Born in Bandung, Java in 1928 — then an important colonial center of the Dutch West Indies — Habraken built an influential career in the Netherlands and in the US rooted in his lifelong belief that residents should have a greater say in the design and use of the housing they inhabit. Through research, publishing, and teaching, he influenced multiple generations of architects to study the everyday built environment and to work towards a greater understanding of the variety of forces and patterns that influence how we experience and shape our homes, neighborhoods, and cities. He dedicated his long career to rejecting the inevitability of homogenous urban form and to articulating design methodologies that could support change over time, especially in residential environments.

In the late 1940s, he studied architecture at the Delft University of Technology, where found a generous mentor in M. J. Granpré Molière, who encouraged the young Habraken to write. His first book — Der Dragers en de Mensen: Het Einde van de Massawoningbouw published in Dutch in 1961 and in English (as Supports: An Alternative to Mass Housing) in 1972 — outlined his bold proposition to harmonize the efficiency of industrial production with the imperative to respond to the needs of diverse households. The mass fabrication of building components, he argued, could enable architects to spend more time in consultation with residents, negotiating the needs of the community (or the building) with the needs of individual households. This was to be primarily achieved, he argued, by separating the design and construction of Supports — long-lasting superstructures with necessary infrastructural connections — from the design and construction of Infill — customizable and adjustable living units.

Habraken’s approach to housing (and the position of the architect in that process) would prompt the invitation to become the founding director of the recently formed Stichting Architecten Research (SAR) which aimed to foster the demand for architectural expertise in the face of increasingly standardized construction. Between 1964 and 1990, the SAR conducted research and outreach in order to turn Habraken’s idea — of harnessing the efficiency of industrial construction towards the flexibility of user customization — into a reality.

The work of the SAR, particularly as it connected research and practice, would be crucial in Habraken’s appointment as the founding dean of architecture at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Under his deanship, studio assignments prioritized housing environments and the everyday landscape, forcing a sharp break from the focus on monumental architecture that had
characterized traditional architectural education.The curriculum’s perceived rigidity and focus on technical issues, however, became a flashpoint for the Eindhoven student revolts in the early 1970s, resulting in the appointment of a new dean at the school. Habraken’s commitment to transforming architectural pedagogy, however, found a broader, international audience when he was appointed as the chair of the architecture department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1975, where he remained on the faculty until his retirement in 1990.
Upon his retirement, Habraken and his wife Marleen returned to the Netherlands and took up residence in a house he had designed for his parents in Appeldoorn at the beginning of his career. He is survived by Marleen and their two children, Julie Habraken of Appeldoorn and Wouter Habraken of Austin, Texas, Wouter’s wife Chandra Roukema, and their daughters Maya and Phoebe.

In addition to multiple generations of students at both the TU/e and MIT, his influence on architectural discourse and practice continues to resonate through his books, including Transformations of the Site, The Structure of the Ordinary (1998), and Palladio’s Children (2005), among others. He was at work on new editions of some of his classic works when he died, and a new volume of his previously uncollected writings (in English) The Short Works of John Habraken has recently become available. The recent resurgence in interest in John Habraken’s long and significant career underscores the extent to which his ideas were ahead of their time. His emphasis on fostering the decision-making of individuals, on studying the relationship between existing and future urban form, and on expanding the role of the architect to address the totality of the everyday built environment has much to offer a contemporary moment where we need many new ideas to respond to housing demand sustainably, equitably, and respectfully. His legacy will live on at the TU/e’s Department of the Built Environment.

Sergio De Sousa Lopes Figueiredo & Cassim Shepard

Editorial note

The amount of journalistic freedom at Cursor is very unclear at the moment. In collaboration with the unions, the editorial staff has submitted a proposal letter with suggestions regarding press freedom to the Executive Board, and a first discussion has taken place. This article was published in anticipation of the outcome of the negotiation process.