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Interview with Miguel Pinto Guimarães |
Home > Designer Interviews > Miguel Pinto Guimarães |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Miguel Pinto Guimarães (MPG) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Miguel Pinto Guimarães by clicking here.
FS: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
MPG: I started as a trainee very early, in high school. I was pretty sure I was going to be an architect. During childhood I was used to draw cities, boats, houses. I remember drawing an Olympic masterplan for Seoul in 1988, for example. I was 13 by that time. It was my hobby, my greatest fun. I didn't surf, I didn't play ball. I drew. From Friday to Sunday, until dawn. It was natural for me to pursue these after school hours internships. I worked for a year with Cadas Abranches (A very known architect in Brazil), while I was 15 and after that I went as a trainee into the office of Claudio Bernardes, one of the most important architectural firms in Brazil. There I met again with an old childhood friend, Thiago Bernardes, his son, who was already working in his father's office. We were 16 years old then. From there, we entered both in different architecture universities. Already in the first year of college we started doing some interior projects together, first the bedrooms of our friends and a little beach house for two brothers in the land of their parents. That was in 1993. We continue with our projects, parallel to the internship. In 1994 we decided to go out and open our own studio.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
MPG: Excluding periods as a trainee, I have always owned my architecture studios. At the age of 19 I opened, together with Thiago Bernardes, my first studio "Miguel Guimarães and Thiago Bernardes Associated Architects". We worked together for over 8 years. With the death of Thiago's father, the renowned architect Claudio Bernardes, we were invited by his partner, Paulo Jacobsen, to join the two offices. In 2001 "Bernardes Jacobsen Guimarães" (BJG) was founded. Two years later, in 2003, at the age of 29, I decided to leave BJG and openes my own studio, "Miguel Pinto Guimarães Arquitetos Associados". The "Bernardes" brand, so important to the history of Brazilian architecture, made up of three generations of excellent architects, had become so strong, that I felt compelled to follow my own path. Shortly thereafter, Bernardes and Jacobsen also separated. The most curious is that, after more than 15 years, the three studios stand out in the scenario of Brazilian architecture. Today, "Miguel Pinto Guimarães Arquitetos Associados", created 16 years ago, has about 25 people working between the two offices in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Most of our portfolio is made of residences, but we carry out various projects such as residential and commercial buildings, numerous restaurants and shops, some hotels, schools, museums, sports arenas, parks and urban projects. Usually we have 30 to 40 projects, of several scales being developed at the same time and about 600 projected until today.
FS: What is "design" for you?
MPG: Architecture and Design are the art of bringing beauty and functionality to both public and private lives. Architecture, as well as art, also has the function of educating the eye. Seeing and living the good built art will create tools that can improve people aesthetics, who will always demand, from then on, cities with better services, better quality buildings and design of excellence. It is very important to always keep in mind that architecture and design should serve humankind. We must always project with the human scale in mind.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
MPG: I confess that the unknown always attracts me! Working on typologies that we are not used to deal, excites me. The opportunity to study and observe for new works, oxygenates my architecture. Three years ago, for example, we won a competition to design a school of 1300 students in Rio de Janeiro. In the last three years, we have designed 4 schools for the same group. So, from nothing, a new specialty became part of our skills.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
MPG: My favorite design typology is residential architecture. Maybe it's our first specialty. It can be apartments, penthouses, urban houses, country houses, beach houses. This is where I project with greater ability and mastery.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
MPG: I began designing the interior of some friends' bedrooms, hired by their parents. Next, I projected a small house of two brothers built on the backyard of their family's beach house in Rio de Janeiro.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
MPG: While designing, my favorite materials are paper and graphite! While constructing, we always specify natural materials for both architecture and interior design. Wood, stone, straw, concrete, linen, leather are among my favourites.
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
MPG: When the client pays in advance! (It's a joke!) On the days when I have to create and not just atend the daily demands of the office, I have some small but important rituals. I'll clear up my desk first. I can not be creative on chaos. I need to be in a T-shirt and with barefoot. A Coke with ice on the side ... Those are the wings to the imagination!
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
MPG: I design from the inside out. I privilege the function and not the form. When a project is well resolved in its proportions and spaces, its form will naturally be harmonious and beautiful. I seek incessantly simplicity. With the experience, I learned that the best project will always be the simplest. The main objective of any project is to respect and dialogue with the surrounding nature. The site itself, the solar orientation will always guide the project. Large open spaces, internal gardens, natural lighting and ventilation merging with the surroundings, lack of boundaries between interior and exterior are the main aspects of our design.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
MPG: It's impressive. When I'm in the middle of the designing process, and the project is flowing well, I'm taken over by an energizing joy. I practically stand up, and with broad, theatrical gestures, I feel like the maestro of a symphonic orchestra, conducting some complex Bach symphony. Even if alone, in a small studio, lit only by a table lamp. It's cathartic!
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
MPG: It's just like having a child. That building becomes a member of your own family. A close relative. You feel like loving, caring, you want to visit frequently. I suffer when it gets sick or grow old.
FS: What makes a design successful?
MPG: Simplicity, Sustainability, Landscape Integration, Acceptance by Nature.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
MPG: Again, simplicity comes first. Austerity. Architecture and Design, in my opinion, should be stripped of accessories or ornaments. Anything that is not essential is dispensable.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
MPG: We have full responsibility in designing both for the private and the public dimensions. When designing for a private client, we still have to contribute to the community, always respecting the relationship between the building and the city around it. When space is public, architecture also plays a fundamental role in its organization or revitalization. Cities are living organisms and both urbanism and architecture act as therapies, or as surgical interventions that heal tissues, organs, and reorganize circulations and energies. Architecture, as well as art, also has the function of educating the eye. Seeing and living the good built art will create tools that can improve people aesthetics, who will always demand, from then on, cities with better services, better quality buildings and design of excellence. It is very important to always keep in mind that architecture and design should serve human being. We must always think of the environments, public or private, by the human scale. Sustainability is also important, although the word has been banalized here and there. The use of natural and recycled materials, rational buildings, low impact construction and excellence in design will always have a positive impact on the urban environment.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
MPG: The speed the world evolves will definitely transform human labor as we know it. Traditional careers will disappear. New professions that we can not even imagine will be created. However, I believe creative industry will survive this imminent tsunami. Regardless of how the design will be produced or consumed, design thinking will remain fundamental. Creativity, audacity and courage will always be the essential propulsion for humanity to take its great steps, climb the stairs of human evolution. The creative industry will play a leading role in the world that is being created in front of our eyes.
FS: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?
MPG: We have presented our work to the public in art galleries. The next presentation will be a horizontal condominium of 8 houses called OPY.Ará, in partnership with the architect Sergio Conde Caldas. We will host a vernissage on June 6th at Lurixs Gallery, which we have recently projected in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
FS: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
MPG: Living and observing the daily life, the city, people that come and go. Everything and everyone interests me and are important to my creativity. New and different people, cultures, countries, arts, culinary. A visit to Cambodia can be as important as reference for me, as a trip to the Nordic countries and their excellence in design. Outside my office, architecture doesn't matter. Life, human beings are much more inspiring. Music and the visual arts play a fundamental role in feeding my imagery repertoire. They are essential while expanding our pores to new formal, chromatic and spatial matters. Artists as Vik Muniz, Adriana Varejão, Beatriz Milhazes, Helio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Richard Serra and Donald Judd have enormous influence on my work.
FS: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?
MPG: Maybe I'm considered contemporary. I'm against this stylization. I've done projects all over the world, built in the last 30 years, for completely different individuals. Each one is inserted in a time, in a locality. Understanding the local landscape is essential. This is the basis of sustainability. It is essencial studying and understanding the peculiarities of climate, sunlight and flora, researching how the ancient peoples empirically solved these questions and bring all these answers to our work. Each project has its own particularity. Brazil and the world are so diverse that they do not fit into a single style. My work has one eye to the environment and the other to the past. Above architects, we shall be humanists. We shall take care of the individual, of the human scale. Our architecture must serve humankind, not the other way round. I believe that this ethical simplicity overrides styles, epochs, overlapping time.
FS: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
MPG: I live in Brazil, between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the two cities where my offices are located. Designing in Brazil is as it should be anywhere in the world, means to know profoundly its history, its culture, its people and its architecture. We are a quite diverse country and we have a very rich architecture history. My work is influenced by the indigenous architecture, portuguese colonial architecture and mainly by the modernist movement. Brazilian modernism was internationally prominent, making our architecture known in all continents. Living in these tropics brings us the domain of the exuberant nature and complex climate that is essential to designing an adapted architecture. However, our ability to design is beyond the possibility of building. Despite the technical knowledge developed in wood and concrete constructions, our workforce is still very expensive and rudimentary; and building industry usually is short of quality. In addition, like in any developing country, bureaucracy contaminates the business environment.
FS: How do you work with companies?
MPG: We work both for individuals and for companies. Large groups of Education, Gastronomy, Hotel chains are among our clients.
FS: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?
MPG: I think the most correct when selecting an architect or a designer is to hire a competition. I always suggest that the contractor determine a fee and offer to competing designers so that at least the expenses are covered. It happens a lot in Brazil, companies asking a draft study for products, projects or campaigns for several design studios that develop a extensive and expensive job, unpaid, and often lose the competition for the lowest price, not for the best work. Design should not be hired for the best price, but for the best work. I suggest companies choose the best work and negotiate with the studio for a fair fee, but not making lots of professionals work without being paid.
FS: Can you talk a little about your design process?
MPG: My role as the studio main partner is mainly prospecting new clients and developing architectural draft studies. All the creative kick-off is up to me. From then on our architects teams take over. I continue to attend clients along with these teams and I am always available to solve design and construction problems. All stages of an architectural project are performed by the studio. Concept studies, executive project, detailing, construction follow-up, compatibility of technical complementary projects, decoration, furniture design. My creative process is quite interesting. Experience brings me the possibility of designing head first. When visiting a site, for example, we already have a clear vision of what would be the best project. And this project keeps being developed in details in my mind under various situations... in bed, on the beach, on daily walks, anywhere. I keep thinking of it all the times. When I sit down to draw it effectively, it is already completed in my mind. Matureness also brings us the certainty that the magical touch inspiration is not primordial, and if it does not come, when we sit on the drawing board to project, something good will come out of it!
FS: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
MPG: A Saarinen Table, a Tolomeo desk lamp, An Eames Lounge Chair, a George Nakashima bench and a Taschen Art book.
FS: Can you describe a day in your life?
MPG: I wake up early, around 7 am. From 7 to 9, I sit at my home office to draw, to project. At 9 am I go to the studio, and from then on the day is unpredictable! Problems to solve, meetings to attend, new clients to meet, visits to the construction sites, assistance to suppliers. It is rare for me to have free time to create in my office the daily schedule. About 7 pm or 8 pm, I go home to have dinner with wife and kids. After dinner I usually watch some TV series or some movies. It is relevant to remember that architects work 24 hours a day 7/7! Even in our leisure time we are thinking about work and our cell phone shall be available at all times. And any lunch, dinner or social event is time to prospect new clients!
FS: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?
MPG: The important thing in architecture is to impact positively the collective. Nature shall always be protagonist. More important than designing a house is designing a home. A home is architecture with soul. Redeeming time is the goal of residential architecture. Time to read, listen to music. Time for tea. Time to contemplate the horizon. Time to be simple. Times we do not have anymore. Architecture has the function of educating the eye. The best project will always be the simplest. Good architecture should be the main pillar of the real estate market.
FS: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?
MPG: Positives: It's a passionate and charming career We truly love what we do The creative industry will survive the changes in the labor market We do not need an office routine. Creativity can come in any environment. In a certain way, we can set our own working hours Negative: We are certainly under paid Very less skilled and creative professionals are much better paid. It is very hard to charge clients for an idea that does not exist yet. When we are being contracted, we are negotiating ideas, not products. It is so difficult to charge well for then... We can not wait for clients to pass by, we have to chase for them We are the main actors in a the real estate business and often the rendering and model guys or the broker are much better paid!
FS: What is your "golden rule" in design?
MPG: Be simple! The best project is certainly the simplest!
FS: What skills are most important for a designer?
MPG: Curiosity and Daring.
FS: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
MPG: Paper and graphite. I'm quite old-fashioned
FS: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
MPG: I don't. A certain mental chaos is important to my creativity. For me, the routine is not important. Sometimes I need to make room on the agenda for creative leisure.
FS: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?
MPG: My architecture projects take different times to be designed. A restaurant, for example, can be designed in three months. A house in six. A hotel or a school can take up to a year of project time. Design time depends on the full area to be projected and on its complexity.
FS: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?
MPG: "Why charge so much for these sketches? I don't understand taking so much time just to do those sketches..."
FS: What was your most important job experience?
MPG: One of my most important experience in large-scale projects was participating on the international competition for the Rio 2016 Olympic Park Masterplan. We won the second prize, among other 50 competitors, losing the first prize to the English AECON office. I was concerned to receive the Olympic Games and not participate, as a brazilian architect, in any way. As soon as the competition was announced, with only 2 months to deliver the projects, I decided to set up an international team with the capacity to develop it. I joined our office MPG, with the carioca CDC and invited the americans Gensler and SWA. We took almost 30 days just to assemble the team and collaborators and the other 30 days I was interned in California developing the project. I am very proud to recognize that most of the solutions came out from the brazilian architects involved and also pround to know that we have lost because of only one vote. We discovered later that the result was 4 to 3, being ours the three Olympic votes and the four remaining votes, received by our competitor, came from the representatives of the city of Rio. That means, I have no doubt or modesty to say, that our Olympic project was better than theirs, but AECON's legacy project was far better than ours. The most curious are the enormous similarities of both masterplans and pretty much the same layout of the venues between the two projects. Worth checking it out.
FS: Who are some of your clients?
MPG: Most clients are private. Among then, young people from the financial market, TV and movie stars, businessmen. Among the corporate clients, I can mention the bank BTG Pactual, Eleva Educational Group, Lemann Foundation, The Best Fork gastronomic company, Fasano hotel group, the city of Rio de Janeiro and Brazil's top chefs, such as Felipe Bronze, Danio Braga, Claude Troigross, Laurent Suaudeau, Morena Leite, Rogerio Fasano, Marcelo Torres, many of them Michelin stars.
FS: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
MPG: I have no doubt in saying that my favorite kind of projects is residential architecture! We design all types of residences. Apartments, penthouses, urban houses, country houses, beach houses. Maybe this is the typology of design that we show greater ease and mastery. The one that is most comfortable for me. I don't feel that we are specialized in residences, although these are a majority in our portfolio. We also have several projects of residential and commercial buildings, numerous restaurants and shops, some hotels, schools, museums, sports arenas, parks and urban projects. However I have no doubt that the best residential architecture in the world is Brazilian. From the drawing boards of Brazilian colleagues, such as Thiago Bernardes, Paulo Jacobsen, Arthur Casas, Marcio Kogan, Isay Weinfeld and FGMF come the most beautiful and innovative houses since the 1960's. There is only one moment of such quality that was the Californian modernist residential architecture from the 1940's to 1960's, signed by masters Richard Neutra, Raphael Soriano, Charles and Ray Eames among many others.
FS: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
MPG: To continue working daily with the same passion and devotion to this lovely craft. I intend to dedicate myself with the same energy from the beginning of my career to the our most exciting project: the next one!
FS: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
MPG: We surely work as a team. My studio has about 25 associate architects. This young and devoted team is divided between the headquarters of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Important to mention my main collaborators. Adriana Moura, associated since 2003, but my colleague for almost 30 years, runs the interior design department; Renata Duhá, associate in 2006, today is the CEO of MPG; and Natália Lopes, associated for six years, is the coordinator of architecture department and my right-hand collaborator.
FS: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?
MPG: Currently we have about 40 ongoing projects. They are houses from north to south of Brazil. Mainly in São Paulo and Rio, urban and interior, and in the states of Minas Gerais, Bahia and Maranhão. However, the most interesting projects being developed in the office now are the Hotel Joá, with 40 bungalows in the middle of the urban forest of Rio de Janeiro and a Beach Resort in Una-Bahia with 100 bungalows and 40 villas. We are also developing two residential buildings on the beaches of Ipanema and Leblon. In addition we are projecting the great gastronomic market of Rio de Janeiro, the "Mercado do Rio", in the main tourist area of the city. Still waiting for the funding, we have the project of the Theater of Jockey ready for construction. It is a contemporary opera house with capacity for 1350 spectators. We are also planning the Masterplan of the Caiçaras Club in Rio and Paulista Equestrian Society in São Paulo. And we will launch nest month my the first project as an architect and entrepreneur, together with the also architect Sergio Conde Caldas. The Opy.Ará, a condominium of luxury houses, with approximately 400 square meters each around the Botanical Garden in Rio de Janeiro.
FS: How can people contact you?
MPG: email: miguelpg@mpgarquitetura.com.br phone: +55 21 981027713
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
MPG: It is a pleasure and an honor to participate in the A'Design Award Competition, having won with three projects. I feel that the Award and the publicity will be very important for my international career. I have almost thirty years of professional experience, most of them running important architectural studios, and I feel that we are ready to work in any country in different design typologies. I have a lot to thank you all for your attention. Feel free to contact me by the above email and number, anytime.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
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