Architects most often fulfill the desires of their clients, sometimes dreaming of creating a project for themselves. It seems that nothing could be easier. After all, they are the ones who have what it takes - knowledge, experience, contacts, accurate knowledge of preferences and taste. Yet this is precisely what can pose the biggest problem. What if both residents of one space are designers?
The architects from {tag:Studio} divide their work between Warsaw and Zurich. The apartment they created together in the Polish capital is refined to the smallest detail. Despite its small size of only 34 square meters, the space gives the impression of being open - the architects left room for taking more breaths. In addition to the size, the body of the building was also a challenge - its rounded shapes and almost no right angles.
Basia Hyjek: What was the main inspiration for this interior?
Ewa and Thomas Soboczynski: It would be difficult to talk about the main inspiration here. It is in our case always the sum of many ideas. Our inspiration usually comes from the places we visit, they subconsciously affect us, and the fact that we create in two European cities makes many images register in our heads.
At the end of this project, we noticed that it was the architecture of the building in its form that influenced our design decisions.
At first, this small, walled apartment did not allow us to fully experience the space. Once we opened the kitchen, we felt the architecture of the interior. The staircase along the windows creating a delightful soft semi-circular line, the light coming in beautifully.
Our architect friends could not understand what captivated us about this small apartment with a rather complicated floor plan, where there are almost no right angles. We didn't know that ourselves, but we saw a lot of potential in it.
The biggest inspiration was the feeling, our feeling was warmth.
Ewa and Thomas Sobczynski's bachelor apartment with Ewa/Thomas
photo by Martyna Rudnicka
Basia: What was the biggest challenge?
Ewa and Thomas: Aside from the aforementioned difficult throw, the biggest challenge for us was ourselves. We are both architects and until now we have worked separately. In this project, we were not only architects, but also investors, which led to long conversations and discussions.
The many discussions, sketches, plans, hours we spent on this project more than once put our cooperation in question. However, we have learned so much from each other, which means we understand each other's architecture, language and has brought our work to a higher level. We slowly understand who of us is more willing to work with references, and who works more with the mood of the interior.
Although we both have a very strong background in architectural and interior design there was a project we did together under the working name 00 Solec and that was the starting point of our studio.
Basia: Where did you get the idea for this combination of materials and styles?
Ewa and Thomas: In this interior you can see Swiss simplicity, from the country where we also work, as well as our love of material, architectural detail and Polish craftsmanship.
We love handcrafted work and natural materials. That's why working with Polish craftsmen has been a huge help to us. We consider conversations with our collaborators as a great help and a good school. Of course, we are the ones who design, but we are happy to take into account the opinion of experienced craftsmen.
We don't have a specific style in which we design, and in the direction of which we orient ourselves. We always get down to work and in the design process we work to achieve a satisfactory goal. This process is a mixture of experience, understanding of the interior, its geometry, light, communication and, above all, impression and feeling.
We use very simple, natural materials that will stand the test of time and age beautifully. This is because we do not design architecture and interiors for the next 5 years, but architecture without an expiration date. Just as our predecessors in modernism did.
