Francine Houben is awarded the BNA Kubus Prize

The 42^nd BNA Kubus prize has been awarded to Francine Houben, Founding Partner/Creative Director at Mecanoo. The award ceremony will take place on November 1^st in The New Farm in The Hague. The BNA Kubus prize is awarded every two years to an architect who excels in both conceptual design and craftsmanship, who contributes to the development of the built environment and to the architectural profession, and who has built up a recognizable and innovative oeuvre.

Jury chairman Joost Ector: “Francine Houben stands out in each of these criteria; that is why the jury’s decision was unanimous. Assessing an oeuvre is always done in light of a particular moment in time – now is Francine Houben’s moment. We, and many of our peers, see her as the grande dame of Dutch architecture. With the granting of the BNA Kubus prize, we want to emphasize this status.

Mecanoo’s well-known projects include the Nieuw Terbregge neighbourhood, the Library of Birmingham, Delft Central Station, the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (Dutch Open Air Museum) in Arnhem, Eurojust in The Hague and the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in Boston. The National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts will soon be opened in the Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and major renovations of the New York Public Library and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington are currently underway.

From the jury: “Francine Houben wants to tell a story with her designs, one that is tailored to the building or neighbourhood’s function and context. Like a true composer, she makes her stories appealing by crafting an intriguing and charged architectural language. Her architecture is not abstract or dogmatic, but rather playful and often colourful, where the distinctive Mecanoo blue recurs as a trademark. The urban design betrays a fascination with characteristic landscape motifs and a great knowledge of urban details.”

Read more at BNA (Dutch) - Francine Houben ontvangt BNA Kubus