Interview with Matheus Diniz
Matheus Diniz is an award-wining architect praised for his spatial sensibility and his drive to improve the urban fabric with his projects.
Designer Interview
30 July 2025
I've wanted to be an architect for as long as I can remember. Even as a very young child, I was fascinated by buildings, art, and the way spaces made me feel.
Over time, this early fascination evolved into a deeper curiosity about how people interact with their environments—how design can shape behavior, emotions, and memory.
I pursued architecture as a way to blend creativity and critical thinking, and I’ve always seen design as a powerful tool to frame experience, spark emotion, and even question routines.
Although I was always drawn to architecture, I’ve also explored art and design more broadly—through drawing, installations, and research—always with an interest in perception and spatial storytelling.
Over time, this early fascination evolved into a deeper curiosity about how people interact with their environments—how design can shape behavior, emotions, and memory.
I pursued architecture as a way to blend creativity and critical thinking, and I’ve always seen design as a powerful tool to frame experience, spark emotion, and even question routines.
Although I was always drawn to architecture, I’ve also explored art and design more broadly—through drawing, installations, and research—always with an interest in perception and spatial storytelling.
My studio, MDAD, was founded in 2012 as a space to explore how design influences perception, behavior, and memory.
It grew out of research I conducted during my master’s degree, where I studied how spatial experience can shape people’s actions and emotions.
At MDAD, we approach each project as a narrative — an opportunity to create spaces that are not only functional but also impactful and memorable.
We work across different scales, from exhibitions and cultural spaces to commercial interiors and real estate pavilions, always with a focus on spatial storytelling and the user's point of view.
It grew out of research I conducted during my master’s degree, where I studied how spatial experience can shape people’s actions and emotions.
At MDAD, we approach each project as a narrative — an opportunity to create spaces that are not only functional but also impactful and memorable.
We work across different scales, from exhibitions and cultural spaces to commercial interiors and real estate pavilions, always with a focus on spatial storytelling and the user's point of view.
For me, design is a way of shaping experiences.
It’s not just about how something looks or functions, but how it makes people feel, behave, and remember.
Design is a tool to question norms, reveal possibilities, and construct meaning through space, material, and form.
In my work, I try to use design to tell stories — to create spaces that are emotionally resonant, culturally aware, and perceptually rich.
Good design, for me, is not about imposing a style, but about creating a framework where people can live, think, and act differently.
It’s not just about how something looks or functions, but how it makes people feel, behave, and remember.
Design is a tool to question norms, reveal possibilities, and construct meaning through space, material, and form.
In my work, I try to use design to tell stories — to create spaces that are emotionally resonant, culturally aware, and perceptually rich.
Good design, for me, is not about imposing a style, but about creating a framework where people can live, think, and act differently.
I’m most drawn to projects where space can be used to frame a narrative or provoke a shift in perception.
I especially enjoy designing cultural, ephemeral, or in-between spaces — places that invite exploration, ambiguity, or reflection.
Temporary pavilions, exhibitions, and small-scale public interventions are particularly interesting to me because they allow for experimentation and direct engagement with users.
That said, I also enjoy working on more permanent architecture when there’s room to explore how people inhabit, interpret, and remember the space over time.
I especially enjoy designing cultural, ephemeral, or in-between spaces — places that invite exploration, ambiguity, or reflection.
Temporary pavilions, exhibitions, and small-scale public interventions are particularly interesting to me because they allow for experimentation and direct engagement with users.
That said, I also enjoy working on more permanent architecture when there’s room to explore how people inhabit, interpret, and remember the space over time.
Casa Una Uberlândia is my favorite project because it feels like an encapsulation of everything I’ve been exploring since architecture school.
It brings together ideas about perception, spatial sequencing, and how architecture can shape experience — themes I’ve carried with me throughout my career.
Its design even echoes one of the very first projects I created as a student.
That personal connection, combined with the opportunity to apply years of reflection and experimentation, makes this work especially meaningful to me.
It brings together ideas about perception, spatial sequencing, and how architecture can shape experience — themes I’ve carried with me throughout my career.
Its design even echoes one of the very first projects I created as a student.
That personal connection, combined with the opportunity to apply years of reflection and experimentation, makes this work especially meaningful to me.
An experimental website for a book about the city of Belo Horizonte.
I don't have a favorite, I'll try to always use whatever makes the most sense for the project.
I've never noticed any particular time.
I like to view designing as solving a puzzle, and that aspect is what most engages me, solving it in the most effective way.
A miniature Verner Panton chair, an ipod, a side table by wentz, a foscarini planet pendant and a rug I designed myself.
I would rather not.
Leave your ego aside if you are designing for someone else. They are the focus.
The feeling of having your design built is a positive, the frustation with designs that stay in the drawing board is a negative.
Be generous and accepting with your clients.
Understanding that design is not about you.
It always starts with a sketch, but mostly 3D modeling and BIM software.
I make do with the time that I have.
Most of the time it takes years.
Nothing comes to mind.
Casa Una Pelotas, by far. It helped establish my studio.
Idealiza Cidades, even and melnick.
Projects that have an impact on their surroundings.
I want to grow my studio.
It depends on the project, some have been as a team, others by myself.
Casa Una São José dos Campos, a bigger version of Casa Una Uberlândia made in pigmented concrete.
www.mdad.com.br