This year marks ten years since Adam Korulczyk's Warsaw-based studio, KAG ARCHITECTURE, began operations, offering design services at various scales for both the public and private sectors. Korulczyk Architects Group is a team of specialists working nationally and internationally in the fields of architecture, interior design, identification systems and project management.
The office's founder is Adam Korulczyk, a designer who promotes a Luxury Futuristic style in interior architecture, design and corporate identity. The studio's portfolio includes many conceptual designs and realizations, including a master plan for the Żerań estate in Warsaw covering an area of thirty thousand square meters, a concept for a minimalist, modern villa on the rocks in thetourist Riviera of Makarska in Croatia, lighting designs for building facades or a solution for a geometric gate for an apartment building on Sonata Street in Warsaw, and even interior designs, including one for an ING bank branch in Lodz.
Geometric gate design for an apartment building on Sonata Street in Warsaw.
proj.: © KAG ARCHITECTURE
A&B: What does the design process look like at KAG ARCHITECTURE studio, what programs and tools do you use?
Adam Korulczyk: The design process always depends on the complexity and subject matter of the study. However, there are some fixed and well-defined procedures.
In the first stage, we meet with the potential investor and conduct an interview about the scope of work, the gabaristic timeframe, the functional program, the stylistic nature of the subject of the design study and formal issues in a phased manner. Once the details are agreed upon, we proceed to formalize the design development contract with the option of coordinating implementation and author supervision.
The next stages are architectural dimensioned functional projections and spatial architectural concept with specification of finishing materials. Then we proceed to the creation of detailed technical design. This is accompanied by designs of individual trades and descriptions and lists of all materials and equipment elements used in the project.
We operate on professional CAD platforms, 3D modeling programs and Adobe post-production suite. Optionally, at the investor's special request, we make presentations of projects in the form of soundtracked photorealistic computer animations.
masterplan for Żerań estate in Warsaw
proj.: © KAG ARCHITECTURE
A&B: What distinguishes your studio in the Polish market?
Adam Korulczyk: In addition to our punctuality, commitment and individual approach to each project, we are distinguished by the developments carried out in a system of innovative, proprietary design based on aerodynamic geometry. As a result, each of our projects is unique, has a consistent geometry and is recognizable.
A&B: In the buildings and interior designs designed by the studio, one can see dynamic, futuristic forms and gently curved shapes. Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Adam Korulczyk: The line of our designs is inspired by the geometry of aerodynamics of air particles surrounding spatial objects. Appropriate implementation of them into the design studies of furniture, interiors and facade planes allows for individual styling of the proposed architectural forms.
Villa on the Makarska Riviera in Croatia, spatial conceptual study
proj: © KAG ARCHITECTURE
A&B: In addition to the aforementioned futuristic forms, you also create minimalist masses, as in the design of a rock-inscribed modern luxury villa with direct access to the sea on Croatia's Makarska Riviera. Please tell us about this project.
Adam Korulczyk: The Makarska Riviera project is a concept created for one of the potential foreign investors. We often prepare spatial conceptual studies of architecture, because investors expect proportionally balanced spatial ideas that fit perfectly into the context and meet their functional expectations. This is the most labor-intensive design stage. The residence presented here is the result of the investor's search for his own autonomous space away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The lump is composed of cuboids in a composition based on the golden division of space. The buttresses used give the effect of being plugged into the natural landscape and the structure of the valley. In the interiors, vertical mobile glazing planes were used, allowing the dialogue of the interiors with the seascape and coastal greenery. One of the walls of the residence is a natural load-bearing rock formation. The building is divided into two autonomous interior zones: residential and office. Inside, an atrial green area is located, which makes the interior microclimate more attractive during bad weather.
It is hoped that the future will bring similar designs of entire neighborhoods, placed on rocks in a similar context in other regions of the globe.
A&B: You are involved in many aspects of architecture - from large scale to building facade lighting and even interior design. What do you enjoy most about designing, and what do you find most challenging?
Adam Korulczyk: There are two greatest pleasures. The first is the ideation and concept stage itself, when the mind is strained to think creatively about architecture in the context of the investor's expectations. The second is the usable stage after finishing. These are two ends of the same process, which mutually coexist and give a lot of satisfaction.
The biggest challenge is to establish ideological and implementation compromises between the architect and the general contractor of the project. Here, the pragmatic, preemptive response of the executive sector in direct consultation with the author of the work is always on guard.
Comprehensive interior design of the corporate branch of ING BANK in Lodz.
proj.: © KAG ARCHITECTURE
A&B: Which of your projects do you consider the most successful?
Adam Korulczyk: ING BANK - Interior Standardization Book (ISB) project. This is a comprehensive standardization for all corporate branches in Poland - from flooring, to strict guidelines for branch studies, to ceiling lighting. Banking is one of our main specialties in interior design.
