Francine Houben


Francine Marie Jeanne Houben is a Dutch architect. She graduated with cum laude honours from the Delft University of Technology. She is the founding partner and creative director of Mecanoo architecten, based in Delft, The Netherlands.

Work

The oeuvre of Houben's architecture is wide-ranging and includes projects such as universities, libraries, theatres, residential areas, museums and hotels. Houben combines the disciplines of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture. According to her biography on her firm's website, she "bases her work on precise analysis coupled with an intuition built over three decades social, technical, playful and human aspects of space-making together in order to create a unique solution to each architectural challenge." Francine strives to design architecture that appeals "to all the senses" and states that " is never a intellectual, conceptual or a visual consideration alone. Architecture is about combining all of the individual elements into a single concept. In the end, what counts is the arrangement of form and emotion. Architecture should touch all the senses." Houben focuses on designing wholesome buildings that cover a large variety of project programs.
Her practice is particularly known for the design of libraries. The library at the Delft University of Technology, completed in 1997, led to the Library of Birmingham in 2013,, and the current refurbishment of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. and the New York Public Library Midtown renovation, New York. She has spoken extensively on libraries and public buildings, stating that "libraries are the most important public buildings, like cathedrals were many years ago". She has gained international acclaim for her works, both architecture and written. Her most recent building being the Library of Birmingham, which was one of six buildings shortlisted for the 2014 Stirling Prize awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects. When Architects' Journal named her as 2014 Woman Architect of the Year, Houben stated: "It was a great privilege to design the Library of Birmingham. Architecture is about teamwork, about being supportive and visionary at the same time. Women are especially good at that."
Francine Houben has held professorships in the Netherlands and abroad, and in 2007 was visiting professor at Harvard University. From 2002 to 2006 she was City Architect of Almere. In 2001, she published her seminal manifesto about architecture: 'Composition, Contrast, Complexity' and brought as curator of the First International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam in 2003, the theme of the aesthetics of mobility to the forefront of international design consciousness. In 2010 Francine Houben was granted lifelong membership to the Akademie der Künste, Architecture Department, in Berlin. In November 2015 Queen Máxima of the Netherlands presented the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prize to Houben for her oeuvre. Francine has published books and traveled to numerous universities giving lectures on her studies and practice. Her most recent synopsis is "People, place, purpose, poetry: through these four words Francine Houben illustrates her practice's unique, humanistic approach to architecture."

Selected projects

Selected awards and honours