"10 Questions to..." is a series of short conversations with architects and female architects, to whom we address the same pool of questions. In today's installment, Jan Strumillo answers our questions.
Jan St rumillo graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology and completed postgraduate MAS studies at ETH Zurich under Dietmar Eberle. He gained professional experience working in the offices of JEMS Architekci in Warsaw and Baumschlager Eberle in Switzerland and Austria. Since 2010, his own practice in Warsaw.
1. architecture in three words...?
a. Location.
b. Material.
c. The detail.
2. the three most important buildings to you...?
a. Church of Our Lady of the Angels on Nobel Street in Warsaw, designed by Jan Boguslawski.
b. Church of the Infant Jesus on Czarnieckiego Street in Warsaw, design: Wladyslaw Pienkowski.
c. Church of St. Joseph in Zabrze, proj.: Dominikus Böhm.
3 The most important book on architecture...?
Books about architecture tend to be rather tedious to read, because a book is mostly about a story that takes place in time, while architecture takes place visually, in space. I tend to enjoy monograph albums the most, preferably with technical drawings. In this regard, the Spanish magazine "El Croquis" is unsurpassed, each issue of which is more like a book than a newspaper, especially since it usually contains interviews with architects of enduring value.
4. most inspiring city and why...?
I am invariably most inspired by Warsaw for the reason that it is so chaotic and spatially scarred after the war. Living in Warsaw, an architect constantly has the opportunity to imagine how things could easily be improved in this city. Unfortunately, in the long run, this can be tiresome, especially if not much changes for the better. And outside of Warsaw - Barcelona. The combined genius of Cerda and Gaudi is a cocktail that is simply irresistible.
5. architect with whom you would like to design something and why...?
Architecture I would most prefer to provide myself. Instead, I would rather design something with an interesting designer, with a great sculptor, with a brilliant urban planner. As a last resort, there may be men, for example, working with designer Cecil Balmond would be a privilege for which I would give a lot.
6. hand-drawing or computer drawing?
The further into the woods, the more hand-drawn. The point is that by drawing with one's own hand, a person has time to think. Drawing is about thinking. To invent by drawing - that's what the sport is all about. In practice, unfortunately, all too often it means merely scribbling on plotter prints.
7. mockup or 3D model?
I would like to answer mock-up, but a 3D model is simply faster and cheaper. I would only do mock-ups and mockups if I could.
8. modernism or postmodernism?
If I put Jože Plečnik before Le Corbusier, I guess postmodernism would fall out. But if, on the other hand, I value Alvar Aalto more than Carlo Scarpa then I think it's more like modernism. And if I actually like Leykam, Pniewski, Nowicki, Żórawski and Bogusławski and besides Hans Poelzig and Eladio Dieste then I no longer know whether Mo or Po. But what do these words mean today - everything and nothing. In my opinion, good architecture does not need these labels.
9. working after hours or sports?
Sport after hours is an essential part of the life support system of architecture.
10. architecture or business?
I love the job and would do it even if I had to pay extra for it, but it's probably best to keep it between us.
If you have suggestions for questions you'd like us to ask, or people of architects whose answers to these questions you'd like to know - let us know in the comments.
