Second Place Winner
Fear of the Water House
Design by
Bruno Cardoso de Almeida Pirro
Bruno Cardoso de Almeida Pirro
Bruno, 26 years old, lives in São Paulo - Brazil, and studies architecture since 2018. Seeking inspiration in films and music, loves phenomenology and tries to use the senses to design your own projects in architecture university.
Celebrating Creativity & Vision
Winner’s Spotlight: An Exclusive Interview
Discover the story behind the victory — from concept to creation.
What is your design philosophy?
Well, I believe I am still in the process of understanding and learning about architecture and all its shapes and design. For now, my philosophy is based on the senses, on inhabiting and being inhabited. Being the intermediary of this relationship between man and the building. Understand what feeling your client is looking for, and how to bring those feelings that the person needs to the surface and work with it, in a way that the building manages and deals with those feelings creating a unique atmosphere.
What was your feeling when the winners were announced?
It feels so great. When I saw it, I didn’t believe that was true. I didn’t imagine that I could be among the top ones, it’s so amazing and unbelievable. It was the first time that I participated in an architecture contest all by myself and I am very happy with the result. Thank you all for that.
It feels so great. When I saw it, I didn’t believe that was true. I didn’t imagine that I could be among the top ones, it’s so amazing and unbelievable. It was the first time that I participated in an architecture contest all by myself and I am very happy with the result. Thank you all for that.
I read a lot about sensory architecture and phenomenology in the last 3 years. I thought a lot if I use some the ideas and concepts of the books that I read about but, in the end, I realize that for the first time I could wright about what I believe and the conclusions that I made until today based in my own experiences. So, I let myself free to write what it felt right to be written. I just opened the file, looked at the image, played Fear of The Water by Syml and let the things happen naturally.
It’s a personal text, it was a personal writing, it’s about my believes, my thoughts, and my feelings. I am very grateful to have approached the topic in this way, because looking back today I don’t believe there was a better way to do this.
What measures will you take/ taking to introduce the philosophy of sensory architecture to practice?
In a way, it’s relatively easy to use phenomenology when you’re designing something for yourself or for someone of your imagination. The real challenge is to use the senses and phenomenology for someone with feelings, dreams, fears that you may not know yet.
So, I believe that knowing your client and understanding how he would like to feel is essential to develop a good project, and it’s the best way to work with sensory architecture.
Following that thought, I always try to know how the client would like to feel, understanding the moment in life that he is right now, his dreams, history and feelings. I think that the most important thing that you can ask is “how do you want to feel?”. In my opinion, without this it is impossible to make a design that the client can really dwell, because architecture is art and art is always about feeling.
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