Francine Marie Jeanne Houben (; born 2 July 1955)Francine Houben, Architect/Urbanist
. Mecanoo. mecanoo.nl. Retrieved 2018-03-06. is a Dutch

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. She graduated with cum laude honours from the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

. She is the founding partner and creative director of Mecanoo architecten, based in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, 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 Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

and

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

. According to her biography on her firm's website, she "bases her work on precise analysis coupled with an intuition built over three decades y interweavingsocial, 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 " rchitectureis never a (purely) 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

, completed in 1997, led to the Library of Birmingham in 2013, and the current refurbishment of the

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (MLKML) is the central facility of the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL). Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the 400,000 square foot (37,000 m2) steel, brick, and glass structure, and it is a ra ...

in Washington, D.C. and the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

Midtown renovation (

Mid-Manhattan Library The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL), popularly known as the Mid-Manhattan Library, is a branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL) at the southeast corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New ...

and the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building), 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 A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

(2013), which was one of six buildings shortlisted for the 2014

Stirling Prize The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The S ...

awarded by the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(RIBA). 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

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

s in the Netherlands and abroad, and in 2007 was visiting professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. From 2002 to 2006 she was City Architect of

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km ...

. In 2001, she published her seminal manifesto about architecture: 'Composition, Contrast, Complexity' and brought as curator of the First International Architecture Biennale

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

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 Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. In November 2015

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands Máxima (born Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti; 17 May 1971) is Queen of the Netherlands as the wife of King Willem-Alexander. Argentine by birth, she worked in marketing when she met Willem-Alexander, eldest son and heir apparent of Queen Beatrix, ...

presented the

Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds The Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds was founded by Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands in London in 1940 during World War II in order to buy war material for the British and Dutch Governments. It continued after the war as Stichting Prins Bernhard Cultu ...

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

* Faculty of Economics and Management, Utrecht (1995) *

TU Delft Library The TU Delft Library is the main library of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), located in Delft, Netherlands. It was designed by the Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo and built in 1997. It is the largest technical scientific library in t ...

, Delft (1997) *

Netherlands Open Air Museum The Netherlands Open Air Museum ( nl, Nederlands Openluchtmuseum) is an open-air museum located in Arnhem with antique houses, farms, and factories from different parts of the Netherlands. It is a national museum focusing on the culture associated ...

, Arnhem (2000) * Westergasfabriek Terrain, Amsterdam (2001) * Masterplan

(2002) *

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Rotterdam (2005) * FiftyTwoDegrees, Nijmegen (2007) * La Llotja Theatre and Congress Centre, Lleida (2008) * Amphion Theatre, Doetinchem (2009) * Kaap Skil, Maritime and Beachcombers Museum, Texel (2012) *

Amsterdam University College Amsterdam University College (AUC) is a public liberal arts college in the Netherlands with an enrolment of about 900 students from more than 60 countries. All teaching is in English. The college was founded in 2009 as a joint initiative of the ...

, Amsterdam (2012) *

integrated with

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre c ...

, Birmingham (2013) *

HOME A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

, Manchester (2015) * Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, Boston (2015) * Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Amsterdam (2015) * Taekwang Country Club Cafe, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea (2015) * Municipal Offices and Train Station, Delft, The Netherlands (2015/2017) *

Keukenhof Keukenhof (English: "Kitchen garden"; ), also known as the Garden of Europe, is one of the world's largest flower gardens, situated in the municipality of Lisse, in the Netherlands. According to the official website, Keukenhof Park covers an area ...

, Lisse, The Netherlands (2017) * Namdaemun Office Building, Seoul, South Korea (2017) * Eurojust (EU agency), The Hague, Netherlands (2017) * Palace of Justice, Córdoba, Spain (2017) *

National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, also known as Weiwuying, (), is located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan and has been acknowledged as the largest performance arts center under one roof in the world while owning the largest pipe org ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

(2018) * Three Cultural Centers & One Book Mall, Shenzhen (2018) * Manchester Engineering Campus Development, Manchester (ongoing) *

renovation, Washington D.C. (ongoing) *

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

(ongoing) * Kaohsiung Station, Kaohsiung (ongoing) *

Midtown renovation, New York (ongoing) * Shenzhen North Station Urban Design, Shenzhen (ongoing) * Tainan Public Library, Tainan (ongoing) * Natural History Museum, Abu Dhabi (ongoing)

Gallery

Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, Boston, US 01.jpg, Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building
Boston, US Municipal Offices and Train Station, Delft 02.jpg, Municipal Offices and Train Station
Delft, Netherlands Library of Birmingham 01.jpg, Library of Birmingham
Birmingham, UK Kaap Skil, Maritime and Beachcombers Museum 02.jpg, Kaap Skil, Maritime and Beachcombers Museum
Oudeschild, Netherlands Nelson Mandelapark, Amsterdam Bijlmer 03.JPG, Nelson Mandela Park
Amsterdam-Zuidoost, Netherlands La Llotja Theatre and Conference Centre, Lleida, Spain.jpg, La Llotja Theatre and Conference Centre
Lleida, Spain FiftyTwoDegrees, Nijmegen.jpg, FiftyTwoDegrees
Nijmegen, Netherlands Montevideo Residential Tower, Rotterdam.jpg, Montevideo Residential Tower
Rotterdam, Netherlands Chapel Saint Mary of the Angels, Rotterdam.jpg, Chapel Saint Mary of the Angels
Rotterdam, Netherlands Library Delft University of Technology 01.jpg, Delft University of Technology Library
Delft, Netherlands Mekel Park - Campus Delft University of Technology 01.jpg, Mekel Park, Delft University of Technology
Delft, Netherlands

Selected awards and honours

* 2001 Honorary Fellowship,

* 2007 Honorary Fellowship, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada * 2007 Honorary Fellowship,

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

* 2008

Veuve Cliquot Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin () is a Champagne house founded in 1772 and based in Reims. It is one of the largest Champagne houses. Madame Clicquot is credited with major breakthroughs, creating the first known vintage champagne in 1810, and ...

Business Women of the Year award * 2014 Woman Architect of the Year,

Architects' Journal ''Architects' Journal'' is an architectural magazine published in London by Metropolis International. History The first edition was produced in 1895. Originally named ''The Builder's Journal and Architectural Record'', from 1906 to 1910 it was kn ...

* 2015

Prize * 2016 Honorary Doctorate,

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

* 2018 International Honorary Fellow Award, Architecture Institute of Taiwan

Other functions

* 2015–present Board Member Society of Arts at

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

* 2015–present Member

Van Alen Institute Van Alen Institute is a New York City-based independent nonprofit architectural organization, dedicated to improving design in the public realm. It was founded in 1894 as the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects. In 1995, the institute was named in hono ...

* 2010–present Member Akademie der Künste, Architecture Department * 2008–present Board Member Carnegie Foundation * 2005–present Supervisory board Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo

Bibliography

* ''People Place Purpose'', Francine Houben. London:

Black Dog Publishing Black Dog Publishing was a British publishing company specialising in illustrated non-fiction books on contemporary culture. Topics covered by Black Dog include architecture, art, craft, design, environment, fashion, film, music and photograph ...

, 2015 * ''Dutch Mountains'', Francine Houben, Jan Tromp, Harry Cock. Wezep: Uitgeverij de Kunst, 2011 * ''Masters of Architecture Series, Mecanoo'', Ruud Brouwer, Aaron Betsky, Francine Houben. Mulgrave, Vic.: Images Publishing Group, 2008 * ''En het eeuwige licht verlichte haar, Kapel Heilige Maria der Engelen'', Francine Houben, Mgr. A.H. van Luyn S.D.B., Jan van Adrichem, Max van Rooy. Rotterdam, 2004 * ''Mobility, A Room with a View'', Francine Houben, Louisa Maria Calabrese (ed.). Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2003 * ''Composition, Contrast, Complexity'', Francine Houben. Basel, Boston, Berlin: Birkhaüser, 2001 translated from Dutch ''Compositie, Contrast, Complexiteit,'' Francine Houben. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2001 * ''Maliebaan, een huis om in te werken'', Francine Houben. Utrecht: Andersson Elffers Felix/Delft: Mecanoo architecten, 2000 * Ingenieurskunst en mobiliteitsesthetiek, Francine Houben in: ''Architectuur en de openbare ruimte, de dynamische delta 2'', Ministry for Transport, Public Works and Water Management/Mecanoo architecten. The Hague, 1999 * ''Bibliotheek Technische Universiteit Delft'', Leo Waaijers, Piet Vollaart, Francine Houben. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 1998

References

External links

Mecanoo Official Website

ArchDaily interview with Francine Houben

Dutch Profile on Francine Houben
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houben, Francine 1955 births Living people Dutch women architects Delft University of Technology alumni People from Sittard 20th-century Dutch architects 21st-century Dutch architects 20th-century Dutch women