People Place Purpose describes the specific architecture of Mecanoo illustrating the way they seek for identity in a global world. From the texture of a local stone, to colours of a fruit tree, or rituals of inhabitants.

A total of seventeen projects, all built in mutually different conditions  show the world according to Mecanoo. The reader is given insight into what drives Francine Houben and her team “in making architecture on strange ground.”

The book demonstrates the effect that time has had on the purpose (function) of buildings and landscapes, highlighting Mecanoo’s ethos of designing places for people and beginning the process of exploring the urban environment and observing the life which inhabits it. Their ultimate goal is to make buildings that people want to use.

Since 1984 Mecanoo has been committed to creating architecture that contributes to a better world. From an office that started out designing social housing in an era of urban renewal, the practice has developed into an international firm working across the world with projects ranging from the Library of Birmingham, Delft University of Technology Library, the La Llotja Theatre and Conference Centre in Lerida, Spain and - most recently - the New York Public Library. Mecanoo has over 30 years’ experience in the design of buildings, urban plans, landscapes and interiors, in which the public space always plays a central role.

To coincide with the release of People Place Purpose, Her Majesty Queen Máxima of The Netherlands will present to Francine Houben the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prize for lifetime achievement on 30 November 2015.

People Place Purpose, Francine Houben
Preface by Herbert Wright
Release: November 2015 (UK)
Hardback; 22 x 17 cm / 6.7 x 8.7 in
400 pages; 730 colour and b/w illustrations
ISBN 978 1 908967 61 9
RRP £34.95 / $49.95