Ellen Schindler (Groß-Gerau, Germany, 1968) is a managing partner at De Zwarte Hond, an architecture and urban planning practice with offices in the Netherlands and Germany, where she is also responsible for the Berlin office. She is the founder and director of Foundation YOU (Young Optimistic Urbanists), an initiative promoting young people's participation in urban development.
Schindler studied Interior Architecture at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, graduating in 1991, and subsequently studied Arts and Cultural Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She began her professional career at West 8, working with Adriaan Geuze, and later collaborated closely with Francine Houben at Mecanoo.
In 2005, she joined Kossmann.dejong, an Amsterdam-based practice specialising in exhibition architecture and museography. She became a partner in 2014 and contributed to its international expansion, developing projects in fifteen countries across three continents. In September 2018, she joined De Zwarte Hond as managing partner, focusing on strategic development, internationalisation, publications, exhibitions, and the relationship between architecture and society.
Alongside her professional practice, she developed Business your Design, an educational programme on entrepreneurship and management for designers, taught at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and Design Academy Eindhoven. She has also served on the Dutch Council for Culture and the boards of several cultural organisations.
Through Foundation YOU, formerly known as Ken je Stad Maak je Stad, Schindler promotes architectural education and civic participation among young people. Its initiatives include the graphic novels METRO O1O (Rotterdam, 2022), which received a German Design Award in 2025, and STAD O5O, dedicated to Groningen. Her work focuses on connecting architecture, urban planning, culture, and public participation, with particular attention to involving younger generations in decisions about the future of cities.
