Archival materials on the figure of Stanislaw Denieka are published in connection with the premiere of a film about the architect, organized by the Malopolska Chamber of Architects of Poland.
The mention comes from A&B 02/2022.
IQ Consortium was founded for very pragmatic economic reasons. In those days and with the opportunities and demand for architecture in the market at the time, it combined joint experience and strengths to move more freely and execute larger projects. Each entity benefited. It was created spontaneously, generated by the task - the right team was needed to carry out the task, but we took a little longer to learn how to work together.
Tadeusz Kantor Art Documentation Center - Cricoteka
Photo: Inigo Bujedo Aguirre © Vision
NsMoonStudio (Agnieszka Szultk and Piotr Nawara) and Stanislaw Deńko's Wizja - or IQ Consortium - have completed such projects as Alma Tower, Cricoteka, a multi-family development on Zieleniewskiego Street and Angel City. Some were efficiently executed architectural tasks, but Cricoteka went beyond this scheme. Stanislaw Deńko was one of the few people with whom such a collaboration could succeed. We were neither the first nor the last office he worked with, but in the case of Cricioteka, this cooperation proved significant for both sides.
Tadeusz Kantor Art Documentation Center - Cricoteka
Authors: Vision and nsMoonStudio within IQ2-Group Consortium Stanisław Deńko, Agnieszka Szultk, Piotr Nawara
Design team: Slawomir Zieliński - general designer, Tomasz Gomulka, Michal Marcinkowski, Marcin Kowalewski, Adam Wereszczynski, Marzena Surowiec-Dotoń, Monika Mackiewicz, Lukasz Skorek, Karol Grec, Katarzyna Ceran, Bartlomiej Lobaziewicz,
Ewelina Siestrzewitowska, Artur Mizgała,
stud. arch. Łukasz Jakubowski, stud. arch. Daniela Skrzypulec, stud. ASP Aleksandra Danielak
design and implementation: 2006-2014
Photo: Inigo Bujedo Aguirre © Vision
We were very hermetic at the time, heavily involved in projects and our concepts. Deñko had tremendous experience when it came to designing in a team. He was able to participate in a project in a special way. He built and integrated while respecting individual ideas. His enormous knowledge and experience allowed the most extreme ideas to be implemented freely. It turned out that the combination of powers resulted in one of the most significant, in my opinion, projects of the time.
Alma Tower, office building
Authors: vision and nsMoonStudio within IQ2-Group Consortium Stanislaw Deńko, Agnieszka Szultk, Piotr Nawara
Design team: Bartłomiej Łobaziewicz, Sławomir Zieliński - lead architects, Tomasz Gomułka, Marcin Kowalewski, Marzena Surowiec, Monika Włodarczyk
Phase II of the detailed design: Jacek Loos - lead architect, UBM Riviera
design and implementation: 2009-2014
Photo: Marcin Czechowicz © Vision
I remember my first visits to the Wizja studio, it was a special office, very Cracovian and very authoritative. It was evident that the studio was at the same time a home for Stanislaw. It was located, by the way, in the same tenement where he lived. He was a total architect, engaged in detail, in construction, understanding the material and at the same time poetically operating with it. Architecture was paramount, above commercial results, often against, which was very endearing.
Multi-family development complex with services at Grzegórzecka Street in Krakow
Authors: Wizja and nsMoonStudio within IQ2-Group Consortium Stanisław Deńko, Małgorzata Deńko, Agnieszka Szultk, Piotr Nawara
Project team: Marcin Przyłuski - lead architect, Artur Baran, Małgorzata Chrzanowska, Robert Ciuła,
Katarzyna Czerny-Suwała, Ewa Idzikowska, Maciej Klara, Karolina Mrożek, Bartłomiej Stawarz, Tomasz Śliwiński, Jerzy Wójcik
design: 2008-2010
model: Robert Ciuła, Agnieszka Rymarczyk
© Vision
After those few years of collaboration, we began to see something that at first seemed unthinkable - that architecture could be created like a film, that it could be a team effort, for the benefit of the team.
Stanislaw was a very patient architect, he had the heart of an analyst. In the case of Cricoteka, after making initial arrangements for the body of the building, he repeatedly built a structural model, tried, experimented went back to the starting point and repeated the whole process again. He was a perfectionist.
Angel City, a residential and commercial complex on Pawia Street in Krakow
Authors: vision and nsMoonStudio within IQ-Group Consortium,
Gottesman Szmelcman SARLStanisław Deńko, Agnieszka Szultk, Piotr Nawara
Design team: Marcin Przyłuski - lead architect (Wizja), Sławomir Zieliński - lead architect (nsMoonStudio)
Katarzyna Czerny-Suwała, Ewa Idzikowska, Anna Marek-Pelc
design and implementation: 2005-2009
Photo: Stanislaw Deńko, Wojciech Krynski
Deńko liked to work in a team, which, by the way, changed on some projects; for example, on the Angel City project, Ami Szmelcman of Gottesman Szmelcman Architecture from Israel was a key participant at the design stage. Working with many architects was a value for him, getting to know their way of thinking, discussions, sometimes disputes, moving in different means of expression.
Tadeusz Kantor Art Documentation Center - Cricoteka
photo: Inigo Bujedo Aguirre © Vision
Cricoteka is the most important collaborative project that was created in that period. We began our work by analyzing Tadeusz Kantor's work, discussing it together, discussing the materials, their origin. About the necessity of using primary, degraded materials. Probably each of us thought and saw something different in this project, but through discussions we managed to develop a common idea. For Stanislaw, this analysis, crossing boundaries, exploring what is possible, was the most important part of the project. Anyone who has worked with Staszek is aware of the quality of this collaboration.
