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). He is also 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. Vandermey is also 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. The Museum of Aboriginal Peoples’ Art and Artifacts (MOAPAA) won a 2025 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence. 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 2007, and as an Assistant Professor since 2023. His previous courses include Museum of the City, Projective Futures, Making Waves, Museum of Truth, Urban Mirror : Urban Myth, RED II, Military City, (Cross) Sectional Urbanism, and Hybrid Dwelling. Vandermey 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. Change Directive creates speculative visions of the cities and the cultures of tomorrow through a design methodology that tests potential future spatial scenarios. The team at Change Directive is especially interested in uncovering the systems that are implicit within architecture, revealing them, and thoughtfully altering or changing them. Rather than undertaking research that reflects on practice, Change Directive leads practice by investigating possible architectures before architecture is possible.
Contact info
Education
M.Arch (University of Calgary)
B.Comm Culture (University of Calgary)
Keywords
- Projective architecture
- Not architecture
- Spatial justice
- Circularity
- Professional critical practice