The office that Marcos Frugoli shares with his partner Daniela Leindecker sits high up in the bambuzel, a thick grove of bamboo that stands just off Canto de Lagoa. The office is full of windows that look out over the tops of trees and bamboo and feels more like a tree house than an architect’s office. I met with both of them there recently to talk about architecture, Florianópolis, and a subject they are both passionate about: marrying beauty and simplicity in a harmonious, architectural style. Knowing of Marcos’s long relationship with the bambuzel I first asked him how he first came to the area and what it was like then.
“I first came in 1984 or 1985. Canto de Lagoa was completely rural in those days. The road was just a dirt track at that time. There were only local people here, no one from the outside. They considered me to be a foreigner.”
“That’s how quickly Florianópolis has changed. But I was enchanted. It was just beautiful here. I’m from São Paulo, originally and this was just so different from São Paulo. I just loved it right from the beginning.”
“But,” I asked him, “Why did you leave São Paulo? There’s so much more opportunity there. So much more construction. Florianópolis was isolated and remote at the time. Cut off from the rest of the world.”
“I was never interested in getting really rich, in being insanely busy. My mother has a large landscaping firm in São Paulo. She’s very well connected. But I didn’t want that. I wanted a life of tranquility. Florianópolis used to be a place you could live very simply. Just have a little place to live, make some money for food and gas. Everyone who moved here from the outside was looking for that sort of lifestyle. Florianópolis was ideal. You really didn’t need to make much money. I volunteered for several early city projects—I designed the center at the Parque de Peri. I helped with the urban design of the city. But I did it for free.”
Looking at the wood floors and large windows of their studio I saw that the impulses that had originally brought Marcos to Florianópolis were still very much in evidence today.
I asked him about his creative process and how he goes about designing a house.
“First,” he said, “An architect can’t be vain. An architect must be selfless, must be the interpreter of other people’s desires. I’m not there to impose myself on them. I’m there to translate their dreams into reality. At the same time, I strive to create harmonious spaces. My designs are based on simplicity. I never design pompous, flashy houses. My designs are not formal and stiff. I strive to create a flux that connects the inside to the outside. That creates a harmonious continuum between the interior and exterior world. I think a lot of people move here for that reason: to have a harmonious relationship with the natural world around them. I strive to design houses that satisfy that desire. Still, it all depends on the individual and what they want.”
I asked about how Marcos and Daniela work together. “I do the meetings,” said Marcos. “I like to talk to people. I have no problem with meetings. We both work on the initial design—the croqui. I circle back to confer with her throughout the process and we make decisions and solve problems together.”
I asked Daniela about her aesthetic sensibility. “I believe in ‘honest’ architecture. What I mean by that is, I put a lot of emphasis on functionality. I don’t like artificial architectural affectations. I think a design should be based on what is necessary and no more. I don’t design false cement ornaments and so on. I think that form should closely follow function. That’s the beauty I strive for. Only the necessary structural elements should be visible. Nevertheless, that functionality should be based on the individual needs of the client.”
What about the relationship between the design and nature?
“My designs are full of windows—maybe a little too much, even—but I think that we live in such a beautiful place that people should be as connected with the natural beauty around them as possible. That makes for an inner beauty.”
Marcos added that, “in Florianópolis, air circulation is very important. There is a lot of humidity, heat, cold, molds. I start my designs by considering air circulation through the house. Windows facilitate that. But after living here for nearly thirty years I really understand the winds, the angle of the sun, and the other crucial considerations that are very important in the long term.”
It’s this close attention to the basic elements of nature, the environment, and fundamental elements of the natural world that so distinguish the designs of Marcos and Daniela. For those who come to Florianópolis looking for a closer connection to nature, a simpler, more harmonious life, and a clean-line design, this team of experienced architects may be the right people to design your home.
Sweet Home Floripa will meet with Marcos and Daniela again in the near future to discuss the new architectural master plan that will soon be coming up for a vote. The plan has many innovative features that preserves much of Florianópolis’s natural beauty, but makes Campeche one of the centers of rapid development in the near future. So stay tuned for that article!
Marcos and Daniela can be reached at mfrugoli@uol.com.br . Their office is located at Rua Laurindo Januario da Silveira n.5110 casa 10, Canto da Lagoa, Florianópolis.
