"10 Questions to..." is a series of short interviews with architects and female architects, to whom we address the same pool of questions. In today's installment of the mini-interview, Jolanta Starzak of Atelier Starzak Strebicki answers our questions.
Jolanta Starzak is a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at Poznan University of Technology. She also studied at the Faculty of Spatial Planning in Tilburg and the Faculty of Architecture in Rotterdam. She gained professional experience in the Netherlands. Since 2008 she has been working as an academic teacher at universities in Poland and abroad, currently as an academic teacher and supervisor of the Design course at School of Form in Poznan. Since 2011, she has co-founded the architectural studio Atelier Starzak Strebicki.
1. architecture in three words...?
a. Culture of space.
b. The art of building.
c. Scenography of everyday life.
2: The three most important buildings for you...?
There are not three, there are a whole lot of them. The important ones are always those that I had/have the opportunity to visit, feel and observe how they work. Certainly there are those that are important to me, because I discovered through them different facets of architecture, for example:
a. Kunsthal in Rotterdam, proj.: OMA - I appreciate the momentum in thinking about function and form, which works very well.
b. Rudolf Schwarz's churches - I appreciate the beauty of the interior space and the modest appearance from the outside.
c. Gion A. Caminada - I appreciate the respect for local culture and material.
3. most important book on architecture...?
I don't have the most important one, each read brings something and delights with something, but there are some that are memorable for a long time, like: "The Poetics of Space" by Gaston Bachelard, or Louis Kahn "Essential texts", or books by Richard Sennett, or Saskia Sassen, or those by Rem Koolhaas. Each of these books is different and each is great. And all the monographs, or the El Croquis, 2G, a+t magazine series come in handy in my daily work. I wish I had more time to read.
4. most inspiring city and why...?
Rotterdam, because there I discovered what architecture is for me.
5. architect with whom you would like to design something and why...?
Piet Oudolf, because I really appreciate landscape architecture and I would like to learn a lot more about this field. Lina Bo Bardi and Charlotte Perriand, because they must have had both incredible courage, modesty and imagination.
6. hand-drawing or computer drawing?
Hand drawing, computer drawing and always mock-ups and prototypes.
7. mockup or 3D model?
Mockups and 3D models.
8. modernism or postmodernism?
Modernism and postmodernism.
9. working after hours or sports?
Unfortunately, often work after hours, although I dream of a balance between work, sports and reading books.
10. architecture or business?
Architecture for me is Culture, so the question is Culture or Business - probably Cultural Business.
Listen to Luke Harat's conversation with Jolanta Starzak in the series Awakenings:
