"10 Questions to..." is a series of short interviews with architects and female architects, to whom we address the same pool of questions. For today's mini-interview, we invited Maciej Kaufman and Marcin Maraszek, architects from the Archigrest studio in Warsaw.
Maciej Kaufman - a graduate of Gdansk University of Technology, an assistant at the Faculty of Architecture at Warsaw University of Technology. He gained professional experience in the studio Bulanda Mucha Architekci. Since 2008, he has been working with Marcin Maraszek, with whom he has co-founded the Archigrest office since winning the Europan international competition in 2015.
1. architecture in three words...?
Installations plus plasterboard.
2. the three most important buildings for you...?
a. Main Building of the Gdansk University of Technology designed by Albert Carsten. Rational and academic in plan, in the attics it goes wild into a multi-level labyrinth. The labyrinth no longer exists, but returns in dreams.
b. An abandoned Jewish cemetery in Bolimow surrounded by an earthen rampart and overgrown with a wild, thorny thicket of robinia trees, inaccessible to people - actually a finished work of land art and an ambiguous monument.
c. The La Unidad Vertical Portales estate in Santiago de Chile designed by B.V.C.H. - a Hatherley-esque "ruin of the future."
3. most important book on architecture...?
"Journey through styles and eras" - coloring book by Ewa Brykowska-Liniecka, which I think programmed me as a child. In adulthood - "Delirious New York" by Koolhaas. Apparently it loses its allure in translation, like English-language songs.
4. most inspiring city and why...?
Venice for being the prototype of an alternative city that has never been massaged. For the fact that, like a lens, it concentrates modern problems - its corpse, trampled by tourists, will soon be consumed by water. Over time, I realized that the Architecture Biennale is just an excuse to be there. And each time I think that this may be the last time.
5. architect with whom you would like to design something and why...?
Recent fascination: Venezuelans from PICO Colectivo and graduates of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Chile in Talca. I think I could learn a lot from them.
6: Hand-drawing or computer drawing?
Hand-drawn, which I am trying to perfect.
7. mockup or 3D model?
Quick working mockups from corrugated cardboard: the desire to minimize the work put in results in reducing forms to the bare minimum; the component of randomness opens up to non-obvious solutions. Visualizations invariably fascinate as illusions, magic tricks.
8. modernism or postmodernism?
The very assumption that we have a choice is postmodern.
9. work after hours or sports?
Swimming pool before work. Bike after hours and during work hours as a means of transportation.
10. architecture or business?
My partner tells me to stop being ashamed of making money. Until I fight this shame, architecture remains.
Marcin Maraszek - a graduate of the Poznan University of Technology. He gained professional experience at the Bulanda Mucha Architekci studio. Since 2015, he has been co-managing Archigrest design office in Warsaw with Maciej Kaufman.
1. architecture in three words...?
Climate design.
2. the three most important buildings for you...?
a. The Prince Józef Poniatowski Bridge in Warsaw, with all of its accretions. The author of the original bridge is Stefan Szyller, but the structure in its current form should be considered a collective work. It is a hybrid of a bridge, a train station, a shopping center, a parking lot, an illegal skatepark, a market, offices and eating establishments.
b. London's Golden Lane Estate and its extension/continuation Barbican Estate, designed by Geoffry Powell, Peter Chamberlin and Christoph Bon.
c. The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, designed by Alberto Pessoa, Pedro Cid, Ruy d'Athouguia and the garden/park in which it stands, designed by Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles, António Facco Viana Barreto.
3. most important book on architecture...?
"Aesthetics as Politics" by Jacques Rancière, although not a book about architecture, made me realize that no aesthetics (including architecture) is transparent and unencumbered by ideology. I'm currently catching up on reading the sensational books for architecture students in the "Thinkers for Architects" series.
4 Most inspiring city and why...?
Warsaw, because inspiration doesn't have to be only positive. For me, it's a love-hate relationship. Warsaw is a bizarre conglomeration of dilapidated and unfinished projects. Because of its discontinuity, it is unfriendly to use, but original. Chasing the comforts of life along the lines of Vienna or Copenhagen, we can easily lose its original quirkiness.
5. architect with whom you would like to design something and why...?
The most interesting projects are created in interdisciplinary teams. Confrontation with a different approach to the subject brings surprising results, throws us out of the usual patterns, that's why I value cooperation with designers from the landscape architecture studio topoScape.
6. hand drawing or computer drawing?
Computerized.
7. mockup or 3D model?
Both tools are useful at different stages of design. Mock-up is definitely more inspiring.
8. modernism or postmodernism?
We can't go back to designing modernist or postmodernist architecture, just as we can't go back to Baroque or Gothic architecture. This question can be answered in two ways: the favorite direction in cultural history - the Renaissance, while the direction in modern culture - new materialism.
9. work after hours or sports?
Sports before work.
10. architecture or business?
When architecture becomes just a business, it becomes unbearably boring. On top of that, architecture is a poor business.
You can find the projects of the architect duo in the WORKSHOP tab on our portal.
