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Architects Directory 2009

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Fortes, Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz Arquitetos

Brazil

BIOGRAPHY AND PRACTICE

When Fernando Forte, Lourenço Gimenes and Rodrigo Marcondes Ferraz founded FGMF in 1999, still as students, perhaps they hadn't thought that the practice would grow so quickly. The partners – trained in Brazil and with international professional experience - are now involved in several residential and commercial projects and lead a 20-people strong architecture team. "Challenging our own perceptions and ideas is our main tool to create new points of view", they say when asked about their design inspiration. Brazilian culture – which they characterize as warm weather and friendly people – is a strong influence to the team, a fact with an immediate reflection to the relation of interior and exterior spaces in their designs.

THE HOUSE

In the case of their Tic-Tac House, FGMF based their work on a simple everyday object, the clock. "It expresses the constant need for change: nobody acts the same way in the morning, afternoon or evening. No one even reacts the same way to different seasons... so why should our houses be always the same?" they explain. The building is a light pre-fab structure, made up of five modules. The central module acts as the kitchen and bathroom core of the house, while the remaining four rotate and can be reconfigured independently to suit the owner's mood and the demands of the weather.

THE FUTURE

Since their approach is tailored flexibly for each commission, and since the practice works with several scales and building types, many and different things are expected from FGMF. The architects are committed to innovation and believe that intense academic and practice-based research is the key to good architecture, through challenging the given and making design their "tool for the brand new vision of the city".

www.fgmf.com.br