In memoriam John Habraken
On Saturday 21 October 2023 John Habraken, one of the founding fathers of Open Building and SAR (Stichting Architecten Research), passed away. John was alumnus of TU Delft and has had a major impact on multiple generations of architects since the 1960’s.
John Habraken inspired thousands of students all over the world to explore flexible and communal housing. Over the past decade, his work has been rediscovered also in the context of the circulair built environment and collective housing.
Thijs Asselbergs (emeritus professor TU Delft): “In recent years John Habraken has been invaluable in sharing his open building ideas and approach with our master’s graduates at TU Delft. In various workshops, students worked on spatial studies for Samarkand and the infill industry. A new generation of young talent was and is linked to a group of architects who have embraced John’s ideas and who apply them in various ways in their daily practice.”
Jo Coenen (emeritus professor TU Delft): "With the passing of John Habraken, the international built environment loses an influential and inspiring mentor. From his universities Delft, Eindhoven and later MIT Cambridge Massachusetts, his ideas spread all over the world. He lectured on 'sustainability' well before this word was used as such."
