Talk

Mecanoo’s Francine Houben: People, Place, Purpose

International Series

Monday 11 April 2016 6.30 - 8pm

The Geological Society, Piccadilly, W1

£12. Reductions £6.

Francine Houben, founder of Dutch architectural practice Mecanoo, discusses her internationally acclaimed work and the ways she orchestrates each building for those who use it.

Francine Houben is the creative director and founder of Mecanoo Architecten in Delft, which has gained an international reputation for a range of extraordinary buildings. They have no house style, instead taking on the particularities of a place to provide a provocative and fresh response. The results are at once surprising but also very fitting to their context. Mecanoo’s works span the globe and include the Stirling Prize-nominated Library of Birmingham, Kaap Skil Maritime and Beachcombers Museum in the Netherlands, Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Wei-Wu-Ying), Taiwan.

In this lecture Francine Houben presents her body of work grounded in the three fundamental principles of people, place and purpose. She shares the stories behind a number of Mecanoo’s projects, demonstrating how each project is carefully considered in terms of its cultural setting, place and time.

Houben will be signing copies of her book People Place Purpose: the World According to Mecanoo after the event.

£12. Reductions £6.