"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, Wojciech Gajewski of Warsaw-based POLE Architects talked about the city that shaped him and the buildings that impressed him the most.
Wojciech Gajewski - a graduate of the Cracow University of Technology, he gained professional experience working at Marc Koehler Architects in Amsterdam, Kuryłowicz&Associates and 307kilo Architekci in Warsaw. Since 2015, together with Łukasz Gniewek and Bartłomiej Popiel, he has been running the Warsaw studio POLE Architekci.
1. architecture in three words...?
a. Passion and work I enjoy.
b. The beauty of applied art.
c. The opportunity for continuous development.
2. the three most important buildings for you...?
a. Baba Yaga's house, POLE Architects, because it was our first joint project.
b. WoZoCo in Amsterdam, the first residential building of the MVRDV project completed in 1997. I saw it for the first time twenty years ago, and it still seems new to me, I think it has cheated time.
c. Casa da Música in Porto, because it's the first building by Rem Koolhaas I've seen live, and I guess nothing more needs to be said.
3. the most important book on architecture...?
Peter Zumthor "Thinking with Architecture" one of the few I have read.
4. most inspiring city and why...?
Amsterdam, because I got my first architectural job there. The city that shaped me not only architecturally.
5. architect with whom you would like to design something and why...?
Rem Koolhaas, apparently quite a tough guy.
6. hand drawing or computer drawing?
Definitely hand-drawing.
7. mockup or 3D model?
Definitely a mockup and I really miss making them with my own hands.
8. modernism or postmodernism?
Definitely modernism.
9. Work after hours or sports?
Definitely sports.
10. architecture or business?
Currently architecture, but when Poland understands that good architecture must be paid for normally, it will be business.
