The Architect Marcio Kogan, born in São Paulo, uses minimal design to reinterpret the modernist principles of Brazilian architecture. His design vision at first appears simplistic, but belies very attentive planning down to the smallest detail. Studio MK27, founded by Kogan in the early 80s, is recognized today as one of the most innovative in contemporary Brazilian architecture. Located in the chaotic city of Sao Paulo the Studio has combined constructive tradition with contemporary design, providing sophisticated solutions. Kogan is an honorary member of the AIA (American Institute of Architects), professor at the Escola da Cidade, and is considered one of the 100 most influential people of Brazil. Kogan’s studio has won over 200 awards and today he has agreed to have a conversation with Artwort.
The Studio of Architecture MK27 is well known for their work on villa however, they gained attention due to the connections they were able to make between Architecture and Nature. Could you briefly discuss the fundamental aspects of your work?
This is a complex answer. I am a son of Brazilian modernism which is one of the most interesting architectural movements of the twentieth century. The mixture of European modernism with Brazilian sensuality and “tropicalism” resulted in an iconic movement in a country which was completely isolated from everything else going on in the world. In 1960, with the inauguration of Brasilia this movement brilliantly reached its apex. Obviously, this has influenced the following generations of architects and in a manner of speaking, is strongly represented in the work of Studio MK27. I also took a good “baggage” from cinema to architecture: the proportions, which are inspired by the cinema’s wide screen vision, the lighting, the attempt to create emotions, and even teamwork, which sometimes is forgotten in architecture.
Marcio Kogan is both an architect as well as in inspiring filmmaker, what are your thoughts on the number of similarities within the practice of architecture and the role of a film director for example how a film director is able to develop a plot and then make his idea come to life. Which aspects of the design process do you think are most closely connected to your experience in the arts as a filmmaker?
I am quite cinematic in the early stages of a project: I always create who will live in the space in question. They have a life story, sometimes a man and sometimes a woman or perhaps some kind of mixture of both. He constantly walks around the project. He feels the proportions, lowers the height of the ceiling, pushes walls, looks through the window or simply removes a window from that place. He doesn’t like doors. He goes up and down the stairs and experiments with numerous alternatives. He hasn’t yet decided if the stairs will be straight-run or spiral. He goes to the garden which as of yet does not exist, looks at the façade and decides to modify everything again. He plants a beautiful tree. It is night-time, two moons and some shooting stars can be seen crossing the Royal blue sky. Four midget violinists are playing a sad Romanian song, sitting on the stones that will be the surface of the wall that borders the as yet, non-existent garden. A beautiful, very beautiful and elegant young lady stops, stares at nothing and continues to walk I don’t know where. At the end, the character is reasonably content with what he created and falls asleep on an enormous bed which he pushes slightly to the right.
Similar to how a movie requires narration, architecture also enters into a dialogue with its surroundings. Could this be one of the reasons why you do not interpret the windows as small hole in the wall, instead you propose wooden folding doors, which can be fully opened in order to achieve a permeability and a soft transition between indoor and outdoor spaces?
We always seek to give maximum importance to the site. How to get the maximum feeling from the space? How to extremely integrate the landscape? How to be delicate with which surrounds us? These are constant concerns of architects. At one point we started to design the interiors of our projects because there was no longer a distinction between external architecture and the interiors. There is this constant search for enlargement of spaces and, obviously, the reasonably warm climate throughout almost all of Brazil collaborates with these solutions. Therefore, in our projects, external architecture merges with the internal. This separation does not exist.
The Studio has built many villas becoming experts on private and intimate spaces. Do you find this experience of private atmospheres has proven useful while designing business and public spaces?
We always try to do projects that people love to use, which ends up not making much difference if it is a public or a private project. We always use natural materials, which bring to life the places, and always a lot of green areas and gardens.
While designing houses you look for a combination of peace, rest and nature, all while living in São Paulo, which is considered one on the most sprawling and chaotic cities in the world. Has the megalopolis of São Paulo influenced how you reexamine modernist approaches?
I live in this city of twenty million inhabitants, violent and chaotic, but absolutely fascinating. There is still so much to be done in terms of urban design and architecture here. In the 50’s and 60’s the architects of Brazil had an opportunity to execute many public projects, with great architectural quality. In 1964 with the arrival of the military power, architecture was destroyed because it was extremely linked to the left. Even today we suffer the consequences of this despite the need for good architecture for these public projects, it simply doesn’t happen or it happens in very small doses. São Paulo’s size and dysfunction inform my thoughts about humankind, about our imperfections, our chaos, our unfairness, our dark-sides. We love the human side of the city.
Finally, could you describe the project that you would consider to have influenced your future work?
Movies were always a great source of inspiration, back to my days at the school of architecture. But to be quick with this answer, I will only mention one project: the Barcelona Pavilion. Mies Van der Rohe gives us a lesson in how simplicity can be incredibly complex. The Barcelona Pavilion is one of the greatest works of architecture. It is the full dominance of drawing syntax.
