Place: A former bakery, now a studio. Jakub enters with notebook in hand, shakes snow off his shoulders. Kuba sits at his desk staring at a laptop screen with a "Carbon Neutral" sticker.
- Hi buddy, how's it going? - joked Jakub.
- Great! - joked Kuba.
- I can just see it! What's on your mind?
- I'm thinking about the fact that we just won an order for another premium apartment building. I'm hoping for a threefold increase in reach on Insta....
- I know, I'm worried too.
- Worried? James, this is the pinnacle of dreams! We are like those guys from NOKE or mode:lina. Style, brand, recognition. Everyone will write about us!
- That's right. Everyone will write, and I got a bill for a software subscription. The pinnacle of fixed costs.
- Oh, James! After all, we are building a brand! In 2025, a brand is a currency. It's capital that will pay off.
- Then try to pay with this brand in the store. À Speaking of the aforementioned stars, have you listened to Nokelin's podcast? Even the biggest ones on the cover, with awards on their shelves, admit that after years of plowing, they look at their account balance and wonder if it wasn't better to become a programmer.
- Eeeee there. It can be hard in those industries, too, where burnout chases deadlines. I am also puzzled by the "paradox of success". Even Robert Konieczny in one of the interviews, looking at his world awards, admitted that he doesn't know if they were worth so many sacrifices. And that there is still no financial balance. We have all these tools, computers, and still something is missing.
- Two things at once: money and peace of mind.
- Don't be so mundane, Jacob. Peace of mind maybe yes, but money should be a side effect of work. We lack causality. We design "icons" and then an Excel investor comes and cuts our details until a sad memory of architectureremains.
- I suppose I doubt that, Kubo. Do you remember how we started? We wanted to make a difference, to make a difference. To improve the lives of ordinary people through the quality of space. To have satisfaction from it and a decent salary. Now we often just change parameters to make a building "smart" on paper. And at the end of the month it turns out that as studio owners we earn less than a builder laying tiles.
- Wait a minute. I have nothing against skilled laborers on a construction site. Don't assume that their work is less importantthan ours. They are professionals and if there is a demand for their trade, they deserve to be paid a decent wage. Would you like to work every day in that dust, on your knees, often in the cold? More rigor, my friend!
- You're right, Kubo. I got carried away. But do you feel this disproportion of responsibility to profits?
- Yes, I do. It's that paradox of our industry's success.
- Mode:lina and NOKE have all these brilliant interiors, publications that every student dreams of, their own podcast, and you hear the same question, "Where did we go wrong that success doesn't translate into financial backlash?". And what should such a young person who listens to this think about the profession? That an architect's degree is a ticket to a prestigious struggle for survival?
- James, maybe the problem is that we are still selling "art" and the client in 2025 is buying "meters" and "cost optimization." I believe that when we implement automation, AI will take care of the boring paperwork, and we will only create.
- Who will pay for these "visions"? I'm afraid that we are becoming an exclusive add-on to building permits.
- But after all, we have passion! That's what keeps us in this bakery until the twentieth.
- With passion you won't pay Social Security premiums, which are going up again. Do you know what hurts me the most? That after twenty years of work, instead of enjoying the rewards and having financial comfort, I'm still counting in the evenings whether the project budget is coming together.
- That's right! This strange void between industry recognition and the reality of the portfolio. James, maybe we just, don't know how to price our dreams?
- Or the market values our dreams at "thank you, very nice, we'll put you on a story". We both have gray hairs from fighting the authorities. You believe in the news, I believe in the sketchbook, but we both stand in the same line for.... actually for what?
- For meaning. Because despite how we make money, when I see this building of ours in the fabric of the revitalized streets of Lodz, how people walk there, how it's alive, for five minutes I feel like I own the world.
- True, this is beautiful in our profession. But it's five minutes of euphoria, and then twenty days of waiting for a transfer from an investor who is "waiting for a tranche from the bank." This is our reality.
- James, do you think things will be better in 2026?
- Yes. The membership fee will probably increase by another 20 zlotys, new regulations will again raise the cost of our services, and clients will value Italian furniture for their new office more than our work. Well, and thanks to AI, we'll have more time to think about why we didn't open an ice creamstand .
- So what? Back to designing the revitalization of the old hotel?
- We grumbled and are back to what we love! But this time I will charge the client an item for the design of this "icon": "Compensation for lack of sleep"!
- And add "Biophilia fee"! Since they want trees on the roof in the middle of Lodz, let them pay like a forest, not like a market fern.
- Okay, okay... Maybe by 2030 we'll catch up with the earnings of the makers of pizza ordering apps.
- You're an optimist.
- A realist with a prestigious diploma, a budget on the line, but with a head still full of dreams. We're not giving up, we're going!
- Then get to work. The renderer won't click itself! - joked Kuba, launching the AI-render module.
- Already, only first I have to draw something that no AI can come up with," chuckled Jakub, opening Moleskine.
* * *
Interviewed:
Jakub Krzysztofik - architect and urban planner, and
Kuba Krzysztofik - urban planner and architect.
You could meet them at 4 Design Days in Katowice. You certainly recognized them. Both dressed in black.
Note: The column contains product placement, although no one paid for it.
{tag:AutorAiB}
Read more: A&B 2/2026 - Education,
download free e-publications of A&B
