Henk Stadens
DeZwarteHond, the Netherlands
DeZwarteHond is a renowned architecture and urban planning studio based in Groningen and Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Cologne in Germany. Today, after three decades of operation, the firm employs 60 professionals who are responsible for numerous successful projects in all areas. Henk Stadens has been with the firm since 1996 and has been a partner in the Cologne office since 2015. For their latest major project, Agaathof in Groningen, which is an example of the subtle integration of a modern neighborhood into a historic city center, they received the Dutch award for the best building of 2017 (BNA Beste Gebouw van Het Jaar 2017) and the award for the best building in the city of Groningen in 2016 (Grote Groninger Gebouwenenquête 2016). It would be impossible to list all the awards they have received for their work to date, so suffice it to say that they receive at least two Dutch professional awards every year.