Location: A former bakery, now a design studio. A 20-minute bike ride from the Philharmonic.
Kuba walks in with a look of triumph on his face.
“Hey buddy, how’s it going?” Jakub joked, glancing at Kuba with concern.
“Great! ” Kuba joked.
“Come on, tell me! What’s got you so happy?” Jakub snapped suspiciously at Kuba.
“ I’ve got it! I finally have it! After twenty years! ” Kuba pulled an A4 sheet of paper out of his bag and placed it solemnly in front of Jakub.
“A permit to use your house? But you’ve been living there for years. So all this time, you’ve been living in a building without a final inspection?”
— Come on. “We don’t finish college just to do everything by the book! Any fool can do things by the book!”* — Jakub knew that company catchphrase, but he wasn’t sure if Kuba was being sarcastic.
“I understand you’re happy because you can finally celebrate the completion of the house! It’s every architect’s dream come true!” Jakub began hesitantly.
— Pfft! I’m happy because I can finally sell the house! — Kuba blurted out.
Jakub looked at him for a long moment.
“I don’t really get it. Maybe you could explain it to me step by step, from the beginning,” he said, sitting down next to Kuba on an Oskar Zięta PLOPP stool.
— First of all, I never thought of a house as a dream come true. Our house isn’t even my design—it’s just an unfinished construction project we bought. A house in Łódź for the price of a studio apartment in downtown Warsaw. I didn’t want to build my own house because I didn’t have the time. You know, starting a business, three kids—why add a construction project on top of that? Besides, my wife also works hard and has an academic career. It would have ended in disaster and the breakdown of our relationship. Second, the house was almost finished, in a central location, not too big, with a plot of just the right size, and at a great price. You only find things like that in Łódź. And third, we bought the house under pressure from those around us: an architect has to have a house…
— And there was never time to get the final inspection done? I haven’t designed houses in many years. — Jakub fell deep in thought. — Somehow I can’t relate to my clients’ needs: an elaborate scope of work and floor area, a pool, three garages, and a location somewhere near the woods, outside the city. That’s not my thing, especially since developers don’t want to pay fees proportional to construction costs. Karol Nieradka calculated precisely in an article in A&B that designing houses isn’t profitable for architectural firms.
“ That’s the crux of it! ” Kuba chimed in. “Althoughinterior designers probably get paid well once the project is finished. Never mind. What’s left of such a beautiful dream when construction often takes many years, and developers don’t factor in lost time as part of the project’s cost?”
“Exactly! And as for an architect’s own house,” Jakub interjected, “you know how it goes.” “If you set out to impress your architect friends or investors, they’ll just quietly say they could have done it better,” Jakub mused, while Kuba continued.
— Maybe I’m different from other architects and other people who dream of having their own little house. I’m sure of it, actually. My house has always been an investment, a way to provide for my family , and now that it’s been completed and I’ve raised three children there, it’s time to sell it so I can move into a converted part of the old baker’s house next to my studio, closer to work and downtown. To be honest, I’ve never really liked mowing the lawn, working in the garden, or commuting to work by car.
“Maybe it’s time to set the record straight.” — Jakub suddenly grew serious: — Can a single-family home be a recommended form of housing in contemporary architectural thought? After all, the single-family home—the dream of every average Pole—is inextricably linked to the phenomenon of urban sprawl. The house design market has been devastated by the phenomenon of cookie-cutter designs, which was promoted by an “influential monthly magazine.” Their aesthetic and technical quality is very low. These cookie-cutter designs fit everywhere and nowhere…
“ It’s not true that everyone can afford a house, ” Kuba said, as if in a trance. “ A cheap plot of land, often far from the city in a rural area, a lengthy construction process using a DIY approach, followed by commuting to work, driving the kids to school, and to extracurricular activities.” This whole mythologized process forces households to buy two or three cars, often— just like the house—on credit. All of this adds up to significant costs for the very people who hold onto this dream. Children raised in the back seat of a car feel , as teenagers, like prisoners of the suburbs, isolated from their peers, and often dream of escaping to the city to rent a small apartment downtown . First an escape to the countryside, then a move to the city? That’s crazy! Jakub, what conclusions have we reached ? Designing houses isn’t worth it! Catalog designs have ruined the design market! Building houses just to impress friends! A suburban home contributes to traffic jams , car dependency, and the debt cycle. These projects take years , and when you factor in the costs of the extended time and commutes, a suburban home has no chance of recouping its investment upon sale! Building houses causes cities to sprawl, which runs counter to our ecological ideals, no matter how passive or zero-energy they may be. Did I forget anything?
— I suppose I’m skeptical… — Jakub turned pale.
— So let’s debunk this Styrofoam myth! I’m selling my house at a profit and moving back closer to the city. Better late than never. Maybe someone will learn from my mistakes and not repeat them?!
Jakub glanced discreetly at his Moleskine notebook and remembered that before he stopped designing houses, he’d made hundreds of sketches of the perfect home, dreamed of getting published, and imagined “happiness” in his own home—one that his architect friends would envy—and… he felt very, very ashamed. He also felt a great deal of envy toward Kuba. What do you think he was so jealous of? Something starting with “w”? Maybe “sz”? Or perhaps “p”? Let us know in the comments.
* Don’t try this at home in your own studios!
Interview with:
Jakub Krzysztofik —architect and urban planner—and
Kuba Krzysztofik — urban planner and architect.
You could have met them at the SARP Awards Gala. You surely recognized them. Both were dressed in black. Kuba and Jakub were on the jury. And I’m sure you know which project won the Grand Prix? And this isn’t at all contradictory to the content of this column (sic!).
Note: This column contains product placement, although no one paid for it.
JAKUB/KUBA KRZYSZTOFIK
more: A&B 7-8/2026 – Single-Family Homes,
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