What do we recommend for February?

Ola Kloc

02 of February '21

A&B Patrons - February 2021

This month, museums and art galleries will be open again! Nevertheless, there are still many cultural events taking place in the virtual space. Check out the contests, debates and online meetings planned for this month, which we have covered with our media patronage.

"Let's meet in the city" competition

The slogan of the seventh edition of the competition organized by the Chamber of Architects of the Republic and the Architecture Promotion Foundation of the Association of Architects of the Republic of Poland SARP is "Let's meet in the city." The competition, associated with the "Shaping Space" program, is aimed at schoolchildren: elementary school students (age category 12-15) and high school students (age category 15-19).

We have already dealt with the place of meetings in the second edition of the competition, but we decided to return to the topic, because, feeling saturated with remote school and work that the coronavirus has forced, we longed for casual meetings "in real life." We are curious about the places where young people feel like seeing their peers after several months of forced sitting at home. What should a space designed for young people look like? The young have a voice - we are waiting for ideas! - write the organizers.

You can submit your ideas for meeting places for young people in public or semi-public space until May 16 this year, 4 pm.

Wakes - a series of morning online meetings

Awakenings is a series of weekly morning conversations about the beginnings of a career, study time, childhood, as well as current professional work and future plans with well-known people from the creative industry. The virtual meetings take place as part of the Street Cloud project - a microtalk on urban culture, organized by the anti-RAMA collective on Thursdays at 9am on the Facebook profile of the monthly magazine "Architecture & Business" and on the Facebook and YouTube channel of the anti-RAMA collective. Subsequent episodes will feature Ewa Kurylowicz (04.02), Natasha Minasiewicz (11.02), Jerzy Lątka (18.02) and Ewa Rudnicka (25.02).

D&A Design and Architecture Forum

Forum Design and Architecture Forum D&A

The D&A Design and Architecture Forum, an event that has so far been part of the BUDMA construction fair, will be held onFebruary 3. Although the industry meeting has been postponed until November, the Forum, whose theme this year is "Conscience of Detail," will be held online.

During the Design and Architecture Forum, we would like to show that detail does not necessarily mean superfluous. Focusing on the mundane and small can foster the creation of sustainable and socially responsible architecture. Detail, although it gravitates toward the concrete, focuses attention and concentration, and can also lead to thinking about the relationship between similar objects and the natural world or the future. Focusing on the detail does not have to mean narrow specialization, but rather the new opportunities that are now opening up for the architectural profession in new specializations, the event organizers write.

Special guests at the forum will be Tim Ingold and Lars Emil Kragh. Discussions on architecture will include Bogna Świątkowska, Małgorzata Kuciewicz, Maciej Frąckowiak, Zbigniew Maćków, Tomasz Klimek, Milena Trzcińska and Jakub Głaz.

"Film Portraits of Upper Silesian Architects of the Second Half of the 20th Century. Collection"

The Institute of Architecture Documentation of the Silesian Library in Katowice realized last year the first part of the project "Film portraits of architects of Upper Silesia of the second half of the 20th century". It presents profiles of the representatives of post-war architecture in Upper Silesia: Stanislaw Niemczyk, Marek and Ewa Dziekoński, Jerzy Witeczek, Janusz and Bożena Włodarczyk, as well as architect Tadeusz Barucki, an art historian and documentary filmmaker showing the achievements of world architecture of that period. The material collected by the filmmakers was compiled in the form of several hours of film notations and shorter forms - about forty-minute film portraits of architects.

Kaira Looro 2021 competition

The next edition of the Kaira Looro international architectural competition has been launched. The theme of this year's installment, which aims to eliminate all forms of discrimination, promote gender equality and women's empowerment in Africa, is Women's House.

The contest is open to individuals or teams of up to five people. Registration runs from January 16 to April 30 this year, and registration fees are a contribution to the construction of the winning project. Submissions can be made until May 30, and the results will be announced on June 27, 2021. The winner(s) of the competition will not only have the opportunity to realize their project, they will also receive a financial prize of 5,000 euros and an internship at Kengo Kuma & Associates. Second prize winners will receive 1,000 euros and the opportunity to complete an internship at the Miralles Tagliabue EMBT studio, while third place winners will receive a prize of 500 euros and an internship at the SBGA office. The projects will be judged by a jury consisting of architect Kengo Kuma, architect Benedetta Tagliabue, Salimata Diop Dieng - Minister of Women, Family and Gender Affairs of the Republic of Senegal, Lehau lawyer Victoria Maloka, Urko Sanchez - director of Urko Sanchez Architects, and Oulimata Sarr, UN Women Director. Women in West and Central Africa, Azzurra Muzzonigro of Waiting Posthuman Studio and Agostino Ghirardelli of SBGA studio.

"AQF Light Lab"

The AQForm brand, whose portfolio includes modern lighting fixtures, has created the "AQF Light Laboratory". - a place that allows you to experience what light is for architecture. Opened at the end of 2019, the AQForm showroom is a space where we can not only see products from the brand's portfolio, but also learn about the impact of light on space and our perception of interiors. The place was recognized by the jury of the international iF DESIGN AWARD 2020 competition in the Interior Architecture category. Currently, the "AQF Light Laboratory" can also be visited online during meetings planned by the company for architects, designers and lighting enthusiasts. During them, AQForm experts will show how to use the advantages of light in design.

Interiors 2.0, or how have the needs of Poles changed in times of pandemonium?

How has the pandemic and long-term home isolation affected the way we design and furnish interiors? What solutions are customers looking for and what are their current needs? What trends will be strongest in 2021? How to bring wellness into the home space? How to design an interior 2.0 in a simple and practical way? On January 28 this year, an online meeting was held with experts from the interior design industry, who talked about new customer needs and the most important changes and challenges in decorating home spaces in 2021. The discussion during the e-conference organized by Castorama was led by Radoslaw Gajda, architect, popularizer and critic of architecture, co-author of the YouTube channel "Architecture is a good idea." The speakers were Jakub Kłęczek - architect and Castorama Poland expert, Anna Grużewska - editor-in-chief of "Czas na Wnętrze" magazine, Magda Skibka - editor of "PLN Design" magazine and Magdalena Chorzewska - psychologist.