Francine Houben

Who is Francine Houben?

Francine Houben is a leading Dutch architect. She is a founding partner and the creative director of Mecanoo Architecten, Delft, The Netherlands.

The oeuvre of Francine Houben is extremely wide-ranging and includes projects such as universities, libraries, theatres, residential areas, museums and hotels. Houben combines the disciplines of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture to form a unique solution to each situation. She has gained international acclaim for her works and has been praised for her playful and human style.

Francine Houben has held important professorships in the Netherlands and abroad, and in 2007 was visiting professor at Harvard University. From 2002 to 2006 she was City Architect of the Dutch city Almere. In 2001 she published her seminal manifesto about architecture: 'Composition, Contrast, Complexity' and brought as curator of the First International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam in 2003, the theme 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.