Igor de Vetyemy

Between 2000 and 2012, de Vetyemy studied in Rio de Janeiro, Oxford and Delft. In 2006, he became an Architecture Professor at Estácio de Sá University and, in 2008, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Having studied with Master Oscar Niemeyer himself in the beginning of the 2000s, the influence of the "reinforced concrete poet" is clear in the first years of his career. Manuel Sanches, a Brazilian architect, sociologist and Politic Sciences professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, considers Igor de Vetyemy's work "a demonstration that Brazilian contemporary architecture is worthy of the prestige it has since Niemeyer designed Pampulha(..) Surprising, innovative in the use of materials, in the proposal of constructive methods and, above all, in aesthetics.". But despite the strong influence of Brazilian Masters of tropical modernism, according to the British critic Richard J. Williams, Igor de Vetyemy represents a shift from that architecture in the approach to the vernacular sensuality of Brazilian architecture. In his words, "Niemeyer and his circle pretended that such commodification did not exist, but ended up, by default, endorsing it. Vetyemy recognizes the reality of the situation. Such frankness (..) suggests a less romantic, but more realistic, future.".

• Name — Igor de Vetyemy • Birth Name — Igor Freire de Vetyemy • Born — 28 February 1981 • Birthplace — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • Education — Delft University of Technology (2012), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2005), University of Oxford (2003) • Significant Projects — City of Sex, Rio de Janeiro Underground canal houses, Amsterdam • Awards — 2012 Netherlands Architecture Institute Building of the Future

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 28, 1981, Igor de Vetyemy graduated as an architect and Urban planner with distinction at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 2005. In 2001, studied the generation of Brazilian Masters of Tropical Modernism with Master Oscar Niemeyer himself, leading a team of "professors that included some of the biggest Brazilian exponents of diverse areas, as the poet Ferreira Gullar, o sociologist and politic scientist Emir Sader, the physician and philosopher Luiz Alberto de Oliveira and the engineer José Carlos Sussekind. Between 2003 e 2004 specialized in Architectural history in University of Oxford, in Britain. In 2012 defended a Master Thesis on “Mutualistic Architecture in Delft University of Technology, in The Netherlands, once more graduating with distinction. During and after the period studying in Rio de Janeiro, de Vetyemy worked at one of the biggest architecture offices of Rio de Janeiro, Indio da Costa AUDT, and founded the “Garage Group” together with colleagues, which used to get together in a garage to research and develop architectural ideas. In 2004 the group began to publish articles on contemporary architecture. In the same year, they were rewarded in a contest for the construction of a Social Daycare in the labor's community of their University. In 2006, after receiving several awards for his project for the controversial “City of Sex” in Copacabana, he was invited to present his project to the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, who was interested in building the complex, and had his work published in magazines and newspapers from more than 30 countries around the world. The British architect Nigel Coates considered the project as "a key step in updating Rio's tradition of contemporary architecture." Still in 2006, de Vetyemy became professor at Estácio de Sá University and, in 2008, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro lecturing about Ephemeral Architecture, Sustainable architecture, Conception of the architectural form. In 2007, the architect officially founded his own office, "Igor de Vetyemy arquitetura e design" and in the following year was already invited by the Brazilian Embassy in London to join the “London Festival of Architecture” where his work was presented for the first time to the European public as an example of the avant-garde Brazilian architecture. In 2010, de Vetyemy moved to The Netherlands, where he got married with the Dutch fashion designer Arno Smedinga. In 2012, the architect was rewarded by the Netherlands Architecture Institute for his project Downtown Amsterdam, underground canal houses. Since 2011, Igor de Vetyemy collaborates with Mecanoo architecten, a Delft-based office.

• 2004: Social Daycare in the labor's community at Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro, RJ Brazil • 2005: City of Sex, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil • 2005: Elizabeth Savalla residence, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • 2006: Botucatu Acoustic Shell, São Paulo, Brazil • 2006: Várzea Paulista Municipal Theatre, São Paulo, Brazil • 2007: MAB Fundição store, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • 2008: Juliana Paes residence, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • 2008: Eco house, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • 2009: CREA Headquarters (Brazilian certification board for engineers, architects and contractors), Curitiba, Brasil • 2010: Corrfa building renovation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • 2010: Alcion Copacabana building renovation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • 2010: Água Branca farm, Nova Friburgo, Brazil • 2011: Sustainable Headquarters for IAB (Brazilian Architects Institute), Palmas, Brazil • 2011: Arno Smedinga residence, Rotterdam, The Netherlands • 2012: Underground canal houses, Amsterdam, the Netherlands