I retail in shopping centers can be beautiful

You studied and worked in Brazil. Please describe your journey to this country? I sense an interesting story here.
Vera Hampl: I was born in Brazil. But I need to start from the beginning. My grandparents lived in Klatovy and during the rise of communism, they helped people emigrate. Unfortunately, they were caught by the authorities, my grandfather was arrested, and he spent some time in prison. Although he was released shortly after, he knew it wasn't going to last long. So he escaped to Germany and ended up in a camp in Regensburg. He was alone, without my grandmother and without his daughter – my mother. However, my grandmother did not give up and in 1948 she escaped alone with her two-year-old daughter across the border. Through the woods. This entire episode could be the subject of an adventure book! They reunited with my grandfather and after spending time in German and Italian camps, they all had the opportunity to travel by ship to Brazil. They settled in Sao Paulo, where my grandmother and my mother ran a dance school together.

That's really adventurous! So your mother is originally Czech and what about your father? Do you have Brazilian blood?
I don't, fate had other plans (laughs). In 1969, the Czech choir Laterna Magika performed in Sao Paulo, and my grandmother invited the entire choir to a workshop in our studio. Unfortunately, this innocent invitation caused all the participants to struggle to find engagements back in Czechoslovakia. But without that invitation, I wouldn't be here today – at the dance workshop, the first ballerino of the choir, Zdeněk Hampl, my father, met my mother Vera Raiser. Just before my birth, my family moved from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, where I grew up.

How did you, coming from a dance family, end up in architecture?
My love for architecture started in childhood. My uncle was a great role model for me – he was an architect himself and showed me architectural books and all his projects. We talked about architecture for hours and hours. At the age of 15, my favorite book was a collection of architecture by Le Corbusier. By the way, that's where my great admiration for modernism comes from. It became clear to me quite early on that I would pursue architecture.

And where did you study? What were your first projects?
I enrolled to study architecture at Santa Ursula University. My very first architectural work was created at the India da Costa studio, and it was a design for a watchtower right on the rocky coastline with a view of the sea. Another one that I fondly remember was a modernist museum in the shape of a spiral, which was accessed by a large red ramp. Maybe I inspired Niemayer with his design for the Museum of Modern Art in Niteroi from 1996 (laughs). I also contributed to an urban planning project for the Leblon neighborhood, which mainly involved a major reconstruction of pedestrian zones, public lighting, and an overall redesign of urban furniture.

Working in the studio under India da Costa must have taught you a lot…
Yes, even though I was still a student, Indio da Costa entrusted me with the entire organization of his exhibition at the Sao Paulo Architecture Biennale. From design to setup, including transportation to the site. Because I proved myself, I was then involved in an even larger exhibition in the Brazilian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. I worked on it for the esteemed architect Ruy Ohtake. I also had a summer internship with him in Sao Paulo. Ruy Ohtake creates in the style of Oscar Niemeyer, who is another of my role models.

That sounds like a great experience. What is the most interesting thing you took away from your studies?
At the university in Brazil, there was a lot of debate about the differences in ways of life and thus also about urban planning. They wanted to show us at school architecture as a city where various people live with different needs. And the aforementioned Niemeyer was supposed to lecture us about the city and architecture, and I was fortunate enough to meet him in person. That was an amazing experience.

What awaited you after graduation?
I joined a large firm – Edison Musa Arquitetura e Construcao, where I had the opportunity to work on really large projects, such as a factory for Glaxo do Brasil or the chapel of St. Jude Thaddeus Church. The chapel project wasn't large, but I did it by myself. That was a great opportunity for me as a student.

Can any common traits be found between Czech and Brazilian architecture?
If Brazilian and Czech architecture have any common traits, it is precisely modernism. The functionalism that was built in Brazil also exists here in the Czech Republic. I believe we can take the core values from modernism, rediscover and reinterpret them, thereby redesigning this style without copying what was built in the 20s and 30s. It is necessary not to perceive architecture just as art, but as a place that people actively use. It needs to be not only beautiful but functional and technically well-executed.

How and when did you find your way back to the Czech Republic?
Less than a year after graduating from university, I fell in love with a Czech man and moved to the land of my roots. I was given the opportunity to work for Lewis & Hickey, where the team was diverse and international.

Did you notice any difference at that time between the work of Brazilian and Czech architects?
I learned that Czechs are much more technical than Brazilians and I envied the skill they had. Over time, however, it turned out that the best approach is to combine both styles.

What did this experience in an international, commercially successful office give you?
My love for architecture of commercial spaces. This actually started at Lewis & Hickey during a project for a casino in Plzen. And I still enjoy it today. In the same company, I also met architect Jan Laurich, who is now in our team at VH Architects, as well as Alexander Gotz, our then-boss. I founded my firm in 1999, and our first project was The Globe Café take – at that time a very modern concept combining a bookstore and a café.

Exhibition at Prague Castle

In 2013, you prepared an exhibition Contemporary Brazilian Architecture as part of ArchitectureWeek: how do you remember this project?
This exhibition at Prague Castle was my first exhibition in the Czech Republic. The Brazilian embassy invited me to organize it. I was not only the architect of the exhibition but also its curator. The Icons of Brazilian Architecture exhibition was meant to showcase three personalities, and it was absolutely clear to me that one of them would be Oscar Niemeyer.


Choosing the other two personalities was also easy for you?
Not at all! Brazilian architecture is diverse, and Brazil is a huge country, so it was not easy at all to select the architects who would be presented in the exhibition. I knew I wanted to show a personality of contemporary Brazilian architecture, and that is the most famous architect Marcio Kogan. In the exhibition, we showcased his luxurious house in an unconventional and unexpected way - we created a film where people live in the house, sit on the terrace, cook, shower… We also screened a film about an urban project by architects from Metropolis projetos urbanos that improves life in favelas.

One segment stands out in your portfolio, and that is boats. How did you get into designing boat designs?
After founding VH Architects, I designed a store for Brazilian wood in the same year, and later we began our long-term collaboration with Prague Boats and the Prague Shipping Company, where we take care of the interiors of excursion and restaurant boats. It started with the renovation of a steamboat, and today we are building completely new boats.

What makes this work special for an architect? Are you currently working on any "water" projects?
We try to follow and use the latest technologies that are environmentally friendly. We even built a boat powered solely by electric propulsion in collaboration with a German shipyard. It's not talked about much, but water transport is one of the least harmful ways of transporting both people and goods, and we continually strive to improve it.
We are currently building another electric vessel – an aluminum catamaran. Boats have their specifics and undergo somewhat different building permits; great emphasis is placed on safety. For us, it is always a challenge to create an even better boat: in this sense, we are also working on a project for boarding pontoons.


You really love commercial interiors; in fact, you returned to Brazil for a while because of them. Why?
In 2007, I decided to further deepen our services for retail clients, and I moved back to Rio with my whole family for almost two years and studied a postgraduate course focused on interiors and branding. To ensure everything worked well in the Czech Republic, we brought in a key person in interior design, who is still my right hand today, Zdenka Terenc. In the same year, I established the Brazilian branch of our studio with Rosanna Tosetti, my former boss from India da Costa's studio. One of the first projects we designed was the interiors of luxury terrace apartments on the beach, with a total area of 1800 m².

What changed after your return?
Immediately after returning to the Czech Republic, I realized that we needed to strengthen our team with a graphic designer, so we welcomed Daniel Simoninho, an Italian-Brazilian designer. From this point on, we approached retail projects as a whole – we brainstorm brand names, visual identity, create projects and technical documentation, secure building permits, and oversee the actual realization. We also enjoy supervising construction; without it, it's hard to deliver a project that you can truly be proud of. Only then do we know that we deliver the highest possible quality.

What is your ideal client like: in terms of type or assignment?
Our ideal client starts with us from the very beginning; if possible, they invite us to select the space where they want to realize their commercial project. Since that moment, it is possible to sketch and extract the most from the space. The best result comes when we can devise the entire branding. Graphics and architecture are absolutely intertwined in the retail sector. They must function as a single entity. The business concept involves color, scent, type of lighting, overall style, and all these elements must work together. A perfect project pays attention to all details – only then can target clients, users, and visitors to the retail space be satisfied. To achieve this, it is vital to understand the competition, the type of clientele, and the current trends in the respective industry. What new technologies are being introduced in the market for the sector you are designing for? We must always strive to be one step ahead and create the right brand image with added value.

What are the biggest pitfalls of commercial interiors for you as an architect?
The biggest pitfall of our work is when we cannot grasp the project as a whole for various reasons, making it that much harder to carry out our work as well as we are used to. Furthermore, details are very important. Every year we attend the Milan Fair to keep pace with new interior possibilities. We participate in various conferences and courses; this November, for example, we have an Italian course focused on rebranding and interior design of hotels.

Where would you like to be with your team in five years? Where are you aiming your work?
In five years, we would like to have projects outside the Czech Republic. We want to continue building client relationships based on trust and work closely on the needs of the client. And to culminate this with quality, functional, and modern technology made from beautiful materials. We want to enjoy not only the results but also the work itself.