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Mecanoo's Francine Houben is the ABB LEAF Awards 2020/21 Lifetime Achievement honoree

2021-10-19T12:54:00-04:00

Mecanoo founder Francine Houben has been honored with a prestigious ABB LEAF Lifetime Achievement Award during a ceremony at London’s stylish Nobu Hotel last Thursday.

The honor is in recognition of the architect’s tremendous cultural output, which has included recent projects at the New York Public Library and University of Cambridge, in addition to works such as and the Montevideo in Rotterdam (2005) and the Library of Birmingham (2013) that have set the firm apart with an innovative combination of different practice areas united by a philosophy of “People, Place, and Purpose.”

"I am a specialist in things I haven't done before," Houben told Archinect in a 2017 interview. "I always search for the balance between analysis and intuition."

Related on Archinect: The Proust Questionnaire: Francine Houben

Houben’s career began at a time when only 10 to 15% of her university peers were women. She began practicing in 1984 after completing her studies at TU Delft the same year. From there, ...

The new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library opens in the heart of Midtown Manhattan

2021-06-04T12:55:00-04:00

A transformed Midtown Manhattan library building, long considered to be an eyesore, is finally open to the public after the Covid-19 pandemic and a $200 million renovation project left its doors shuttered for four years.

Renamed the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, what used to be the New York Public Library’s Mid-Manhattan branch, the facility sits on a corner of Fifth Avenue opposite the library’s flagship Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in a former department store. According to the 126-year-old institution, the SASB sees a system-topping 1.7 million visitors a year.

Beyer Blinder Belle teamed with acclaimed library restorationist Francine Houben of the Dutch firm Mecanoo to completely overhaul all eight floors of the Bryant Park building thanks in part to a $55 million grant from the Niarchos Foundation.

Photo: John Bartelstone

The resulting 20,000 square feet of added space come in the form of expanded reading areas separated on three floors by a linea...

Mecanoo’s Francine Houben named AJ Woman Architect of the Year 2014

2014-02-07T13:51:00-05:00

The Architects' Journal (UK) announced Francine Houben, creative director and founder of Dutch firm Mecanoo, as the recipient of the AJ Woman Architect of the Year 2014. The award honors design excellence and strong leadership among women in architecture.

Houben received the prestigious award in a ceremony at London's Langham Hotel on Feb. 7. Projects of Houben and Mecanoo include the high-profile Library of Birmingham, La Llotja de Lleida, and the Kaap Skil maritime and beachcombers museum.

Upon receiving the award, Houben said, "'I feel privileged to be a woman, to be a mother and to be an architect, which was not always an easy combination. It was also a privilege to design the Library of Birmingham, here in the UK. Libraries play an essential role in the emancipation of young women all over the world. I’m very proud to be able to design more projects with a ‘Dutch touch’ in the UK. I strongly believe that architecture is about teamwork, about being visionary and supportive at the ...