Fernando Menis

Fernando Menis is the professor of the European University of the Canary Islands and the Chairman of the Laboratory for Innovation in Architecture, Design and Advanced Tourism of Tenerife – his home island. After graduation from the architectural studies in Barcelona, he established the studio,  first with his two partners “Artengo-Menis-Pastrana”, and since 2004 he has pursued his own activity, operating with the business name “Menis Arquitectos”. He works with a young and international team of architects, also with Polish architects. He was awarded with numerous prizes for his works. Detailed information can be found on the  website: www.menis.es

“We are not interested in mass, serial designs. Our buildings are unique, just like every violin created manually by a luthier” – said the Spanish architect in one of his interviews.

He is fond of raw architectural forms, referring to nature in their shape. Most often, he uses wood, stone and concrete, matching their colours and textures and exposing the values of their structure with the play of light and shadow. It will be similar with the hall in Toruń, the first facility designed by this architect in Poland. “It will a kind of my love letter to the local community” – he announced to the media.

Jordanki is the next multi-functional object, originating from the design studio “Menis Arquitectos”. Before that, the studio created, among others, the design of the famous Magma Art & Congress in Tenerife, the Auditorium in Los Llanos, La Palma and the Congress Centre in Morro Jable in Fuerteventura. Getting familiar with these concepts allows us to understand the way of thinking of the Spanish architect, when creating the design for the hall in Toruń. Each of his designs has its unique character, that allows to treat it as a work of art in architecture.

The studio “Menis Arquitectos” is also responsible for such original designs as e.g. the untypical swimming pool created on the Spree River in Berlin, the Athletics Stadium and the Holy Redeemer Church in Tenerife, or Agora Garden Tower in Taipei. In his so-far career, he mostly executed his architectural projects in Spain, Portugal, Taiwan, Germany, and most of all, in Tenerife, where he has lived in the multi-storey house of his own design, with wood cladding. The design studio “Menis Arquitectos” also took part in the competition for the building of Sinfonia Varsovia in Warsaw.

It is worth to mention, that the design of the hall in Jordanki created by Fernando Menis was awarded with the prize in autumn 2010 during the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Barcelona as the best cultural future project. Apart from that, it was presented internationally on several occasions. In  2012 during the 13^th International Architecture Exhibition (Biennale) in Venice, which is the most important cyclic survey of current architecture and also during the International Congress  “Asocret” in Columbia. It gained recognition everywhere. Except for creating the design of the concert hall,  Fernando Menis is also responsible for design supervision during its execution.

More about Fernando Menis in English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Menis

Photo: Jamie Chinarro