North Brabant Culture Award 2023 for landscape architect Frank Meijer

Frank Meijer from 's-Hertogenbosch receives the Culture Prize of the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund North Brabant. The jury praised his controlled and narrative approach to built and landscape heritage. 'Frank Meijer's work is among the best that Dutch landscape architecture has produced in recent decades,' said jury chairman Jan Baan. 

Frank Meijer's oeuvre is extensive and diverse. Since 1980 he has signed for more than a hundred projects. As co-founder of design agency MTD landschapsarchitecten, the continuation of the renowned agency Buys and Van der Vliet, he built on the 'handwriting' of predecessor Pieter Buys. 

Meijer's spatial compositions are as simple as they are apt. His designs for city centers, university campuses, roads and airports have a timeless tranquility and are strongly inspired by the context. In Brabant, this can be seen, for example, in the Stadswalzone and Zuiderpark of 's-Hertogenbosch, Moerenburg and the inner city of Tilburg, the campus of Eindhoven University of Technology and the entrance plaza and boulevard of Eindhoven Airport. Outside Brabant, the roof forest on the Collection Building in Rotterdam bears Meijers' signature, realized in collaboration with architecture firm MVRDV. 

Frank Meijer's master hand can be seen most sharply in his work for fortifications, parks, museum gardens and archaeological sites. There he connects the story of the place in an infectious way to today's users. A walnut tree or writing in stone form his signature in these projects.

Remarkably, Meijer continues to show commitment and tenacity even during the realization of these long-term and complex projects. 

'With his stylistically very consistent work, Frank Meijer has enriched the prestige of Dutch nature and culture,' said jury chairman Jan Baan. 

The award, to which a sum of €10,000 is attached, will be presented by Queen's Commissioner Ina Adema, who is also chairman of the Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund North Brabant. This will take place at a time to be determined this year.