As part of the Dream Builders series, Razia Iqbal interviewed the renowned architect Francine Houben, one of the founders of Mecanoo Architecten in the Netherlands. The interview with one of the Netherlands’ leading architects was conducted at the RIBA headquarters in London.
Graduating BA (Hons) students from the Kent School of Architecture attended the talk and found what Miss Houben had to say about her practice very interesting. Miss Houben spoke in great detail about her well known British project, The Library of Birmingham which we all found very inspiring.
The Library of Birmingham was discussed in terms of mobility and how it represents the history of the city. The iconic building with its eye-catching façade and golden cylinder, in which the Shakespeare archive is stored, was selected for the RIBA National Awards 2014.
As KSA students, we were delighted to meet Francine and ask her a few questions. We asked her what cities are of great inspiration to her and whether she ever looks back at her designs and given the chance again, would she have done something different.
A recording of the event will be broadcastby the BBC World Service. Razia Iqbal’s previous interviews can be accessed via the following link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tjz3w.
Gulce Onganer – Stage 3 BA (Hons) Architecture