creative and innovative
Mecanoo, named after the British erector set invented in 1898, itself was born out of innovation in the form of a winning design competition in 1984 to create a flexible social housing project in the centre of Rotterdam. The projects of Mecanoo range from houses, complete neighbourhoods and skyscrapers, cities and polders, schools, theatres and libraries, hotels, museums and even a chapel. Discovering unexpected solutions for the specifics of programme and context is the challenge in all of our assignments. Each design is considered in terms of its cultural setting, place and time. As such Mecanoo treats each project as a unique design statement. Within Mecanoo are knowledge centres, which enable us to stay current on technological and design innovations in sustainability, eco engineering, technology, education and learning, high-rise and mobility.

warm and tangible
Mecanoo’s work balances pragmatism with design. The three words in the title of Francine Houben’s book: composition, contrast and complexity, sum up the basis of Mecanoo’s architecture.

Francine Houben: “Architecture must appeal to all the senses and is never a purely intellectual, conceptual or visual game alone. Architecture is about combining all of the individual elements in a single concept. What counts in the last resort is the arrangement of form and emotion.”
Francine Houben, founding architect, Mecanoo

With Mecanoo the sensory aspect is not only determined by form and space, but by the lavish use of materials. Mecanoo excels in subtle combinations of the most diverse materials, including wood, concrete, copper, bamboo, brick, pebbles, zinc, stone, vegetation, glass and planes of saturated colour.
 

creative and innovative
Mecanoo, named after the British erector set invented in 1898, itself was born out of innovation in the form of a winning design competition in 1984 to create a flexible social housing project in the centre of Rotterdam. The projects of Mecanoo range from houses, complete neighbourhoods and skyscrapers, cities and polders, schools, theatres and libraries, hotels, museums and even a chapel. Discovering unexpected solutions for the specifics of programme and context is the challenge in all of our assignments. Each design is considered in terms of its cultural setting, place and time. As such Mecanoo treats each project as a unique design statement. Within Mecanoo are knowledge centres, which enable us to stay current on technological and design innovations in sustainability, eco engineering, technology, education and learning, high-rise and mobility.

warm and tangible
Mecanoo’s work balances pragmatism with design. The three words in the title of Francine Houben’s book: composition, contrast and complexity, sum up the basis of Mecanoo’s architecture.

Francine Houben: “Architecture must appeal to all the senses and is never a purely intellectual, conceptual or visual game alone. Architecture is about combining all of the individual elements in a single concept. What counts in the last resort is the arrangement of form and emotion.”
Francine Houben, founding architect, Mecanoo

With Mecanoo the sensory aspect is not only determined by form and space, but by the lavish use of materials. Mecanoo excels in subtle combinations of the most diverse materials, including wood, concrete, copper, bamboo, brick, pebbles, zinc, stone, vegetation, glass and planes of saturated colour.