Lea Soret

Background

Léa Soret (1993) studied architecture at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture et de Paysage de Lille, France and obtained her master's degree in 2017. After graduating, Léa worked as an architect in Lille for a few months before deciding to move to Amsterdam to ​​master Urbanism starting at the Academy of Architecture. During her studies, Léa worked within different agencies to explore the tools and boundaries of her practice. During her studies she worked at FABRICations, but also at URHAHN and the Deltametropool Association. She has been working at H+N+S since 2022.

Focus

In the summer of 2021, Léa presented her master's thesis in urban planning. Her graduation project "New Equilibrium, a rural strategy for the 'Vallées, coteaux et plateaux du Pays d'Auge'" is a 'research by design' project that connects landscape, agriculture, stakeholders, urban development and new infrastructure through precise interventions in an entire valley - only possible thanks to in-depth stakeholder analysis, scenario planning, the search for a new 'business model' and systemic and integrated thinking. Léa also used this expertise to participate in a competition for a critical area, in Saint-Etienne (France), subject to flooding and in need of urban renewal. Together with two colleagues and friends from the Academy, they won first prize and will be involved in the future plans for the city.

Léa has been working at H+N+S since January 2022, where she works as an urban planner and focuses mainly on large-scale integrated projects where urban and landscape issues mix and merge. Léa is fascinated by in-depth and site-specific research, looking for the levers and cornerstones of project development, while combining it with the opportunities it can bring to local and future stakeholders, the environment, climate and quality of life. She likes to work from the large to the small and vice versa and uses this versatile expertise in various projects: in very dense (or not) urban environments, landscapes, deltas and river valleys. She gets a lot of energy from multidisciplinary collaboration with Dutch and foreign professionals.

Other activities

Although she has completed her education, Léa is still involved with the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture as a project teacher for urban design students.

Besides her work, Léa can be found in Amsterdam, where she visits local markets and cooks dinners for friends, and also likes to play a lot of sport, where the city allows it.