Founded in 2004 by its CEO and Founding Director,
Përparim Rama, 4M Group (pronounced ‘form
group’) is an award-winning London-based
design+build practice, with a second studio in
Prishtina, Kosovo. 4M’s portfolio includes
residential, retail, hospitality and urban mixed-use
designs. Rama (as he is known) is a five-time former
WIN Awards judge, and we are privileged to have him
on-board for the sixth time this year.
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A popular and magnetic practice leader, he describes
himself as ‘acutely aware of the impact of space
on human emotion and well-being’. Rama’s
pavilion at the 13th Venice Biennial (the first ever
for Kosovo) explored this theme in a
characteristically unique way, described by the
Biennial’s President as ‘architectural
democracy’. Rama tells us more about it.
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He first came to the UK from the former Yugoslavia in
1992 as a 16-year old. War broke out back home and it
was unsafe for him to return. Instead, he settled in
the UK, which he says adopted him
‘literally’, providing him with the
‘opportunity to get educated and work’. He
chose to study architecture. Today, he runs marathons
to raise money for children fleeing war zones.
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Rama’s approach to design goes far beyond the
physical into the realms of the deep and mystic. When
you hear the beautiful and touching account of his
early years in this interview, it’s easy to see
why. A famous artist for a father, a gentle guru-like
figure in his beloved grandfather, and the
ever-present love of his mother have helped shape the
man who used to dive to the bottom of the sea for
starfish as a child. But first…
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As well as being a WIN Awards winner (2013 Bars
category), you’ve sat on five judging panels
for us since 2014, and now we’re lucky enough
to have you again for the 2018 Awards. That suggests
that you enjoy the experience (hopefully!), so what
is it that you find rewarding?
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Design is my passion. Being confronted with so much
passion from people passionate about design from all
around the world makes this experience highly
elevating and fulfilling. Apart from the pure joy of
going through some of the best projects in the
world, I feel I learn a lot, it is educational,
enlightens me, excites me, and fulfils me. Every
time I receive an invite to join the celebrated
jurors I feel like a kid in a candy shop all over
again. Yes, it is extremely enjoyable.
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And, regardless of the category, what qualities do
you think make the difference between a good WIN
Awards submission and a great one?
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The way studios present their work can sometimes be
that fine line between the winning concept and the
one that gets put to one side. One’s ability
to tell the story through the fusion of written,
graphical and photographic form is very often
underestimated. This of course only makes sense when
the design itself is well thought out and holistic -
from the tiny details to the overall feel.
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A good design is a good story told well. A great
design is the same story but told beautifully, one
that creates that surprising WOW factor that manages
to capture multiple senses as a consequence, even
though it is being observed through a 2D graphical
representation.
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4M not only provides design and architecture
services, but also in-house construction and master
craftsmen teams. Why do you favour this very
integrated approach?
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I feel designing within the studio premises only
provides us with limited exposure, and therefore
limited opportunities, to create truly outstanding
places and spaces that captivate or initiate
people’s emotions in a positive way.
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One’s ability to shift from the design studio
into the construction site or the joinery workshop -
to surround oneself with the master craftsmen and
brainstorm ideas - I find is a necessary process for
finding new and exciting ways to create space and
place and new ways to play with emotions, with the
human subconscious mind. The teams on site become
extended bodies that allow the designer to capture
and create feelings through space and material,
which otherwise would have been lost. One becomes an
artist with multiple hands and brains that put it
all together on a multidimensional spatial
canvas.
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There is this continuous discussion that happens
between body and space, and to have a chance to
utilise these opportunities on the spot becomes
magical and miraculous. We need to place ourselves
right in the midst of everything we are creating; we
need to be able to capture the magic of the
subconscious mind and its intelligence to then use
it to push and pull, so that the space becomes this
funnel for always channelling positive energy on the
bodies that will inhabit it.
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What’s in the pipeline for 4M?
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We are very busy with several projects in London
and internationally: two boutique hotels in
St-Pauley in Hamburg; a funky restaurant in
Helsinki; a Grade II listed hotel in Weybridge near
London; a landmark building/landscape in Prishtina
city centre called ‘City Gardens’; the
first 4* BREEAM Eco Village on the outskirts of
Prishtina called ‘Lakeside Gardens’; six
bar/restaurant designs in London, and several
high-end residential houses in London and Prishtina
to name just a few.
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We are also very excited to be expanding our Soho
offices by an additional two floors. We will now
have spaces where our team members can relax,
socialise and brainstorm more easily. We are also
looking to acquire new premises in Prishtina to
expand our studio there, as the current location is
shrinking fast as we grow!
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You seem to place a high value on transcending the
usual conformities of work relationships with
colleagues and clients, often forming enduring
friendships. Can that sometimes have its drawbacks,
or do you feel it has been fundamental to the
success of the practice?
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I see architecture as a tool for forging new
friendships, new relationships. It is therefore
fundamentally important that one does not get lost
in the many various pitfalls and drawbacks
throughout the process of engaging with and creating
architecture.
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On several occasions I have advised my clients not
to proceed with their projects, purely because I
felt their depleted and drained energy, and the need
for them to recover prior to engaging in creating
architecture. For many people it will most probably
be the most stressful experience of their lives.
Many are investing their life savings into creating
homes for themselves and their families, or
establishing new businesses for their and their
family’s futures.
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Entrusting us with the process of transforming
their dreams into reality is a major responsibility,
which we never take lightly. We ensure we use
everyone’s brain to engage in the initial
stages and establish a scope which ensures as smooth
a process as possible, so that at the end we always
celebrate together with our clients and establish
lasting, lifelong relationships.
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Most practices are mindful of sustainability, but
for you it seems to be an absolute passion. What has
influenced you to be this way?
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Sustainability has become a buzzword. I am a strong
believer that us designers should always be
surrounded by sustainable, ecological, natural
processes and materials by default. Various
construction industry bodies and organisations
should ensure that all that is at hand and available
is truly sustainable, and circular, by default.
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We have disturbed the divine frequencies by mining,
extracting - polluting resources that are shifting our
Mother Earth to dangerous levels of unsustainable life
that threaten our very existence. We need to wake up,
we need to listen to our inner self and engage with
what we feel, hear, see, taste. Human wellbeing is at
the centre of what we do, and there cannot be any
human wellbeing without a truly well-balanced living
ecosystem, which takes into account all life forms.
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We are at peace and most innovative and creative when
we are as close to nature’s frequency and
vibrations as possible. And – if we are smart -
we surround ourselves with them to maximise our
potential as conscious beings.
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You’ve contributed a lot to the wider
discourse about design and architecture, appearing
on the BBC, CNN and Bloomberg to name but a few
media platforms. Of them all, what’s the most
interesting discussion you’ve been involved
with so far?
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The human aspect [of architecture] on both CNN and
Bloomberg. The necessity of treating every single
human person on earth as important and equal no
matter where they are from, or where they are going.
How we think about other people very much impacts on
how we think about design, architecture and how we
treat and evolve our cities in general, as they are
all products of our minds.
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Can you tell us a little bit about being invited to
take part in the 13th Venice Biennial in 2012 as the
first ever representative of Kosovo? Can you briefly
describe your Pavilion? And what were people’s
reactions to it?
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It was a great honour to be the first ever curator
of the Kosovan Pavilion in the Venice Biennale.
‘Common Ground’ was the theme. I was
interested to explore how society, culture,
tradition and overall beliefs impact the creation of
the places we live in. Our cities are a social
representation of where we stand as a society.
Cities represent our social consciousness; our
common ground.
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The Kosovan Pavilion in 2012 was a dynamic platform
that captured the emotional reaction of the people
and countries in relation to its building fabric. We
created an emotional barometer, whereby we requested
for people to upload images of buildings, places and
spaces that impacted them through one of the six
emotions: happy, sad, excited, angry, trapped and
free. Each emotion was represented with its own
colour. The Pavilion was glowing in six different
colours every three minutes, depending on what
emotionally representative buildings were being
shown: it was alive.
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Everyone could cast a vote. Visitors left us with
their names, country where they came from, their
emotional reaction to buildings they were seeing and
so on. We could slice through data in many different
ways to find out how these buildings were impacting
not only the people, but groups from, say, a
particular country, gender, age group, and how they
related to particular a building, be it religious,
historic, modern, and so on. Paulo Barrata, the
Venice Biennale President called it
‘architectural democracy’. People loved
it. It was fun and insightful.
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At the end we discovered interesting outcomes: the
common ground. The Kosovan National Library, which
according to the British newspaper, ‘The
Guardian’, was one of the top 10 ugliest
buildings in the world, was voted through our
platform as the most exciting building in Kosovo and
internationally.
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We understand your father was a famous artist, and
your grandfather taught you how to make mud bricks
and form enclosures by twisting branches. How do you
feel that these powerful early influences have
shaped your life?
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I was so proud of my father and everything he did.
I spent hours and days in his atelier, watching him
and trying to draw and paint the way he did. He was
ultra-busy with his activities and exhibitions at
home and abroad, and his academic schedule. He was
exhibiting together with Picasso and Chagall -
amongst others - in the late 70s, but we always
struggled financially. He did push me towards
science, as he always complained that the
artist’s life is a poor life, financially that
is, and since I was excelling in science he was
pushing me more towards the scientific realm of
maths and physics. Both my mother and father were
surprised when I told them I was pursuing
architecture, having initially enrolled into
computer science.
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My grandfather was a great and wise man, extremely
patient and knowledgeable. It felt as if he had all
the answers of the Universe. I enjoyed reading and
looking at the pictures in the books he had on his
shelves - predominantly about the stars and planets,
the solar system and the Universe. We would then go
out and play with mud and straw, with branches,
learning about how mud bricks are made, how
structures stand, how you can fuse materials
together for a greater use.
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My mind was focused on the tiny, small details of
how things come about, while at the same time
expanded to discussion about the Universe and the
question of higher intelligence. I remember before
going to sleep I would ask for stories, of which my
grandfather had many to tell, and then ask for
another one until I would fall asleep, and sometimes
grandpa, or Babi Li as I would call him, fell asleep
too.
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And then there is love, a mother’s love. No
matter what, she was there, and made the place feel
like home and secure. All the above are very
powerful and defining influences that have for sure
helped shape me, what I do, and what I stand for.
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If you hadn’t become an architect, what other
career might you have pursued?
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I love travelling, exploring, learning, meeting
people. I am also fascinated with the human mind,
and subconscious behaviour. It may have well been
something related to any or all of the above.
Academia, teaching maybe?
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And lastly, we’re curious to know how you
came to be a very good underwater swimmer?
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This brings back very happy memories from my
childhood. We used to spend summer months in
Montenegro in a little village called Shtoj, on the
outskirts of Ulqin, a small town by the Adriatic
coast. We would get bored going to the beach every
day, so we would engage in other activities such as
fishing, diving, water polo, and so on. We would
then start competing as to who could dive the
deepest and bring back a starfish from the rocks
submerged in the deep waters, or simply a fist of
sand to show that we made it to the bottom. Fun
times!
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www.4mgroup.co.uk
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Gail Taylor
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Img 01: © WIN Awards 2017 Hotels and Bars
Jury
Img 02: © First 4 star BREEAM Eco Village,
Lakeside Gardens
Img 03: © First 4 star BREEAM Eco Village,
Lakeside Gardens
Img 04: © First 4 star BREEAM Eco Village,
Lakeside Gardens
Img 05: © City Gardens, Prishtina
Img 06: © 13th Venice Biennial 2012 -
Kosovan Pavilion
Img 07: © 13th Venice Biennial 2012 -
Kosovan Pavilion
Img 08: © 13th Venice Biennial 2012 -
Kosovan Pavilion
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