In today's second installment of the "10 Questions to..." series, Łukasz Pancewicz, an urban planner from the A2P2 architecture & planning studio in Gdansk, Poland, answered our questions.
Lukasz Pancewicz is an urban planner with many years of international experience in the public and private sectors. From 2013 to 2016 he was the chief designer of the Municipal Urban Planning Studio in Lodz. In his professional work he focuses on combining revitalization with the implementation of participatory methods. Since 2015, together with Monika Arczynska, he has been creating A2P2 architecture & planning company.
1. architecture in three words...?
a. An integral part of the city in which it is created.
b. The environment of a person's life.
c. Arranging the space in which the social life of the city takes place.
2. the three most important buildings to you...?
a. The building of the rectorate and campus of the University of Toruń by Ryszard Karlowicz and his team.
b. Säynätsalo city hall and Paimio hospital by Alvar Aalto.
c. Seattle Central Library, proj.: OMA/LMN.
3. the most important book on architecture...?
"The Death and Life of America's Great Cities" by Jane Jacobs.
4. most inspiring city and why...?
Every city is inspiring because it is a component of the inhabitants, the spaces they created and inhabited, whose aspirations and plans they express. The main thing is to be curious about these stories and want to learn about them.
5. architect with whom you would like to design something and why...?
Monika Arczynska, because she understands well the specifics of interdisciplinary work, the need for the social dimension of the architect's work and is familiar with participatory design, while being a good architect. From abroad it would be Teddy Cruz.
6. hand drawing or computer drawing?
Depending on the task, my tools are: Cartodiagrams illustrating key data in GIS, the result of parametric analysis of the development, sketch of the urban premise, official letter in the case.
7. mockup or 3D model?
For discussions with residents and first assumptions - mock-ups, 3D model for design-analysiswork.
8. modernism or postmodernism?
I am from Gdansk, where I have only heard about the conflict between modernism and postmodernism since my college days. This is a discussion from the 1990s. Today we need the courage, momentum and scale of modernism in solving big urban problems - the housing and environmental crisis, while maintaining sensitivity to diversity and a healthy skepticism for modernist rationalism. I choose metamodernism.
9. working after hours or sports?
Meeting friends on the way out of the office.
10. architecture or business?
Urban planning and city building.
On our portal you will also find a development plan prepared by architects from A2P2 studio for the area of Stare Świdry in Warsaw's Białołęka[here].
