Courage in design

The list of his achievements is long indeed. It starts and finishes in Warsaw - the city where he was born and remained committed to until the end. Stefan Kuryłowicz, one of poland's most remarkable modern architects, tragically died on June 6th in a flying accident in Spain

Mladen Petrov

In the beginning there was a sausage kiosk at Dworzec Gdański railway station in Warsaw. This was his first design. From time-to-time he liked going back there and looking at it. The kiosk survived 30 years and became part of the scenery as time went by. Professor Stefan Kuryłowicz's later projects, such as the Focus office building, the Dworzec Gdański underground station, Centrum Królewska and the Nautilus office building on Nowogrodzka have also become integral to the landscape of Warsaw.
He has now died at the age of 62 and sadly did not live to see the completion of other projects that are likely to become every bit as iconic: the Plac Unii building, which is being constructed on the site of the old Supersam supermarket, the Prosta Tower building and the Department of Physics at Warsaw University.
Warsaw is not just the birth-place of the professor. This is first of all the place where his vision was born and where most of his work was done. He wanted to create timeless projects in a city that is far from easy to work with - designs that that would slightly temper the prevailing architectural chaos. Warsaw always remained close to his heart. Nevertheless, he would occasionally complain about the slow pace of project development; but when his creativity came into play, all the bureaucracy only made his designs become even more original. The ingenuity of the architect was evident in all the fields he worked in. The architectural studio he established is credited with the design of public utility buildings, residential buildings, airports, stadiums, shopping centres and office buildings. His work was widely recognised abroad, despite the fact that he worked exclusively in Poland. Testament to this is the fact that he was invited to the international group of five architects advising the UN General Secretary on the issue of the modernisation of the UN building in New York - the famous creation of Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.

Determination
Although Warsaw is the place where most of his projects were realised, his designs can also be admired all over the country. Worth mentioning are the stadium in Białystok (currently under construction) and the Hilton hotel in Gdańsk. Other projects under development include: the National Centre of Music on Pl. Wolności in Wrocław, the Geocentrum Research and Development Centre of Wrocław University of Technology, and the Collegium Humanisticum of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. "Courage in design. This is what I will always associate Stefan with. This is how he will go down in the history of Polish modern architecture. He was not afraid of controversy. He was brave and tried to bring investors round. He believed in his designs," says Michał Baryżewski, a close friend and neighbour in the seaside resort of Jurata, and one of the founders of the Gdańsk-based architectural studio Arch-Deco. Zbigniew Reszka, vice-president of the Union of Polish Architects and president of Arch-Deco, adds that: "He cooperated with investors in an excellent way, but never gave up. He could bring them round - and did so calmly, setting out all the arguments until he succeeded."
These words are confirmed by Grzegorz Pękalski, president of Libra Projekt, for whom Stefan Kuryłowicz's studio designed the Galeria Warmińska shopping centre in Olsztyn. "He listened carefully and would ask questions endlessly, doing so in order to fulfil all the client's requirements. However, the architecture was more important. There are many approaches to this in retail. After all, there are shopping centres that manage very well but do not boast a great design. However, he would insist and convince us that it was worth it. He had such an American approach, explaining everything very patiently. The media made a star out of him, but there was no limelight-seeking in his relations with clients," says Grzegorz Pękalski. "When I think about Stefan's designs, I can see the Focus building in Warsaw straight away. The office building was a definite turning point on the Polish architectural scene," insists Michał Baryżewski. For many, Focus was initially controversial due to its scale. However, it broke the monotony in the design of office buildings, introducing a more refined approach.

Steadfast
Not every design created on the drawing boards of his studio was received with admiration. Professor Kuryłowicz was criticised for the Marina Mokotów project - one of the biggest gated residential estates in Warsaw. Critics argued that this was an enclave for the rich, invisible for those with no access to it. There were also a number of critical voices during the construction of the Eko Park residential estate in Mokotów. How did he deal with this? "He had a very good attitude," says Michał Baryżewski. "He simply did not let himself get upset by criticism. I had the opportunity to work with him and to participate in competitions against him. He was very tactful, open to other ideas, but he always pursued a definite goal. That is exactly what he was like," remembers Michał Baryżewski.
Marek Kuryłowicz will always remember his father's optimism. "What fascinated me about him was the child-like enthusiasm and confidence that everything would end well, something which imbued everything he did, no matter how difficult or risky. He was able to overcome all the obstacles that he came across on his path. And when he suffered a defeat he was able to accept it and treat as a necessary evil, which in no way discouraged him from continuing with his work," claims Marek Kuryłowicz. "I always admired him for the energy he exuded and the degree to which he got involved in everything he did. In the 30 years of living with him I got to know him better than most and I know that he was much more complex and interesting than his profile in the media or among the people he worked with," he adds.

Pilot
"Publicly my father functioned as an architect, a teacher and a pilot. These three areas took up virtually all of his time," says Marek Kuryłowicz. He flew because he loved to, but also to save time. This was unsurprising to his friends, who knew that he could take on many things simultaneously. He relaxed in an active way: skiing, tennis and excursions. His friends all said that he had caught "the flying bug". It could hardly have been otherwise - flying runs in his family: his uncle Piotr Kuryłowicz, cousin Lew Kuryłowicz and brother-in-law Maciej Zalewski, all graduated from the famous Dęblin flying school and flew in the RAF. He died in a light aircraft crash together with Jacek Syropolski, his long-term friend and co-worker from the architectural studio.

Teacher
When he was not flying he devoted a lot of his time to his university work. "He managed to instil his passion for architecture into generations of students. I observed how important teaching was to him and my mum for many years. They wanted to transfer as much knowledge to their students as possible and prepare them as well as they could for being an architect on the difficult Polish market," explains Marek Kuryłowicz. "He was very popular with the students. He was a Renaissance man, quite unlike an engineer engrossed in figures," adds Zbigniew Reszka. How do his students from Warsaw University of Technology who now work as architects remember him? According to Maciej Zawadzki of the BIG architectural studio: "My contact with the professor remains ingrained in my memory. I could quote word-for-word many of his interesting opinions and his valuable advice. His approach to teaching architecture was both fresh and unique and made a great impression on his younger protégés.

Friend
"I will always remember our meetings in Jurata. Stefan was in love with the place and had an apartment here. He would run around on the beach and enjoy our fine wines in the evenings. All that is left now is an emptiness that cannot be filled. Stefan would tell us, half jokingly: I am the number one!' He worked very hard, so he had the right to say this. He was the number one, a visionary," says Zbigniew Reszka, adding that: "He was also the life and soul of the party, when we travelled with a tight group of architects around the world, everybody would look around and ask 'When is Stefan coming?' Sometimes he went skiing just for one day, and that was all the time off work he managed to get, but it was the fact that he was with us that counted." As Michał Baryżewski remembers: "He had to deal with so many things, but he never complained about having too much work. I can't imagine how busy his schedule must have been. He was the sort of man who would fall asleep straight away and the next day wake up full of enthusiasm for his work. Interestingly, we never talked much about architecture in our architectural circle. We simply had long conversations about life. He left a great deal behind. But I still can see the terrace of his apartment in Jurata, right under mine. He used to enjoy lying there for hours, while we joked that he would get burnt. He gave me all his - already read - newspapers and I would go over to his place with some good coffee... That terrace will be empty now."

Legacy
The Kuryłowicz & Associates architectural studio is often admired for the fact that it seems to be immune to the economic climate. The company has always done well regardless of whether the times were good or bad. Now his studio employs over 60 people, which makes it one of the largest architectural studios in the country. "Kuryłowicz & Associates will go on. Dozens of the designs which we have been working on will continue to be developed. We intend to maintain the cooperation we have with our clients and gain new ones. In my father's time at the company, he succeeded in transferring the most important things for an architect to his co-workers. I am sure that after this most difficult time for us, the architectural studio will go back to operating with its usual dynamism," believes Marek Kuryłowicz. This is hard to disagree with. After all, the studio is Stefan Kuryłowicz's most important achievement. The memory of him, as one of his students puts it, will continue to live on, not only in his buildings, but also in those that are yet to be designed.