Fernando Menis Architects – Interview

November 14, 2014

1. As a child, did you always wanted to become a designer / architect?
Yes, since I was a child I had always wanted to be an architect. When I was younger  than 10 years old, I used to make my own clay bricks, put them in the oven and  I spent hours playing with them.

2. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to? Do you listen to music when you work?
I like timeless music. From Fransapa, from the eighties, to Wagner. The truth is I do not usually listen to music when I work.

3. Your favourite book / magazine.
My favourite  books are “ One Hundred Years of Solitude” from Gabriel García Marquez and “The Little Prince“. I could not choose just one.

4. A typical day in your profession.
My typical day is just not typical. Every day I do different things, a continuous learning.

5. Your source of inspiration and why?
My source of inspiration is Common Sense because it take us to the place, the function, the sustainable, etc. Common Sense leads us to use the resources of the area, natural resources, philosophy KM 0.

6. Your style as your friends would describe it?
My friends describe my architecture as an exciting architecture that makes people fall in love. An architecture that plays with feelings and arouses curiosity to discover it.

7. How would you define DESIGN?
Design for me is a summation of knowledge that in the end is coordinated in a creative process.

8. A particular architect, from the past who has interested you greatly and why?
Le Corbusier because he coordinates rationality with emotion.

9. How would you describe your professional journey, over the years?
I would describe my career as a continuous learning. I have been very lucky to live it.

10. How do you think your perception or thinking as an architect has evolved over the years?
It has been an evolution based on handling more data that I have acquired over the years. I love complex projects, looking for more complex themes and the research process.

11. A building material and/or an architectural / design element that you would always want to work with and why?
I have worked for many years with concrete as it is a very suitable material, although I like to consider new options when tackling new projects. Also I like to use only a few different materials in my works.

12. Your advice for the young?
To keep a constant learning with passion.

13. How or where do you see the influence of culture on architecture in the present world. Or is architecture become a global expression.
We have to face architecture as a global thing to then be able to work locally.

14. In the present scenario has green or sustainable architecture have a local impact in terms of solutions or a generic global one. Beyond marketing, Is green architecture a creative solution or a material science project and how you address it.
For me sustainable architecture is more a material. I work with it as another essential data within the projects.

15. Design education has become one of the major areas of concentration. How do you address today’s students. Are today’s students different from 20 years back? If so how. (you could also give some scenarios or personal experiences.)
Students today are contemporary. The common point between now and 20 years ago is the interest but the context has changed (place, tools, etc.).

MENIS ARQUITECTOS: www.menis.es

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