Results of the Best Diploma ARCHITECTURE 2025 competition!

Ola Kloc

16 of February '26

1st Prize, proj.: Michal Kiercz

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We have completed the fourteenth edition of the Best Diploma ARCHITECTURE competition. The competition included engineering and master's theses defended between 2023 and 2025. In this edition, we invited the Medusa Group studio, where the winner of the competition will have the opportunity to complete a month-long internship. Thirty-three projects qualified for the finals. The first prize went to Michal Kiercz, the second prize to Sophia Sobieraj, and the third prize to Julia Wild. An honorable mention went to Gabriela Golbiak, and a special mention from the Medusa Group studio went to Jakub Jopek. The audience vote also ended on February 15, with Zofia Napiontek winning the largest number of votes.

in the spirit of re-use

The first prize - a month's internship at the Medusa Group studio in Bytom and PLN 4,000 - was awarded by the jury to Michał Kiercz 's master's thesis "Revitalization of the architectural heritage of the 1970s - adaptation of Leipzig-type buildings in Dąbrowa Górnicza for low-cost housing, " prepared under the supervision of Dr. Jolanta Sroczynska, Prof. PK, and defended in 2023 at the Faculty of Architecture, Krakow University of Technology.

1st Prize, proj.: Michal Kiercz

The author attempted to modernize blocks of flats using modular steel structures of the Leipzig system and transform them into places that meet modern standards, while taking care to develop common spaces and improve the energy efficiency of the buildings in order to make them more environmentally friendly and cheaper to maintain. The jury recognized the project for attempting to mitigate the effects of the housing crisis through a solution in the spirit of re-use with great potential for adaptation in new locations.

1st Prize, proj.: Michal Kiercz

In awarding the first prize to Michal Kiercz, the jury wishes to recognize a project that responds to contemporary climate and social challenges in a mature and pragmatic manner. The author proves that skillful management of resources and giving a "second life" to Leipzig-type buildings is not only an expression of care for the heritage of 1970s architecture, but above all a manifestation of responsibility for once-used matter. The work is an important voice in the discussion about the transformation of buildings, including office buildings, which, instead of being demolished, can become a full-fledged answer to the shortage of low-income housing. We appreciate the insightful analysis and design with new use scenarios in mind, which is essential to stop the environmental crisis. The fact that such fundamental issues become the content of the diploma prepared under the guidance of Jolanta Sroczynska, PhD, makes us optimistic about the future of design standards, in which adaptation and optimization become more important than new construction

-reads the justification.

1st Prize, proj.: Michal Kiercz

in the spirit of localism

The second prize for the work "Village House with Resident Center in My Will" was won by Zofia Sobieraj. Her engineering thesis, defended in 2024 at the Faculty of Architecture of the Wroclaw University of Technology, with Dr. Joanna Jablonska as supervisor, is an attempt to seek symbiosis between architecture, man and nature, to create a place of need. The symbol and main inspiration for the project was the Rural Housewives' Circle, representing the integration of the rural community. The project was appreciated for addressing the topic of architecture located in villages - today often lacking modern infrastructure for social purposes.

Second Prize, proj.: Zofia Sobieraj

The project responds to local needs, while at the same time very well localizing the possibility of actually "messing around" in the future. After all, village housewives' circles are in fact the flywheel of many villages, often the only social place that takes action. It is particularly important to retrofit this place with the necessary services to fight traffic exclusion

-justifies the jury's choice.

Second Prize, proj.: Zofia Sobieraj

in the spirit of attentiveness

The third prize was won by Julia Wild, author of the project "Borderlands. A project that shows that one should pay much more attention to the invisible". Her master's thesis, defended in 2024 at the Faculty of Architecture at the Silesian University of Technology and developed under the supervision of Dr. Jan Kubec, takes up the subject of spaces that end up, for various reasons, in the realm of invisibility - physical and/or non-physical. The axis of the project is memory preserved in the landscape as a whole and fragmentarily - in its elements (objects, meadows, lakes, vegetation, etc.), observed from the perspective of hic et nunc, i.e. here and now.

Third Prize, proj.: Julia Wild

A work that manages to contain sensitivity and elusiveness, the ability to appreciate a Place and try to preserve it, deserves special recognition

-justifies its choice by the jury.

Third Prize, proj.: Julia Wild

in the spirit of humility

An honorable mention was awarded to Gabriela Golbiak for her engineering thesis "Life Observatory in Iceland - a multifunctional facility using ecological solutions." Dr. Janusz Marchwinski was the promoter of the thesis, which was defended in 2024 at the Higher School of Ecology and Management (now the Academy of Applied Sciences) in Warsaw. In her work, the author aimed to create a space where a person can feel humbled anew in the face of the power of nature, to remember how extraordinary the world around us is and how much we should care about it.

honorable mention, proj.: Gabriela Golbiak

A mature, consistent and highly sensitive response to the challenges of designing in Iceland's extreme landscape. The author creates architecture that does not dominate nature, but submits to its rhythms, scales and energy, proposing an object that is at once a refuge, a place of reflection and education

-reads the jury's justification.

in the spirit of form

The Medusa Group studio's special honorable mention went to Jakub Jopek, author of the master's thesis defended in 2024 at the Silesian University of Technology's Faculty of Architecture, "The design of a sports mountain guesthouse as an answer to the growing demand for mountain infrastructure in the Żywiec Beskid, " prepared under the supervision of Dr. Jerzy Wojewódka, professor at the Silesian University of Technology. The sports guesthouse in Beskid Zywiecki proposed by the author - a hybrid of a mountain hostel and ski resort - is to provide a year-round tourist offer. It is distinguished by the form of the building subordinated to the topography of the plot, resulting in an unusual, dynamic shape of the roof, a connector between two hills.

special mention, designed by Jakub Jopek

Special Mention to Jakub Jopek was awarded for a project that represents a mature and sensitive response to the challenges of building in a protected landscape. The jury appreciated the rare ability to create a discreet architecture, which instead of dominating the surroundings, enters into a conscious dialogue with the topography of the Żywiec Beskid. The dynamic form of the roof, which serves as a link between the hills, is not only a display of technical prowess, but above all proof of respect for the natural context. The hybrid function of the building, combining a hostel with a modern sports infrastructure, has been framed as construction that coexists with nature, rather than competing with it. This is a much-needed reflection today on the ethics of the presence of architecture in the non-urban landscape, realized under the substantive supervision of Dr. Jerzy Wojewódka, Prof. of the Silesian University of Technology.

Audience Award

The largest number of votes (806) and thus the Audience Award in the voting of Internet users, which lasted from January 26 to February 15 on the A&B portal, was won by Zofia Napiontek for her engineering diploma "Design of a railroad station in Jurata", defended in 2023, prepared at the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Arts in Poznan under the supervision of Dr. Tomasz Piwiński. The station proposed by the author, with its form and function, is to remain in line with local traditions and cultural values, while at the same time contributing to improving the quality of life of residents and regaining the splendor and historical character of the locality.

Audience Award, proj.: Zofia Napiontek

***

The projects awarded in the fourteenth edition of the "Best Diploma ARCHITECTURE" competition are united by attentiveness and sensitivity - to man, nature, the existing tissue and context, both spatial and social.

We congratulate all the finalists and finalists of the competition, whose works we have published in the past year in the pages of A&B. The winners of the competition will receive commemorative diplomas and subscriptions to A&B monthly, while the winner of the 1st prize will receive 4 thousand zlotys and a month's internship at the Medusa Group studio.

The fifteenth edition of the competition has already started - all architecture students and graduates from 2024-2026 are invited to participate, and this time, in addition to the financial prize, the winner or winner of the 1st place will receive a month-long internship at the Grupa 5 Architekci studio in Warsaw. We would also like to remind you about the second category of the competition, for which you can submit interior architecture projects.