From sketching housing estates on graph paper to becoming an architect at sixty

As a child, Hardley Mijnals spent hours cycling through residential neighbourhoods, looking at houses. 'I loved architecture. Afterwards, I’d go home and try to redraw floor plans from memory. Later, I started designing entire housing estates on graph paper. My whole bedroom was covered with them.' Yet he did not become an architect. Instead, he built a career as a building services consultant and set that dream aside for many years. Until his children intervened. 'My daughter said, "Dad, this is so obviously your dream. Why aren’t you doing anything with it?"'

A graduation project about returning space to nature

Hardley’s graduation research began with a tree in his garden. Every year, a pair of magpies builds a nest there. 'Those magpies actually prune the tree. They break off branches to build their nest. But once the chicks have flown away, they give that space back to the tree.' The idea stayed with him. 'My children are gradually leaving home. But I can’t return my space to nature. My house simply wasn’t designed for that.'

That idea became the foundation of his graduation project: a design in which the living spaces of humans, animals and plants are considered equally valuable. 'I wanted to explore how we can build without taking up more space than we actually need. And how that space can later be returned.'

Behind that lies a personal motivation that extends beyond architecture itself. Hardley spent years researching his family history. His ancestors included both enslaved people and slave owners. 'I discovered how systems of power sustained injustice for centuries. Suddenly, I realised that we are also living within systems built on injustice today. Only now it is directed towards flora and fauna.'

'That hit me quite hard,' he says. 'I live in a beautiful house. I’m building memories there. But that is only possible because, as humans, we continue to claim more and more space.'

The freedom to think during the Master's Programme in Architecture

During the master's programme, architecture became less and less about designing alone for Hardley. An important turning point came during Plein, an annual winter workshop exploring themes at the edges of the discipline. 'That was when I was really confronted with ecological questions.'

Later, he saw photographs of Chernobyl, where nature had slowly reclaimed abandoned buildings. 'That’s when I thought: maybe this should be the focus of my graduation project. What happens to buildings when nature returns? Can you design buildings that adapt along with it?' The programme gave him the freedom to pursue those questions. 'During the master's programme, you have the freedom to think. In professional practice, you have to deal with regulations, budgets and requirements. But here, I was genuinely able to investigate.'

Conversations with lecturers also played a major role in that process. 'You’re constantly being challenged. Why are you making this choice? Why does it need to look like this? “I think it looks nice” isn’t an answer. And that’s exactly what pushes you to think more deeply.'

During the programme, Hardley discovered something else as well: storytelling might be his greatest strength. 'I always thought architecture was mainly about drawing and creating renders. But stories can be a design tool too.'

A finals presentation without renders or floor plans

For his final presentation, Hardley decided to do something striking. 'No renders, no spectacular visuals, no standard presentation. I want people to feel how flora and fauna experience a building.' He created a small space of 24 square metres. At the centre stood only a model. Around it were scent samples and other sensory elements. His model was entirely grey. 'Many animals don’t see colour. So I wanted to remove that human perspective.'

During the presentation, he described how animals experience a place. How dogs, for example, read scent trails as if they were history. 'I actually told my project from the perspective of flora and fauna.'

Age doesn’t matter

Hardley was older than many of his fellow students during the master's programme, and even older than some lecturers. Yet he says that never felt like a problem. 'We were all experiencing something new. Everyone was nervous about assessments. That made age fall away.'

He now holds the title of architect and is gradually building his own practice. But not one centred on prestige projects or luxury villas. 'I want to be able to ask myself with every design decision: is this just?'

'And are you wondering whether you can still start a creative programme later in life? Don’t let anyone tell you it’s too late. That’s exactly what I told myself for years. And don’t just look at what others can do better. Find out where your own strength lies. For me, that turned out to be storytelling. I never expected that.'