"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, Paulina Rogalska from the FALA architektura studio in Gdansk answered.
Paulina Rogalska - a man, a woman, an architect, a resident of Gdansk. During her studies at the Gdansk University of Technology, she worked on the development of local plans in the Pomeranian province. Then she gained experience in the design of large public buildings, to focus over time on issues related to multidisciplinary, pro-ecological design and the study of human-nature relations. The field for exploring these issues is a studio founded in 2018 together with Kamila Szatanowska: FALA architecture.
1. architecture in three words...?
a. Not
b. I can
c. answer.
2. the three most important buildings for you...?
In fact, the first answer that came to my mind was that such questions have not yet been created. But the truth is that the most important buildings for me are those that define my daily life, viz:
a. the building where I live,
b. the building where I work,
c. the buildings I pass every day on my way to work.
These buildings I have the chance to observe at different times of the day, year, in different weather, I know their strengths and weaknesses. I resonate with them.
3. the most important book on architecture...?
I'm a bit wary of terms that start with "most". There are a lot of most important books, which only when read together give a certain picture of reality, some knowledge. It's hard to choose one. The theoretical treatises of Le Corbusier, Denise Scott Brown and Robert Venturi, or Strzeminski's "Theory of Seeing" seem to me to be just as important as Filip Springer's contemporary reportages. Books that summarize the achievements of a single architect (the type of monograph by Tadao Ando), as well as those that gather knowledge about a single technology ("Handbook of Building with Clay" published by Cohabitat). Besides... in a sense, every book that describes the world depicted is about architecture, because the action rarely takes place in a vacuum. Each is also created through the prism of the author's individual perception, so it gives us a new perspective... I guess the thing with architecture is that it can be bitten from many sides.
4. most inspiring city and why...?
For me personally, the most inspiring cities are Wloclawek and Gdansk. I spent 19 years of my life in the first one, and the last one in the second one.... (I can't admit it, because it will seem how old I am). These cities I know best, in them I lived or live every day. I was shaped by their atmosphere, climate, shapes, colors, smells, nature, events and people. There are other cities to which I have traveled and which have made a great impression on me. However, if I had to choose unequivocally, the city that inspires me the most at the moment is Gdansk.
5. architect with whom you would like to design something and why...?
This is a very tricky question. It seems to me that design is teamwork, and in such work, chemistry, openness, trust and a good atmosphere are very important. This we already have in our team with Kamila Szatanowska. If I had to name someone with whom I would like to design something, it would rather be Neri Oxman, that is, not strictly an architect. Neri is the head of the research group at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge and works on materials ecology. Working with her = testing the world's most unconventional building blocks, while respecting and learning from nature. In our home backyard, very interesting topics are taken up by Centrala, or Malgorzata Kuciewicz and Simone De Iacobis. They work at the intersection of architecture, science and nature, which also attracts me.
6. hand drawing or computer drawing?
It depends. Currently I would consider both equally important. On the other hand, I find it hard to imagine any creative process without hand-drawing. From under the hand come out more natural and beautiful lines, shapes and proportions. Here something is corrected three times, there something is slightly graphed and the composition can be intuitively and humanly "set"... and then the computer drawing will brazenly expose the shortcomings and understated places. This does not change the fact that for me the way is through both freehand and computer drawing. There is another incredibly important role of hand-drawing - whoever doesn't nervously paint over the boxes in a notebook during phone calls, hand up!
7. mockup or 3D model?
These are two different working tools, offering completely different possibilities. We use both at Wave. The mock-up triggers creativity more and stimulates abstract thinking. More elements are presented metaphorically, not directly. Some things have to be added, imagined.... Of course, a mockup is not equal to a mockup. Some mockups are used to reflect the competition concept as best as possible, and there there is less left for the imagination. Others we make out of LEGO bricks for the use of our own quick conceptual considerations, and then take apart.... and from scratch. The 3D model actually serves us differently, too. Sometimes it's just to create a few variations of a solid, and sometimes we model the structural connections and all the layers of a building to see if something "works." It really depends on the current need, which tool we use.
8 - Modernism or postmodernism?
I know that when I was in college I probably would have enthusiastically exclaimed: modernism! Nowadays, I already think differently. I look at it as a trend in architecture that contributed a lot. We know the buildings realized according to their assumptions. So we are left to analyze, test, check, feel, learn and draw conclusions.
9. work after hours or sports?
I can't give a clear answer. I try to be "in shape" and do not particularly feel when it is "after hours". I have the comfort that all elements of life can intertwine with me in any configuration that suits personal needs.
10 - Architecture or business?
Good when they go hand in hand. However, when that's not possible: architecture.
If you have suggestions for questions you'd like us to ask, or people of architects whose answers to these questions you'd like to know - let me know in the comments.
