Two ‘historic’ ADA names return to the jury for this year’s edition
Two Awards “historians” have confirmed their participation in the ADA 2024 Jury: Francine Houben, founder of the Dutch firm Mecanoo, and Gabriele Chiave, designer and Creative Director.
The longlist for the ADA 2024 will be revealed this month and the final selection will be announced in November.
The annual party, attended by designers, winning brands, media and influencers, will celebrate the winners as a confluence of creativity and recognition.
Francine Houben in giuria Archiproducts Design Awards 2024
Francine Houben, who has been reappointed to the jury for the fifth consecutive year, founded Mecanoo in Delft in 1984. She has led the studio to success in the Netherlands and abroad with a vision of a sustainable society, amassing a portfolio of wide-ranging work inspired by global challenges. Mecanoo combines the disciplines of architecture, urbanism, landscape architecture and interior design to produce unorthodox design solutions born of a strong sensitivity to context and a highly interdisciplinary design process.
Every project illustrates the four fundamental elements of Francine’s architectural vision: People, Place, Purpose and Poetry.
Francine Houben was Professor of the Aesthetics of Mobility at Delft University of Technology and has taught at Harvard, Yale and Mendrisio. As curator of the First International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (2003), she brought the topic of the aesthetics of mobility to the forefront of international design consciousness. She is an honorary member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC), and has received the International Honorary Fellow Award from the Architecture Institute of Taiwan, as well as a lifetime membership of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.
In 2014, Francine was named Architect of the Year by Architects’ Journal. In November 2015, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands awarded her the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prize for her wide-ranging career. She received honorary doctorates from the University of Mons, Belgium (2017) and the University of Utrecht (2016) and the BNA Kubus Award for her work in 2018, the International Prix des Femmes Architectes in 2019, and the TU Delft Alumnus of the Year in 2020.
In 2021, Mecanoo and Francine received the European Prize for Architecture.
This year, King Willem-Alexander appointed Francine Houben as a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
Gabriele Chiave on the ADA 2024 jury
For the third year in a row, Gabriele Chiave brings a global perspective to the ADA 2024 Jury, informed by his diverse life experiences in cities around the world.
With a degree in economics, he chose to further his education at the European Institute of Design in Milan. In 2007, Chiave joined the Amsterdam-based studio of Marcel Wanders, taking on the role of creative director. There, he led product and interior design initiatives for international brands such as Audi, Kartell, Louis Vuitton, Alessi and others.
His work is characterised by a harmonious blend of form and function, seamlessly integrating the artistic and industrial dimensions.
Based in New York, Gabriele Chiave, Creative Director of the multidisciplinary creative collective Controvento, is Vice President of Creative Direction – Design & Innovation for the 32 brands that make up The Estée Lauder Companies.
Ph. Sara Fileti
