In the one-stage competition for the design of the building of the Treasury Office and Lubuskie Customs and Excise Office in Gorzow Wielkopolski, settled in December 2020, whose implementation was entrusted by the Treasury to the Gorzow branch of SARP, the jury chaired by Jerzy Grochulski awarded three prizes and five honorable mentions (first place went to the proposal of the ARE Stiasny/Waclawek studio). The third place went to the proposal of the Kurylowicz & Associates office, appreciated, among other things, for its modern, unique and at the same time subdued in form architecture, carefully developed spatial layout, as well as interestingly solved detail and composition of the facade.
ecology and city-making
Proposed by a team of architects from theKurylowicz&Associatesstudio , the building was planned as a system of three juxtaposed trapezoidal blocks housing the various functional parts of the office. The alternate location of the blocks allowed the creation of three main urban spaces - a representative square (on the side of the Warta River), a city square (from the south) and a public park (from the east), as well as blending the building into the riverside landscape.
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visualization, bird's eye view
© Kurylowicz & Associates
For the designers while working on the concept, an important factor was the city-forming factor, which can translate into economic growth and improve the quality of life of residents, as well as ecological solutions, thanks to which the building would meet the high requirements of energy efficiency. The architects paid special attention to water management and bioretentionissues .
façade composition
The building's elevations are formed by slightly stepped massive brick frames with large windows.
The façade wrapping the individual floors forms ribbons of gently varying character changing upward. The basic material shaping the building's facades is brick - a traditional material used to create a modern block with a distinctive character. The unusual character of the facade is due to the use of bricks with small indentations in the outer face. The motif of the depressions was inspired by the holes left by the so-called fire augers in the brick walls of historical buildings, explain architects from Kurylowicz & Associates.
ground plan
© Kurylowicz & Associates
restraint and rationality
Ola Kloc: Your project was awarded, among other things, for expressing through its form the solidity and seriousness of the treasury institution. How do you think that through the language of architecture the function that the building serves can be emphasized? What treatments did you use in the design of the headquarters of the Tax Office and Lubuskie Customs and Excise Office in Gorzow Wielkopolski?
Kurylowicz & Associates: One of the intentions of the design of the headquarters of the Tax Office and the Lubuskie Customs and Excise Office in Gorzow was to emphasize the image of a state institution, and we are pleased that this has been read and appreciated. This effect was achieved through the use of a traditional material - brick - and the harmonious, upward-shifting geometry of the facade. The horizontal ribbons that make up the facades harmonize with the sculpted volume reaching in different directions and creating different types of urban spaces around it. The plazas were connected to the interior spaces through wide arcades. Thus, we used simple space design principles that are clear to the building's users. At the same time, we wanted to put them in a contemporary architectural framework.
The 
the façade wrapping the individual floors creates ribbons of delicately differentiated character changing upwards
© Kurylowicz & Associates
It seems to us that the architecture of public buildings should be characterized by a certain restraint and rationality. We tried in this project to find a balance between pragmatism and strong architectural expression, which was needed in this somewhat isolated location.
Ola: In the competition proposal, as you emphasize, you placed great emphasis on integrating the building into the surrounding landscape of the plot and creating a friendly and healthy working environment for the users of the edifice. What solutions allowed you to achieve this effect?
Kurylowicz & Associates: The new headquarters of the Tax and Customs Office will be built in an area that has been very extensively developed so far. The context we had to address was the future development of a new residential neighborhood and the existing natural landscape of Zawarcie opening up to the city skyline and, in the long run, to the Warta and Lower Noteć Valleys. This is a unique area with characteristic low vegetation and not many trees. We decided to shape our building in such a way that it does not dominate its surroundings, but fits in as harmoniously as possible. The varied body of the building allowed us to shape both the varied space around the building - entrance plazas, garden, riverside boulevard, as well as interesting interior spaces with a great deal of views of the city skyline and the river.
view of the facility from the river
© Kurylowicz & Associates
Ahealthy and friendly work environment is, in our view, an issue that is strongly related to ecology. We wanted to create a building that allows shaping the internal microclimate in a passive way, independent of technology. Hence the massive three-layer facade, deep window glyphs, external blinds, green roofs - elements that affect the overall energy balance. The work rooms have large windows with distant views, unobstructed natural light and ventilation. We also suggest using natural finishing materials, such as wood. This is a renewable, recyclable raw material. Some of these solutions are thoroughly contemporary, some have a classic pedigree, known for a long time, and some (for example, the open, natural landscape) are a credit to this particular location. In the end, we tried to combine as many threads as possible and use all the available potential. An important premise of our design was also to introduce high standards of space management and give primacy to people, not cars. We took the opportunity to hide the required parking lots as much as possible, thus emphasizing that the area around the planned office will quickly become an expanded city center, rather than, as now, its periphery.
The 
The building's facades are formed by slightly stepped massive brick frames with large windows
© Kurylowicz & Associates
architectural competitions
Ola: How often do you participate in architectural competitions? How do you evaluate this form of project selection?
Kurylowicz & Associates: In our socio-economic reality, the architectural profession in general is quite "competitive". Commissions are won in private competitions of greater or lesser scope, in tenders or in competitions organized by a public investor. Of course, there are also tried-and-true relationships and principals who cooperate with the architect without resorting to the competition formula, but this is not the rule but a privilege developed over the years, resulting from trust, respect and mutual satisfaction. Open competitions, if they have appropriate regulations, become a subject of our interest. As long as they are realizable, we just happen to have the time and the right team of designers to take care of such a competition, and as long as we have secured funds for it. Unfortunately, in Poland we do not have a system of refunding the cost of participation to participants, which works in other countries. In turn, the prizes are sometimes only symbolic. Participation in the competition is a considerable financial burden for the studio, and we have to weigh the risks each time. Certainly, working on a competition project, as these are concepts, is very refreshing. It forces innovation, searching for answers to new problems and issues, and allows us to practice the skills of communicating our visions and proposals. Even if we don't win and get the commission, the work is not in vain, although sometimes frustration remains, especially when the jury adopts criteria not fully declared in the regulations. Performance statistics are merciless for all studios. At best, one in ten competitions is won, sometimes less often, sometimes more often. The form of project selection through competitions defends itself when both sides play fair from beginning to end, do not change the rules during the competition, carry out the procedure as announced, especially when it comes to post-competition discussions, which are unfortunately increasingly rare in our national arena and more often only courtesy. We know that only one project can win, nevertheless, a well-conducted substantive discussion, in addition to explanations, would also be an expression of the organizers' respect for the work put in by the unawarded participants. We have a jury of competition judges, SARP judges, of which we are very proud. We consider this the highest form of recognition of our qualifications and the quality of our professional ethics. We would like to see competitions become better and better prepared and better adjudicated, with clear criteria. We are constantly impressed by the way the regulations were developed, the competition was conducted and the reasoning behind its evaluation in a competition in which we managed to get into excellent company, after prequalification, to be among the finalists of the second stage. This was the LOI 130 urban quarter competition for the European Commission in Brussels in 2018. It is possible to conduct a two-stage competition with a large number of participants in a fully transparent and unambiguous manner, on the basis of simple rules and regulations, the provisions of which are observed from beginning to end, while the participation of the finalists is honored with a properly organized post-competition exhibition. This strengthens the architectural culture, causes the involvement of the public, and helps to obtain a common opinion of architects, principals and recipients. And this is still lacking in Poland.
Ola: Thank you for the interview!
