Francine Houben honoured with the ABB LEAF Lifetime Achievement Award

We are delighted to announce the ABB LEAF Awards 2020/21 Lifetime Achievement Winner to Francine Houben, Founding Partner and Creative Director of Mecanoo. Francine Houben founded Mecanoo in 1984. She has since led the firm to success in The Netherlands and abroad, amassing a portfolio of work that is wide-ranging, inspired by global challenges and with a sustainable view on society.

“Architecture is never a solo act. I like to compare it to directing a symphony orchestra; it's all about teamwork, about being visionary, sensitive and supportive at the same time.”

Francine holds Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) was granted lifelong membership to the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. In 2015, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands presented her the prestigious Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prize for her entire oeuvre.

Francine Houben was professor of mobility aesthetics at Delft University of Technology and also taught at the universities of Harvard and Yale. As curator of the First International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, she brought the theme of the aesthetics of mobility to the forefront of international design consciousness. She holds Honorary Doctorates from Utrecht University and Université de Mons.

More information about the ABB LEAF Awards 2020/21 and past winners, click here.