This is part of a special series of articles profiling the speakers at Archifest 08 Forum which will be held on the 16 & 17 October 2008 at the Drama Centre @ NLB, Singapore. To find out more, click here for everything Archifest 08 on FIVEFOOTWAY.com or go to the official website.

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Spanish architect, Fernando Martin Menis was born in 1951 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He studied architecture at ETSAB and in 1981, he formed a team with architects Felipe Artengo Rufino and José María Rodríguez Pastrana Malagón which was to be known as Artengo, Menis, Pastrana Architects (now known as AMP Arquitectos)

In July 2004, Menis started his own studio: Menis Arquitectos and since then, Menis has brought his studio to prominence with projects such as that of the Cuchillitos de Tristan Park, a project of 55 social housing units in La Laguna, Tenerife and also the rehabilitation of Agulo and Vallehermoso’s historical town centre on the island of La Gomera. Menis is also a visiting professor where he leads workshops and lectures in Europe.

Much of the architecture of Menis is inspired by the clear, powerful landscape of Tenerife. Menis proposes architecture that is needed by the environment and he has been quoted as saying that when he thinks of a new building, he considers its plasticity as a unified work which begins from its form. He thinks about the program’s functionality, defining the work’s potential to evolve and grow.

Fernando Menis is an architect with humanity as his primary focus. In an interview about the NEXT-GENE20 project in Taiwan , Menis says, “Architecture is about emotions. It should make people express themselves more easily,” he noted. For the project, Menis took inspiration from the rocks with many holes that were made due to the strong winds along Taiwan’s coastline and subesequently designed a device to produce energy from the wind. Menis was also inspired by his trips to Taiwan’s ancient temples, saying that “the usage of the colors gold, black and red in the temples [I visited] also gave me a lot of ideas.”

He also adds that “A conciousness of the place adds to all these Concepts because the project is designed with respect for the situation and the environment. The project aims to create a sustainable house which consider the orientations, the winds, the sun, the light; the project not only lies inside the nature but it understands it also, works with it and does no harm to it.”

We at FIVEFOOTWAY are certainly looking forward to Fernando Menis’ presence in Archifest 08 and we hope to pick his brains on exploring the complex relationship of Man and Environment which encompasses context, genius loci, history, culture, economics, and technology. With his sensitivity to the environment as he crafts his architecture, we think that Menis will have something special to offer the audience in the Forum.

Further
Menis Arquitectos
Next-Gene 20

Adib is the co-founder of 5ft Creatives and he loves to walk on the FIVEFOOTWAY.

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Fernando Menis