THIAGO BERNARDES was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1974, the grandson of Sergio Bernardes, avant-garde master of Brazilian Modern Architecture, and son of Claudio Bernardes, one of the most successful Brazilian architects of the 1980’s and 1990’s. Thiago spent time in his father’s office as an apprentice and opened his own studio when he was nineteen years old. In 2001, as a consequence of Claudio’s untimely death, Thiago becomes a business associate of his father’s former partner and founds the firm Bernardes + Jacobsen that concludes its trajectory with the Rio Art Museum (MAR) project, a building that plays a central role in the revitalisation of Rio de Janeiro’s historic area. In 2012 Thiago resumed his independent career and founded Bernardes Arquitetura with Nuno Costa Nunes, Marcia Santoro, Camila Tariki and Dante Furlan. The company currently employs sixty people, has offices in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Lisbon, and has firmly established itself as a leading name in contemporary Brazilian architecture, designing residential, retail, commercial, institutional and hotel buildings as well as urban planning and development schemes, both in Brazil and abroad. Recent prizes include two Architizer A+A awards in 2015, making the company the only in Brazil to earn the jury’s award.