Contemporary Dutch Architects : Delft Practice, Netherlands
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Delft, September 15, 2009
Mecanoo awarded two Chicago Athenaeum prizes
Mecanoo's Fifty Two Degrees and Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Performing Arts have been awarded the prestigious International Architecture Award 2009 by the Chicago Athenaeum Europe. This year, the Museum received over 1,000 projects for new buildings, landscape architecture and urban planning from the most important firms practicing globally. In November 2009, The Chicago Athenaeum, together with the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies will present a special exhibition of all awarded buildings at the symposium, "The City and the World" in Florence, Italy. After Italy, the exhibition will travel inside Europe.
fiftytwodegrees
FiftyTwoDegrees in Nijmegen combines technology, science and culture in a unique environment that invites encounters and collaboration. It is designed by Mecanoo with a humane and sustainable approach toward location, architecture, materialisation and use. The first phase was realised in 2006.
wei-wu-ying center for the performing arts
The design for the Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Performing Arts by Mecanoo was inspired by the Banyan trees on site in the Wei-Wu-Ying Metropolitan Park. It will include a concert hall and an opera house and has a total capacity of 6,150 seats: a 2,000 seat Concert Hall, 2300-seat Lyric theatre, a 1250-seat Playhouse, a 450-seat Recital Hall and an open air theatre for thousands of visitors. Construction is planned this year with the theatre complex opening its doors in 2013.
Roxbury City Hall, Boston, USA - Shortlisting
Masterplan Longgang City Centre, Shenzhen, China
Birmingham Library, England
image Courtesy of Birmingham City Council © Hayes Davidson
Student Housing Delft, The Netherlands
Mecanoo architecten wins two International Design Awards
DELFT, THE NETHERLANDS (12 Feb 2009) Business Innovation Centre
photo © Christian Richters
FiftyTwoDegrees in Nijmegen (above) has been awarded 1st prize in architecture for new commercial building by the International Design Awards. Mecanoo's design for the Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Performing Arts in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (below) received 3rd place in the urban planning category.
image from Mecanoo architecten
The International Design Awards are presented annually in more than fifty categories and includes architecture, interior architecture, fashion, industrial design and graphic design. IDA exists to recognize, celebrate and promote legendary design visionaries and to uncover emerging talent in architecture and interior, fashion, product, graphic and fashion design. The awards gala will be held in Los Angeles at the end of March.
FiftyTwoDegrees by Mecanoo combines technology, science and culture in a unique environment that invites encounters and collaboration. It is designed with a humane and sustainable approach toward location, architecture, materialisation and use. The first phase was realised in 2006.
The design for the Wei-Wu-Ying Center for the Performing Arts by Mecanoo was inspired by the Banyan trees on site in the Wei-Wu-Ying Metropolitan Park. It will include a concert hall and an opera house and has a total capacity of 6,150 seats: a 2,000 seat Concert Hall, 2300-seat Lyric theater, a 1250-seat Playhouse, a 450-seat Recital Hall and an open air theatre for thousands of visitors. Construction is planned this year with the theatre complex opening its doors in 2012.
Mecanoo architecten was founded in Delft in 1984, employing over 90 professionals in the fields of architecture, interior design, urban planning, landscape architecture and architectural engineering. The award winning practice is directed by its original founding architect/director Francine M.J. Houben. With projects all over the world, Mecanoo has a diverse range of project types including libraries, theatres, urban plans, residential neighbourhoods, private villas, high rise, university and academic buildings, office buildings and even a chapel.
Mecanoo wins Cityscape Architectural Award
On Monday October 6th, the emir of Dubai, Sjeik Mohammed bin Rashi al-Maktoum, officially opened the seventh Cityscape Dubai 2008. During the gala dinner of the largest real estate and development event of its kind Francine Houben received the Cityscape Architectural Award for the National Performing Arts Center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan by Mecanoo. This theatre and music complex will include a concert hall and an opera house. The prize, whose theme is 'Design for an Emerging World', has been awarded to the National Performing Arts Center because of the building's strength in expression, the integration of the complex with the park, its advanced theatre design and technical innovation and the building design's response to the subtropical climate of the city of Kaohsiung. The Cityscape Architectural Award is endorsed by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Francine Houben of Mecanoo said 'I am happy receiving this prize for the National Performing Arts Center. It means that Dubai honours designs that take climate issues into account and with attention for innovative and sustainable solutions.'
In 2007 Mecanoo won the competition for the National Performing Arts Center. The theatre complex of 100,000 m2 has a total of 6,000 seats: an opera house with 2,250 seats, a concert hall with 2,000 seats, a recital hall with 500 seats, a play house with 1,250 seats and an open air theatre for thousands of visitors. The start of the building works is planned in December 2008. The theatre complex will open its doors in 2012.
Taiwan National Performing Arts Centre, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
image from Mecanoo architecten
Taiwan project : Architecture competition winner
Salone di Mobile Milan pavilion, Italy : A Piece of Banyan
Mecanoo pavilion
Swimming Pool and Sports Centre het Marnix, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Mecanoo architecten : Amsterdam building
Montevideo, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Mecanoo architecten : Rotterdam tower
Palace of Justice Córdoba, Spain
Spanish building : Architecture Competition win, 50,000sqm, E 43m
Municipal office building and Train Station, Delft, Netherlands
Dutch architecture
La Llotja theatre and congress centre, Lleida, Spain
Spanish building
Da Vinci College, Dordrecht, Netherlands
Dutch building
FiftyTwoDegrees, Jonker Bosplein 52, Nijmegen, Netherlands
Mecanoo architecten : FiftyTwoDegrees Building
Practice Information
Mecanoo architecten
Founding director/architect : Prof. ir. Francine M.J. Houben
Mecanoo founded in Delft in 1984 by Francine Houben, Henk Doell, Chris de Weijer, Roelf Steenhuis, Erick van Egeraat. The architects had worked on an architecture competition in Rotterdam, 1980. Steenhuis left in 1989; van Egeraat in 1995
Mecanoo Buildings, chronological:
Parkhotel, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1998-2000; 2001-02
Roman Catholic Chapel St Mary of the Angels, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1998-99, 2000-01
Office building, Utrecht, Netherlands
1996-99, 1998-2000
National Heritage Museum, Arnheim
1995-98, 1999-2000
Erweiterung Naturkunde Museum Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1995
Delft Technical University Library, Delft, Netherlands
1993-95, 1996-98
Public Library, Almelo, Netherlands
1992-94
Herdenkingsplein, Maastricht
1991-92, 1993-94
Faculty of Economics & Management, Utrecht, Netherlands
1991-92, 1993-95
University Building, Wageningen
1990
Isala College, Silvolde Doetinchen
1990-93, 1993-95
House, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1989-90, 1990-91
Ringvaartsplasbuurt Oost Housing, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1988-91, 1991-93
More info on Mecanoo Architects soon
New York Architecture
Iconic Buildings
Mecanoo Architecten - www.mecanoo.com
Foxhill Housing, Sheffield, north England, UK
2006-
Sheffield Buildings
Delft Technical University Library
photograph : Christian Richters
World Architects
Mecanoo Architects Competition : BBC Scotland, Glasgow, UK
Mecanoo architecten former partner - Erick van Egeraat
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Website : www.mecanoo.com
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