superior d’Arquitectura in Barcelona, Spain. Upon graduation at SAPL, when it was formerly EVDS, he received the Canadian Architect Student Award of Excellence and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Student Medal. Vandermey has worked with prominent architecture offices in Calgary (MBAC), Montreal (Hal Ingberg, Melvin Charney), Barcelona (Corea Moran Arquitectos), and Rotterdam (STAR, Barcode Architects). He is a registered architect with the Stichting Bureau Architectenregister in The Netherlands and the Alberta Association of Architects in Canada and is a LEED Accredited Professional with the Canadian Green Building Council.
In 2013, Vandermey co-founded SPECTACLE with Jessie Andjelic in Calgary. SPECTACLE seeks opportunities to create works of architecture that critically examine and influence our cities. Stepping Towards a Greener Tomorrow won a RAIC National Urban Design Award in 2024. Archinect listed SPECTACLE as one of 15 architecture firms that are defining the future of Canadian architecture in 2023. In 2017 the Tigers project won the Canadian Interiors Best of Canada Award and SPECTACLE was recognized with the Emerging Talent Award by Canadian Architect Magazine.
Vandermey has taught at SAPL as a Sessional Instructor since 2008, and formalized his relationship with SAPL as a part-time Assistant Professor in 2023. Philip currently teaches and manages the Comprehensive Studio in Architecture (ARCH 616) and the Senior Research Studio in Architecture, Work-Integrated Learning (ARCH 700) in the Master of Architecture program.
In 2025, together with Andjelic, Vandermey opened the research lab Change Directive. Through Change Directive we aim to create speculative visions of the cities and the cultures of tomorrow through a design methodology that tests potential future spatial scenarios. We are especially interested in uncovering the systems that are implicit within architecture, revealing them, and thoughtfully altering or changing them. Rather than research that reflects on practice, Change Directive will lead practice by investigating possible architectures before architecture is possible.
Contact info
Education
M.Arch (University of Calgary)
BCom (University of Calgary
Keywords
- Projective architecture
- Not architecture
- Spatial justice
- Circularity
- Professional critical practice