For centuries, the Netherlands has been a global design innovator; Dutch architects have long pushed the rest of the world to rethink what architecture can and should do. Holland’s contemporary building culture is no different, exemplified by the Delft-based design powerhouse Mecanoo led by founding partner and creative director Francine Houben.
With its earliest projects focusing on social housing and urban renewal, the firm built its foundation with a strong user focus. They have made their name by designing buildings that are inextricable from their surroundings and demonstrating the power of design to open new possibilities for society. The key to Mecanoo’s change-making designs is a strong interdisciplinary approach — architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture and interior design — applied across typologies.
Founded in 1984, this year marked 40 change-making years for the firm. And now, with an impressive list of recently completed projects and construction underway on a bevy of ambitious new designs, Mecanoo has been named Architizer’s Firm of the Year for the 12th Annual A+Awards. The firm will officially receive its prestigious prize at Architizer’s A+Awards Gala in Chengdu this November.
If Mecanoo’s work were encapsulated by a single word, it would be “connection.” Their structures are not only conceived to connect with a larger urban or environmental context, but they are also bridges from our contemporary moment to a better future; they also cultivate links between users and communities and the firm’s collaborative spirit — now across borders as they tackle global projects — connects cultures. Indeed, their projects are remarkable in how they distill the global nature of contemporary building culture down to a contextually local level, always bringing something new to the table.
In the following interview, Architizer’s Managing Editor, Hannah Feniak, sat down with Nuno Fontarra, Partner/Architect at Mecanoo who has been with the firm for over twenty years, to reflect on the firm’s past, present and future achievements.
Read the full interview at Architizer.