Human Experience

• Aminata Cairo (The Hague) engages people, communities, and organisations to implement positive change and communicate the message that every story has value. Born and raised in the Netherlands to Surinamese parents, she left for the US to pursue her college education to obtaine a dual Bachelor in Psychology and Physical Education, Master’s Degrees in Clinical Psychology and Medical Anthropology, and a Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. Since then, she has done extensive community work in the Netherlands, US, Suriname, and Ghana. Aminata believes the arts are a wonderful way to engage communities and to help people to celebrate their cultures and be proud of who they are, especially those who have been marginalised and silenced.
• The work of architect Francine Houben (Delft) ranges from theatres, museums, and libraries to neighbourhoods, housing, and parks. Each design is founded on observation of people, location, culture, and climate. This analysis amounts to designs that respond to current needs yet are also prepared for (un)predictable change. She interweaves social, technical, playful, and human aspects of space-making together in order to create a unique solution to each architectural challenge. After graduating in Architecture at TU/Delft, she founded architectural firm Mecanoo Architecten in 1984. Mecanoo has extensive experience designing and realising exceptional buildings which serve client ambitions while creating vibrant end-user spaces. Each project responds to the philosophy of People, Place, Purpose. Humans are always at the heart of Francine’s designs. Before starting to design, she always observes people in their environments. This allows her both to create spaces that meet the social and users’ needs and also allow for adaptation to future needs. One of her latest projects was the modernisation of Washington DC’s central library, which was designed in the sixties by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and named after Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our way of doing architecture will continue to evolve but will always remain rooted in the same ideals: to design primarily for people, construct spaces that are relevant to place, and forge connections that give a building purpose.

• • Being the son of a professional musician, Ronald Snijders (Delft) began learning the flute at the age of seven years. He is born in Surinam, and moved to the Netherlands to study Civil Engineering at the TU/Delft. After he graduated, he stayed in Europe to work as a musician and performed at several stages and festival in many European countries ever since, as well as in Western and Southern Africa, the Caribbean and North America. Ronals is known for his own innovative compositions, varying in style from North American jazz and fusion to new African Caribbean jazz. Combining Afro Surinam kawina- and kasekomusic together with modern jazz and funk, he created a complete new music style: kawina-jazz.

• DCFA Fellow Lyongo Juliana is an architect and director of OZ Caribbean. He fell in love with Architecture when he was a student in Architectural Engineering at TU/Eindhoven. For Lyongo, architecture is not just about making locations more beautiful and in balance, it is about creating a people’s experience. In recent years, Lyongo has investigated the degree of diversity and inclusiveness of architecture in Amsterdam. In the coming months, Lyongo will continue his research in Pakhuis de Zwijger’s two-year programme Designing Cities for All of Us.