MaÅgosia Tomczak - redaktorka naczelna A&B

Malgorzata TOMCZAK

U40 – young architect’s business

This issue is led by young Polish architects — U40, that is, today's thirty- and forty-year-olds. They decided that in the pages of the monthly magazine "Architecture & Business" there must be a frank conversation about... architecture and the business of a young architect. Bluntly, loosely, they reveal their business models and ways of operating in the market.

They combine passion with business acumen. Financial liquidity, fair contracts or the ability to count their own work are the foundations for them. They know very well that to be able to design, you also need to know how to run a business: negotiate, get orders, build a brand. They nurture relationships with clients, and learn to balance idealism — organically inherent in the profession — with pragmatism, which allows their offices to grow.

How do the young deal with the realities of the market? How do they learn to talk about money and price their own work? And finally, can business be a tool for freedom, not a limitation? This issue is an attempt to answer these questions. We would like to thank all the studios, architects and architects who dared to show the behind-the-scenes of their everyday life, and U40 architects — for their initiative, the voice of a generation and energy, thanks to which young Polish architecture not only inspires, but also teaches how to combine passion with entrepreneurship.

Special thanks for their contribution and work on this issue go to Karol Nieradka, Wojtek Fudala, Andrzej Truszczyński and Pawel Kobierzewski.

The number is accompanied by a soundtrack available on Spotify:
Spotify playlist "A&B×U40"