Formado nas Universidades de Michigan e do Estado de Nova York, EUA, como também na Universidade de Copenhagen, Dinamarca, MITCHELL TREMSKY morou na Ásia, Oriente Médio, Europa e América do Sul, antes de se fixar no Brasil; onde reside com esposa e três filhos no Rio de Janeiro.
Seus projetos espelham as influências que recebeu da vivência nesses inúmeros lugares assim como os da sua experiência de trabalho em Nova Iorque, de onde extraiu o “olho” para o harmônico pluralismo urbano daquela cidade.
O resultado é um trabalho que conjuga a perfeita combinação de técnicas de última geração aliada a uma refinada atenção aos detalhes. Um trabalho que contrapõe materiais naturais e orgânicos - por vezes, quase em estado bruto - à materiais de alta tecnologia num “timing” urgente e necessariamente contemporâneo.
Enfim, é um profissional que emprega o diálogo entre Arquitetura, Estética e Cultura.
“Clima” e (meio) Ambiente.
E eleva sua produção à patamares radicalmente inovadores.
Michael Astor, American journalist
Mitchell Tremsky’s architecture is an invitation to the world. Born in New York, Tremsky possesses an elegant vision fusing international styles encountered during visits to ancient architectural sites around the world, while studying in Denmark, Japan, South America and the Middle East. Imagine the warmth and simplicity of Danish wood set against the heavy textures of Japanese stonework and you’re halfway there. The other half involves a daring use of modern synthetic materials like light transmitting polymers and resins which are used to add luminosity, bathing rough hewn wood, or cutting clean lines against a primordial stone wall. Whether modernizing a neglected colonial gem in Rio’s drab downtown or adding warmth and a hint flavor to often forbidding modernist structures, Tremsky´s designs bow to distinct traditions, harmonizing and updating them for an increasingly globalized world.
Inspired by Japan’s Tadeu Ando and Estonia’s Louis Kahn, Tremsky´s early work in the United States for Skyline Architects, Antoniades and associate and Douglas Siebenaler Architects thrived in Manhattan’s cramped residential spaces, breaking down strong formal distinctions between living spaces, recovering dead and hidden spaces by adding unexpected curves and through the use of subtle lighting. In 1996, attracted by the country’s mixture of rustic with ultramodern, Tremsky relocated to Brazil, where he now lives with his Brazilian wife and three children. Among other things, he was attracted by the country’s rich bounty of raw materials, like imbuia wood and oxidized iron which found their way easily into his work at a number of top-flight boutiques and upscale living spaces in the city’s tony Flamengo Beach and Jardim Botanico neighborhoods.
After initially partnering with French architect Frederic Cassuto and Brazilian Bel Lobo, Tremsky opened up his own office in 2000. Since then, he has made a name for himself with his designs for 00, named the world’s best nightclub by V magazine. At 00, popular with visiting celebrities from Mick Jagger to Will Smith, Tremsky’s signature style is apparent in the 90-foot curving transparent silicone curtain embracing a massive textured concrete wall. The stark formalism spills into the dance floor’s sensuous, luminescent curves without skipping a beat.
In a Sao Conrado kitchen featured in Vogue RG, Casa Claudia and O Globo’s Sunday magazine he fearlessly opened up a tight cubicle to second floor living spaces and integrated a terraced backyard paved with white river stone and bricks. The down lit brick facing that lines the inner walls comes from demolition sites and the hardwoods, used for the counter and visual highlights, comes from the Amazon, in the form of legally harvested peroba wood. His work at the Alberta stores around Rio recast a traditional store in a new modern light. At their Fashion Mall store a tall curved glass window welcomes shoppers into a slate-cast cement environment where merchandise is set off by the monochromatic palette and the immense rough cut quartz wall. For the Italian KLK store in the city’s colonial center, Tremsky exposed walls made of stone, brick and whale oil over a century ago and juxtaposed them with a sleek paved floor and cash counter of deep blue cement. The imported jewelry is highlighted within long horizontal panels fashioned out of cumaru wood planks and backlit metacrilate, contrasting the building's delicate exterior details with modern simplicity.
With these and other projects, Tremsky has made his mark on the face of a changing Rio. A city that has only since the mid-1990s overcome years of neglect, after decades of financial turmoil. Tremsky’s arrival happily coincides with the country’s new found economic stability, providing a perfect opportunity to imprint his international vision on a city only just stepping into the globalized world and reexamining its relationship to the past, present and future. His combination of technical innovation and highly refined attention to detail make him one of the standout architects working in Rio de Janeiro today.
Michael Astor, American journalist