The house and the studio are separated by only twenty meters, but that's enough to switch between private life and work. Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal talk about their house in Wola Justowska, Krakow, designed by Piotr Brzoza Architekten GmbH.
Anka SASNAL (born 1973 in Tarnow, Poland) - director, screenwriter and film editor. She is a Polish language teacher by education. Co-creator of feature films and documentaries, often with social, existential and historical themes. She has directed "Z daleka widok jest piękny" (2011), "Huba" (2013), "Słońce, to słońce mnie ślepiło" (2016), "Nie zgubiliśmy drogi" (2022), "Człowiek do wszystkiego" (2025), among others. Her films have been presented at international festivals, including Rotterdam and Locarno.
Wilhelm SASNAL (born 1972 in Tarnow, Poland) - painter, cartoonist, comic book creator and filmmaker. He studied architecture at the Cracow University of Technology and painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. His work includes figurative painting, often inspired by everyday life, history and mass culture. Sasnal's works can be found in the collections of Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou and Guggenheim Museum, among others. Selected paintings: Airplanes (1999), Moscice I and II (2005), Krakow-Warsaw (2006), Def Jam (2006), Hyena (2008), Astronaut (2011). He also creates short and feature-length films, often in collaboration with Anka Sasnal.
Ewa Karendys: Is Wola Justowska, considered one of the most prestigious districts in Krakow, a good place for artists?
Anka Sasnal: It depends on what we mean by "prestigious."
Ewa: Intimate, with high housing prices....
Anka: This is a common opinion, although indeed real estate prices are quite high. However, new housing estates are being built, and people are eager to move here because of the beautiful views and greenery. After the renovation of Królowej Jadwigi Street, communication is easier, although we still face traffic jams. The character of this part of the city is changing.
Wilhelm Sasnal: Is this a neighborhood that is good for artists? I've never had this feeling that I want to be part of the environment. It's just a good place to live. Actually, the advantage is that it's not plugged into the stereotype of the artist who paves the way for gentrification. For me it's important that there are no Karol Nawrocki banners here. We live in an environment of like-minded people. Or at least voting similarly.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - the house was rebuilt, the studio put up from scratch
design: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: There is a story associated with the choice of this location.
Wilhelm: It was pure coincidence. Once while running along Królowej Jadwigi Street, I wanted to reach the Ore River. At the end of the street I came across a plot of land with a very beautiful view and a house for sale. We called almost immediately.
Anka: It turned out that the plot next door was also for sale, we could build a studio there. In the end, the house was rebuilt, we built the studio from scratch.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - the architect convinced the Sasnal family not to make a kind of mini-neighborhood, but to diversify the facades of the buildings
proj.: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: What part of the old house remains?
Wilhelm: The basement, first floor and mezzanine level. The rest was added on. We also wanted to change the shape of the roof from gabled to flat.
Ewa Karendys: I'll ask perversely: wasn't it easier to demolish and build a new house?
Anka: For bureaucratic reasons, construction would have taken a long time. Besides, from a psychological point of view, demolishing a house is a difficult decision. Before we bought the plot, we asked the opinion of our friend, a great architect Piotr Brzoza, to whom we entrusted the project. He said that the property had potential and it was possible to build a new house, preserving the old structure.
Wilhelm: We were guided more by feelings and emotions than by purely financial considerations. You could say it's such an emotional economy.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - the two buildings are separated by about 20 meters
design: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: What do artists expect when they get down to designing a house?
Anka: The design took about two years. Piotr visited us in the apartment, spent time with us, observed what we needed. I don't know if the fact that we are artists plays a big role in the creation of the house itself - because the studio certainly does. However, we knew from the beginning that we had to have a lot of space for books. The bookcases, which we hype as a library, occupy a central place in the house. We also wanted a sizable space where we could spend time together. We have beautiful views all around us, a bit like having a beautiful painting outside each window. We also have a terrace that overlooks the meadow, and we spend a lot of time there, too. The house is subordinate to our private life. The studio, on the other hand - our work. The two buildings are separated by about 20 meters.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - the studio is subordinated to Wile's work - there is a storeroom and a place to paint, there is also a space for office work and Anka's part: a library and a small cinema
proj.: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: Separating these spaces was important? One Internet user under an article about your house wrote: "a great project, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who often runs between home and studio in minus 20 degrees in winter."
Anka:In winter we go to the studio even without socks. It's not a problem at all. Our private and professional lives mix, because we work together, we have been a couple for many years. It's important to get out of the house to work.
Wilhelm: It's about the psychological distance. We have to close the door to go from home to the studio and vice versa. This moment of separation is important.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - there was a lot of space in the house for books
proj.: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: What was important in the design of the studio?
Anka: The studio is subordinate to Wile's work, there is storage and a space for painting. There is also a space for office work and my part: a library and a small cinema. The appearance of the studio, its functionality, is largely the responsibility of Pawel Gardynik, our assistant, who shared comments with Piotr Brzoza.
Ewa: Back home, it's true that architect Piotr Brzoza has his own room there?
Anka: True. He calls it the architect's room and when he visits us, it is indeed his place. In addition to these visits, this small room on the first floor also has other functions, but we still call it the architect's room....
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - a place for reading on the mezzanine floor
proj.: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: Let's talk about your favorite places in the house.
Anka: On the first floor is a space designed with our children in mind. Our daughter is fifteen, our son is twenty-six and has already moved out, but he still has his room. In the middle of the house is a very open space: a kitchen with a reading area, a couch and what you might call a music room, because here we listen to music and read. Upstairs is the bedroom and my reading space on the mezzanine. If one wants to spend time alone, the studio is probably the best choice, because the house, especially in this open part, is where we are together.
Wilhelm: For me, the most important thing is the couch, which I share with my dog.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - "I don't know if the fact that we are artists plays a big role in the creation of the house itself - because in the studio it certainly does," - says Anka Sasnal
proj.: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: And the decor?
Anka: We have tamed a great many objects over many, many years. And we drag them with us. These include, for example, furniture from Wile's grandmother's apartment. Now we've found that it's a wonderful thing to own such furniture. So the house is decorated in large part with furniture we already had. The rest of the furniture - the large cabinets, the kitchen, the library and the doors - are made of wood and, in my opinion, give character to the interior.
Wilhelm: We had no doubts, for example, that the walls and ceilings were to be white.
Eve: The exterior solids themselves are instead quite, austere, concrete.
Wilhelm: I wanted both buildings, the house and the studio, to be the same, to have the same facade. However, Piotrek convinced us not to make a kind of mini-neighborhood, but to differentiate the two buildings. Today I see that it makes sense.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - the interiors are kept in bright colors
design: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
A certain limitation for us was the different technology: the house is made of hollow blocks, and the studio is poured concrete. I remember that we wanted the lambda on the facade of the house to be as thick as possible. This was the most available technology at the time. It's not overly thick, but quite rough. I like the fact that the house is not perfectly white. It comes close to white, but has a shade of gray and is lighter than the studio.
Eve: What would you do differently today?
Anka: We wouldn't change anything, although Piotrek designed the interior a little differently. There was supposed to be a kitchen in the central place. We rebelled, instead of a kitchen we wanted a lounge space with books in this place. Piotrek did not want to agree to this. To prove us right, he brought large cardboard boxes, which we set up as furniture. However, the problem with our vision was that there was a wall without a window above the kitchen countertop. Therefore, in order to be able to move the kitchen there without having to face the wall, we came up with: we would put in a window. Peter immediately agreed to this. And it seems to me that this small round window adds character. Even Piotrek told us recently that it was great that we did it that way. It was an important thing for us, carried out by us, against Piotrek, and it just worked out very well.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - "In winter we go to the studio even without socks. It's no problem at all." - says the artist couple
proj.: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: You also didn't want the house to be fenced.
Anka: In the beginning there was actually no fence, but reality verified this. Admittedly, the house is surrounded by fields and meadows, but there is also a street and an empty square that no longer belongs to us, and is overrun by cars. And there was no obvious boundary between the plot and this square. That's why, after living here for a year , we put up low walls and they work great. They are some kind of restriction, but not a brutal one. This is a house at the end of the street, among the fields, and what would we, frankly, have to fence ourselves off from?
Recently we had to figure out a way to deal with wild boars, because they come into the garden and burrow into the ground. The netting is very low, the animals jump over it freely. As long as they are deer, it's great, but wild boars are quite troublesome guests.
Anka and Wilhelm Sasnal's house - there are beautiful views all around, a bit like there is a painting outside each window
proj.: Piotr Brzoza Architekten photo: Jakub Certowicz
Ewa: You say you wouldn't change anything. One child has already moved out, the other will probably move out in a few years. Is this house a destination, one where you want to stay?
Wilhelm: What is most annoying in Poland, in terms of climate, is of course the winter. But when we settled here, even winter ceased to be a nuisance. Especially thanks to the windows that open onto this space. It is pleasant to be separated by a large sheet of glass from this gray.
Anka: We have already made attempts to leave Poland for a longer period of time. The last one lasted eight months. We were in the United States, and came back earlier than we intended, also because we were homesick. I called Piotr Brzoza and asked him if he remembered our old conversations. We told him that we needed to be free people, we didn't want home to be an argument that would stop us from deciding to leave here forever if need be. And it turns out that this is actually a very pleasant bondage! Because the house is a very important place in our lives. If nothing happens in the world, we won't have to join the people who flee for various reasons, then yes, this is our place on earth.
Eve: Thank you for the interview.
Ewa Karendys
more: A&B 7-8/2025 - HOMES: investor + architect,
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