"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 about inspiring places, books and design methods, Kamila Szatanowska of the FALA architektura studio in Gdansk answered.
Kamila Szatanowska - architect, co-founder of the FALA architektura studio in Gdansk. In 2015 she graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Gdansk University of Technology. She gained experience working with cultural institutions in Gdansk on socially engaged projects, as well as in Polish architectural studios, on public utility projects, including the Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek. She is a co-laureate of numerous architectural competitions, including the Iceland Northern Lights Rooms Competition, which in 2018 was the impetus for founding FALSE. Her main areas of interest are multidisciplinary design in times of climate crisis and shaping the relationship of users of built space with nature.
1. architecture in three words...?
a. Coexistence.
b. Locality.
c. Reactivity.
2. the three most important buildings for you...?
a. A 1964 Danzig corner block, docked to the frontage of tenements on one of the streets in Wrzeszcz. It's neither beautiful nor in keeping with the rest, but the neighborhood has become accustomed to it, as have I, having lived there for several years.
b. Gdynia's big plate skyscraper, where I lived as a little kid. It housed a vast amount of history, legends and myths. In dreams, it is often the setting for abstract events. Seemingly a lot of people, but most knew each other and, like it or not, helped each other. Things were borrowed and repaired. There was always someone to trim one's hair or fix a CRT TV.
c. The third one will probably still show up. Besides, he may not be the only one! And for the moment, I'll put in its place an African Masai hut, wooden Buddhist temples and maybe not a building, but a living option - an RV.
3. the most important book on architecture...?
I think this one is still ahead of me. Depending on the stage of development, different books I could define as the most important ones. The landmark ones were "The Fullness of Architecture" by Walter Gropius or "Eyes of the Skin" by Juhani Pallasma. What absorbs me lately is philosophy and theories of the future, ecology and human-nature relations. I look for inspiration all around!
4 Most inspiring city and why...?
When thinking of cities, the ones that come to mind are those where life is vibrant until the wee hours and the common spaces are open, flexible and... surprising, like in Luang Prabang, San Francisco, Barcelona or Berlin. However, what delights and inspires me the most is nature in its varied guises - Iceland with its unpredictability and harshness, but also the Polish sea in winter, mountains or Biebrza wetlands.
5. architect with whom you would like to design something and why...?
I am fascinated by designers who go beyond the framework of architecture understood solely in terms of form - function - beauty - economy. I would love to work alongside Neri Oxman or Olafur Eliasson.
6. hand-drawing or computer drawing?
It depends on the stage of the project. Both options are developing and both can be enjoyable. Nevertheless, if I had to choose, I would like to do more hand-drawing, because it would mean more conceptual thinking, detail development and working schemes.
7. mockup or 3D model?
Simultaneous.
8. modernism or postmodernism?
Each trend has its own brightnesses and shadows. I don't get attached to styles, but they all interest me.
9. work after hours or sports?
After work non-work.
10. architecture or business?
Nature.
Be sure to listen to Kamila Szatanowska's conversation with Lukasz Harat in the series Awakenings:
