was born on october 25, 1928 in the state of esp’rito
santo in brazil. he moved with his family to sao paulo
in the thirties. he studied at the mackenzie architecture
school in 1954. after graduating he won a national
competition for the construction of a sports area at the
paulistano athletic club in sao paulo. this work brought
him public recognition. in 1969 he designed the brazilian
pavilion for the international expo in osaka, japan.
in 1971, he participated in the competition for the
george pompidou center. in 2000 he received the
invitation to design the project for the aquatic complex
for the 2008 olympiad in paris.
his most recent works are the development of the
technological city for the vigo university, spain,
and the student dormitories for the cagliari university, italy.
mendes da rocha was a teacher at the school
ofarchitecture at the university of sao paulo during
the 1960s, after joining the invitation of his friend,
architect vilanova artigas.
in 1969 he was forced to resign his teaching position by
the brazilian military dictatorship, only in 1980 after
the amnesty he was allowed to come back to the school,
teaching with the same enthusiasm as before, until his
retirement in 1999.
he has been awarded numerous international honors
including: honorary fellow of the professional architects
association of lisbon, the mies van der rohe award
for his project for sao paulo's pinacoteca, and in 2000
he was selected to represent brazil in the venice biennale.
in 2006 he received the pritzker architecture prize.

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we met paulo mendes da rocha in cagliari, on july 2nd, 2007.
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what is the best moment of the day?
the end of the day

what kind of music do you listen to?
all different types of music, I particularly like jazz
and have a passion for the music of miles davis and
thelonious monk. once I designed the set for
the opera 'suor angelica' by giacomo puccini -
whose work I love. I also listen to the beautiful
brazilian music, which is part of every brazilian's
daily life.

what books are on your bedside table?
I have a lot of books, but I tend to read
a a bit here and a bit there.
I read classic philosophy with great enthusiasm.

do you listen to the radio?
sometimes

do you read architecture magazines?
no.

where do you get your news from?
news follows me every minute,
I have six children and everyday they
represent a fresh source of news.
I try to not follow politics so closely because
it's often terrible. regardless, I see the future
in a positive way because I think that generally
the aim of people is to create peace in the world.
I'm a fan of the latest political situation in france
and of their new government particularly of rachida dati,
(french justice minister), who is the first female,
muslim politician to hold a top government job in france.
I see this as a critical revision of the french colonialism.

I guess that you notice how women dress,
do you have any preferences?
I have no time to follow fashion,
but I like to see how women dress on the street.
I like very much how you are dressed right now.
(summer floral dress)

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
it is beautiful that people can wear what they want today.
I prefer to dress quite traditionally,
for example I don't wear sports-shoes.

when you were a child did you always want to become
an architect?
no, the thought never crossed my mind,
when I was young I was more concerned
with enjoying myself - I often went to the beach.

do you discuss your work with other architects?
I always discuss with everybody,
but I don't like to discuss directly with other architects.
in sao paulo there is a bar which I go to two or three
times a week with 'normal' people, no architects,
and I prefer this.

could you describe your style as a good friend
of yours might?
architecture is a discourse of knowledge.
I project what I imagine people could desire -
I have a delirious vision on what this might be,
I don't design for myself - I don't follow my own needs.

can you describe an evolution in your work from
your first projects to the present day?
I will not speak of an evolution for architecture.
architecture is always something new.
it's impossible to realize the ideal project,
architecture is always the persecution
of the same idea, always.
the ideal project does not exist, each time
there is the opportunityto realize an approximation.

are there any architects that
have influenced you particularly ?
all the many different architectural adventures.
I love the unknown architects who realized stonehenge,
I love the architects who realized the pyramid of cairo,
a machine of its own construction, an inclined plane,
which permits one to place a stone 130 meters high
- marvelous.
I like palladio, and I'm a very close friend of luigi snozzi,
an architect who I hold in great esteem.

which of your projects has given you the
most satisfaction?
I suffer a lot developing projects,
I cannot say that there is a satisfaction - it's my life.
every-time I work on a project its a huge affliction,
a great anguish and a lot of anxiety.
so, I would not speak of 'satisfaction'.

who would you like to design something for?
I don't have the courage to imagine what to do
from the beginning of the process.
for example here in calgiari, sardinia I never imagined
what I could have done. the project was born as a
solicitation from the place and the people -
architecture is done by people.
look at the place where we are now,
it was an old tobacco factory and now there
is an intellectual symposium here.
people make architecture - in the way they occupy a space.





here in calgiari as well as creating the dormitory
which the university commissioned, you have also
created the ideal setting for it to be located...
do you always work in this way?
always, I think that design is a process of untangling,
afterwards it can never be the same,
its a discourse that never ends.

it's a form of transgression?
no, no.
my illusion is that what people desire will be realized, always.
the project is a desire,
I imagine an erotic vision of life.

any advice for the youngs ?
I don't see myself as a person with the capacity to give advise.

is there anything that you're afraid of regarding the future?
we have to transform ourself,
for example, if you think to the relationship
between man and woman, there is a current revolution,
because of over-population, society has to reinvent
this relationship.
who knows what the future will bring? -
to ask yourself this question is a marvelous thing.