Hits and kits of 2025
HIT 1. Polish architecture in a thirty-five-year view.
The year 2025 marks thirty-five years of the Third Republic, and it is worth looking at Polish architecture from this perspective. I am extremely proud of Poland's achievements during these years. Our homeland is a world and European leader in positive change and development, and Polish architecture is an emanation of this spectacular success, inspires respect and esteem in the world. It is worth at least once a year to look at these achievements from a broader, external perspective, despite the daily challenges. As it happens, this year also marks thirty years of my professional career and twenty-five years of running a professional practice. I devoted all these years to Lodz, turning down opportunities to work in the capital and abroad. During this time, Poland has made a spectacular leap, and Lodz, the city that perhaps suffered the most from the political transformation, has joined the urban leaders of change. The decade-long revitalization metamorphosis of Lodz has aroused the admiration of international congress guests.
HIT 2. Łódź: our streets and our tenements
This year saw the completion of the revitalization of eight quarters of Lodz. Thanks to the acquisition of huge external funds, it was possible to carry out a multidimensional transformation: from the renovation of streets, parks, squares and arcades, to the renovation of historic tenements. Importantly, the process has also included soft revitalization, bringing sheltered housing, social welfare centers and creative industries premises to the center.
Despite the natural difficulties and delays, the entire project was carried out diligently and without major image slip-ups. The guests I showed around Lodz - people from Denmark, France, Great Britain, India or Brazil - did not hide their admiration for the scale of Lodz's transformation. Often they even expressed disappointment at the fact that in their countries similar projects face rigid barriers and stagnate (this even applies to Denmark, which is regarded as a model). It is hoped that this project, unique on a European scale, will set the course for the transformation of contemporary Polish architecture in the future.
HIT 3. Lectures and exhibitions by progressive architects.
The year 2025 abounded in national architectural events of extremely high quality. Particularly noteworthy were Katowice's 4 Design Days, the International Architecture Biennale in Krakow (celebrating its fortieth anniversary), Lodz congresses: Regeneration of Industrial Cities and Urban Future, as well as theArchitecture Weekend in Gdynia.
Of great value were visits by progressive and respected designers who escape the definition of commercial starchitects - we are talking about Gion A. Caminada (hosted in Warsaw and Krakow) and Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Banie (Krakow). Their presence gave the debate about space a deeper, humanistic dimension.
The calendar of the passing year also included prestigious events on a global scale, such as the Architecture Biennale in Venice and Copenhagen and the Open House Festival in London. I strongly encourage you to participate in such initiatives, and to their organizers I offer my great thanks for creating the space for such intense intellectual development.
HIT & KIT 1. Dangerous comfort at the Venice Biennale
The opening of the Venice Architecture Biennale under the theme "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective." was an event full of excitement. Thanks to the editors of A&B, we integrated a strong group of architects from all over Europe to comment together on what was happening in Venice. Although the main exhibition overwhelmed with an excess of content, the pavilions of Egypt, Austria, Spain or Togo were delightfully fresh.
Unfortunately, the Polish proposal "Lara and penatas" turned out to be a big disappointment. The exhibition completely failed to correspond with this year's theme, or with the real contemporary problems of Polish and world architecture. Even after reading the curatorial texts and listening to the podcasts, its message seems vague and unnecessarily elitist. Instead of concrete answers to the technical and design challenges facing humans (as users and designers), we got an abstract installation that is closer to a contemporary art exhibition. It's a shame that the topic of security was treated so hermetically, completely detaching it from the real needs of users.
HIT & KIT 2. Bittersweet contests.
This year there were many interesting competitions, with a clearly defined design problem. The responses of the architectural teams (not only the awarded ones), in my opinion, mark the outline of an avant-garde approach to the challenges that were posed to them, and are also in line with the trends of contemporary Polish architecture. Particularly close to me are the settled competitions for the Market Square
in Debica and Nowa Karowa, as well as the recently announced competition for the Green Campus of the Medical University of Lodz, in which I participate as a judge.
Unfortunately, the competition for the New Library in Rzeszow has become an example of the distortion of the idea of impartiality and anonymity of SARP competitions by the organizer, the City of Rzeszow. The Competition Jury, according to the Public Procurement Law and SARP's bylaws, must be independent in its verdicts. Judges evaluate works based on substantive criteria, not the organizer's preferences. Violating the anonymity of the works before the verdict is rendered, or trying to influence the selection of the author, undermines the point of the competition procedure. Anonymity is the only barrier against subjectivity. Judges who acted in defense of accessibility for people with disabilities and functional standards uphold the public interest and the Architect's Code of Ethics. Using the City Council forum to formulate threats against the four judges and attempting to threaten the "SARP Ethics Committee" or civil consequences can be seen as a form of SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) - that is, actions aimed at intimidating those in public or expert positions.
HIT & KIT 3. SARP's strength and weakness.
The demoralizing attitude of officials during the competition for the New Library in Rzeszow is a serious wake-up call for architects. If competitions are to remain a reliable tool for shaping Polish space, the community cannot condone the instrumental treatment of experts by local authorities. Despite the symptoms of the crisis in which the architectural community finds itself, this time the Association of Polish Architects showed strength and unity. The numerous voices of support for the protesting judges - coming both from the authorities of the Association (led by the valuable, quick response of President Marek Chrobak) and from the organization's declared critics and opponents - are encouraging. Although our environment is in need of deep reform, this time we have not been divided. This is a solid foundation and hope for the positive changes that await SARP.
KIT 1. Architectural discourse: is architecture a vision?
I am concerned about the direction of architectural discourse. Despite announcements of a "turn away from pomposity," it still focuses on spectacular realizations rather than on the real challenges of civilization and society that face our profession. Competitions for the best realizations, I believe, still do not promote projects that creatively and ambitiously face the real problems of modern man and his urban environment.
Why is it so difficult to see the real needs of today's individual, increasingly socially alienated by digital barriers? Social stratification,selfish elites pursuing their whims in the realm of big-tech offerings, triumphant neoliberalism in the housing market - all of this paralyzes intimidated, lonely individuals fearful of the future: conflicts, disasters, lack of available housing or artificial intelligence.
Following the thinking of Shoshana Zuboff ("The Age of Surveillance Capitalism"), Martín Caparrós ("Hunger") or Byung Chul-Han ("Society of Fatigue"), I pose the question: in addition to fighting climate change, shouldn't we focus on stopping the death of humanity in ourselves? If "architecture is vision," we should focus on shaping the city as a natural environment for humanistic civilization, and use all the advances of technology, including artificial intelligence, for this purpose.
KIT 2. Polish housing policy
If the diagnosis made above is correct, the regression and inertia in government and local government housing policy is all the more disturbing. It is difficult to understand why ministries, local governments and SOEs are taking such a hard line on building housing for economically excluded groups. Why is the potential of the developer's margin not being used in the public interest? If we do not solve this problem in the coming years, social tensions and conflicts could permanently worsen, nullifying the impressive achievements of thirty-five years of the Third Republic.
Can Poland become a leader in overcoming demographic regression, urban revitalization, sustainable construction and conflict resolution through dialogue? I believe so - and we should not look at any models, but look for our own way and be guided by the interests of the Most Prominent Republic.
KIT 3. architects complain about wages
In the architectural community, the discussion of wages often dominates the debate about the quality of design, which raises the question: whether the problem is only low wages or also the attitude of the industry itself. Many observers note that architects too often assume the role of victims of market mechanisms, instead of actively shaping them and working to improve their own competence and self-development. Complaining about low fees becomes a ritual that masks a lack of assertiveness in negotiations with investors and the progressive atomization of the environment, and reinforces the negative image of architects in the eyes of other, more needy social groups. Instead of building a positive image of the industry and enforcing fair rates in solidarity, the industry often falls into the trap of devastating price competition.
The modern architect must not only be a visionary, but also a skilled manager and strategist. Focusing solely on complaining distracts from the need to improve business and technological competence. If the environment wants a real change in material status, it must stop defining itself by scarcity and start by the value and agility it brings to the investment process. Without an exit from the "culture of complaint," the profession will lose prestige, and earnings will remain a mere reflection of a lack of confidence in the strength of its own competence.
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