Archi.ru:
What is Blank Architects?
Magda Chihony
- Founders
blank architects - five partners: Lukasz, Magda (Magda Kmita - ed.), Shimon, Piotr and me. We all studied architecture in different European countries. I have been living in Moscow since 2002. We met here in Russia. It was just a coincidence. We had no original plan. But we found a common language and created a bureau. We are all co-founders and run the company as partners. All of the company's goals and decisions stem from the way we, all five of us, see the situation.
Was it difficult to come to Russia and create your own company?
M. Ch: Not for us, and I'll tell you why. We were young. You know, an analogy comes to mind with a child learning to walk and not thinking about what will happen if he falls. We were mesmerized by the possibilities that opened up to us. In Europe, where many of my classmates went, there was tough competition, it was much more difficult for them. There was also a kind of "open East", so to speak. (Addressing Lukash) How old were you when you started managing construction sites?
Lukasz Kaczmarczyk: Twenty four.
M. Ch: At twenty-four he was GAP. We were young and already endowed with tremendous powers, in the West it would have been impossible even to imagine.
Teamwork
How are communications built within the company?
M. Ch: Today the office has 45 architects plus administrative staff. We have a principle of weekly meetings - design boards, where we discuss projects. They are usually attended by 10 people. When you work on something for a long time, at a certain moment you develop tunnel vision. Those who are not directly involved in the project have a fresh perspective, and they ask questions that you have not even thought about, because every day you cook in all this. In our bureau, design is not the ambition of one person, but, above all, teamwork. Projects for us are a constant dialogue.
How do you select your employees?
M. Ch: We look very closely when new people arrive. One of the partners conducts an interview, then, regardless of what vacancy the candidate is applying for - a general manager or a junior architect, I talk to him. We definitely ask you to complete several test tasks. One vacancy usually receives about 40 resumes. We invite about five for an interview, and then we choose one. We have a very strong probationary period. But people have been working with us for 10 years, so it's possible to pass it (laughs). We are very tough. We judge by how people think creatively and logically, it is important for us to understand how open they are to new things.
L. K: We try to maintain an atmosphere where everything is decided in the process of discussion. We do not demand unquestioning fulfillment of the decision handed down from above. Even a junior architect can influence a project. Some companies call this the “Democratic Approach”. People who come to us for an interview are sometimes very surprised by this. In Russia, the “hierarchical method” is more often used: there is a chief architect, whose name the bureau bears, and all the others are just his followers. We have the word "Architects" in the title in the plural, that is, there are many architects. And this is important.
M. Ch: An architect can be very young. If he knows how to think openly and is passionate about his work, then he has a brilliant future in our bureau: at the age of 26-27 you can become a GAP, although there are a lot of architects with forty years of experience and a large portfolio that are not suitable for us, because they are just performers.
L. K: But we don't like making excuses for any reason.
M. Ch: There can be no excuses other than architecture. It is better not to design at all than to design incorrectly.
Do you think these shortcomings can be associated with the specifics of the preparation of Russian architectural universities?
M. Ch: We do not teach from textbooks with standards. I always ask at the interview what to do first. And many answer that they will take the standards first. But norms are not everything. First of all, you need to imagine how the building will function and how people will use it. It seems to me that this is the difference.
Middle age crisis
– How has your bureau changed?
M. Ch: Until 2008, no matter what order came, we took it and did not really think about it. It was a kind of business machine. But in 2008 the crisis hit and we lost almost all our contracts. We also had partners, and they, having decided that the business was over, left the office. And we, remaining five of us, began to think what we want to do next.
L. K: And by the way, one of the important moments of that period was that we changed our vision. We realized that we need to completely control the process of creating an architectural project.
M. Ch: Then there were many foreign bureaus who came, drew the concept and transferred it further to local architects. And we are very adequate people, and we saw what then happens to her in reality and understood why this is happening. I am still trying to see all the possible pitfalls in the project - from the beginning of the concept to the end of construction. In Russia, it is very important to be completely immersed in the process if you want to see your building completed. We came to this in 2008, now the situation is partly changing, and then an architect was only an architect. Those who are called "general designer" in Europe have always been a GIP in Russia. In the West, it is not the engineer who leads the project, but the architect. We then had to prove to customers that it was a good idea when the architect was in charge. Because the architect sees everything.
– Has the latest crisis affected the work of the bureau?
M. Ch: Some of our competitors have closed down, but we have kept at least the same amount of work and are getting stronger. But 2015 saw three of the partners approach their 40s. And we wondered again what we were doing. We thought for about a year. As a result, we created a new image for Blank Architects and decided that our goal was to become an international bureau and design around the world.
Do you have a strategy for this?
M. Ch: The only right way is to participate in contests. We have created a department headed by Lukasz. He is engaged in the selection of those competitions in which it is worth participating, and the preparation of projects. We are trying to participate in international competitions. And we also take part in competitions held in Russia. It doesn't matter what country you are from, it's important to create good architecture.
What is good architecture in your understanding?
L. K: Even each of us five has his own answer to this question, but we have come to a common denominator. We believe that good architecture is responsible architecture. First of all, we study the relationship. This applies not only to dimensions, proportions and materials, but above all to the environment. In what reaction our building will enter with the place in which it appears.
M. Ch: I can tell what bad architecture is. Bad architecture is what we are trying to uproot from the consciousness of everyone who comes to work for us, regardless of age. In Russia, the terms of reference can be set forth in a gigantic volume, where the customer will describe in the smallest detail what he needs. And at first they will draw everything to him. This devalues the architect. He should be involved in the process of thinking about the project together with the client.
L. K: This is a responsibility towards investors, neighbors, people who will use this building, and towards the environment as well.
M. Ch: We want to improve the quality of life in the city. When a client comes to us with a technical assignment, we carefully study it and say: “We understand what you want. But let's suggest what can be changed here. We do not think only within the boundaries of the building site. On several projects, we convinced the customer to invest money in the environment, for example, to lay out a park in order to give the object an identity and, above all, create comfortable conditions for people, residents of the city.
Architecture like Volvo
– Isn't your bureau mainly engaged in the design of commercial buildings?
M. Ch: We have many different projects. We also deal with sports facilities, for example, we cooperate with SPEECH on a project
stadium "Dynamo".
L. Ch: This is very interesting, because most likely Dynamo will become the only stadium in the world with a retail floor. This does not happen, because stadiums are rarely located in the city center.
M. Ch: We also deal with offices, hotels, and housing. We are interested in complex and complex projects. We have a lot of projects related to retail, because we started with them. The sector is very specific - it is a closed circle of customers, project managers and architects. And we are in this circle: the more you design, the more experience you have. But we always try to look at the design of retail space with a fresh eye. Retail projects are very interesting because you need to understand the logic of how everything works there, how to arrange certain elements in the building in order to get the result. Retail is changing all the time, and quite significantly.
L. K: Now the task is getting more complicated. If you take quality commercial building projects, you will see that they are not purely commercial, but mixed use. They are no longer just shopping centers, but become life-hubs, more open to the city. This tendency has not yet fully manifested itself in Russia, we are just studying it.
Which of the projects you are working on now seems the most interesting to you?
L. K: Maybe,
Shopping center "Fifth Avenue", although at first glance it is simple. We can say that this is a renovation of a building built in the late nineties.
M. Ch: I would call this project a retail rebranding. We clean the old building down to the frame and foundation. It stood there for years and a certain pattern was formed for the use of this building by people. We are bringing existing elements into line with the new context we want to create. We are thinking about new features to be added. If you want to create a community center, a hub, it must have a certain atmosphere to make it attractive and open.
L. K: We are currently working on organizing a farmers' market on the third floor. This is quite unusual, because in Europe, farmers' markets are usually located at the lower level, as has been the case historically. And there are many more details like this that could turn this building into a community hub. These are small things, but they are very interesting.
Does the bureau have ambitions to design a building from the category of architectural “icons”?
M. Ch: I want to create opportunities for people to enjoy life. I don’t think that the fact that they will see the giant arch and take one photo in front of it will improve their lives. The city needs bright buildings, but there must be a balance. It's like cars. Someone buys a good car, like a Volvo, and there are those who have a Ferrari, although this is impractical: it has a low suspension, it is not very safe, very expensive, and in general, where are you going to go at that speed? Although, of course, everyone will pay attention to her, there is a lot of ostentation in this.
L. K: Depends on what to put into the concept of "building-icons". For me, this is Melnikov's house. Such - we want. But if we are talking about giant towers designed to demonstrate the capabilities of the raw material giants, I'm not sure if this is important for us.
Team from Moscow
What is your favorite project?
M. Ch: We have hundreds of projects, and each one is loved in its own way. I really like the London project we were with a few years ago,
participated in the RIBA competition. It was necessary to make a master plan of a large area in the center of London, in Vauxhall (Vauxhall). The jury considered only one A1 tablet. And he had to tell the whole story, it was very difficult. We were among the three finalists. There were about a hundred participants from all over the world. The British, French architects who are based in London, and we are in the final. Everyone was very surprised that architects from Russia came out in the top three.
L. K: So unexpected that even The London Evening Standard wrote about it. Nobody else was mentioned in the article, only the "Moscow team".
M. Ch: It was unexpected for them, because this is a historical place, and we managed to understand it. We have read many books about how London developed. We had a very serious field survey. And then there was an idea how to reform it, introduce landscape zones, functional zones and also create scenarios of how the territory will function at different times of the year, because there are many public spaces around. As the members of the jury told us later, they were surprised that we were able to understand the feelings of those people who were born and raised there. We were able to create a connection with both Big Ben and the Tate galleries. It was a great success for me.
And what is the difference between you, “teams from Moscow”, from primordially Russian companies?
L. K: We came and started working, and we did not know anything about how to work here. Therefore, we did all things in our own way. It was also very interesting to everyone around, because it was amazing. We did things that no one else had done before. For example, we began to work with VNIPO, which deals with fire regulations. That is, we first delved into all these norms in order to understand them, and then we tried to adapt them so that they become the way we want them. And it was kind of an adventure - we didn't follow the same path as everyone else. Because we were foreigners and we thought about things in our own way.
M. Ch: I don't know how to compare us with other Russian bureaus, because I have never worked for them. We sometimes work together. But I understand that we pay more attention to what the person says, and not to how old he is and what his position is.
L. K: And I also think we're just stubborn. We can be told a thousand times that it is impossible to build a building like that or do something else. But we will eventually find a way to prove that this is possible. We just get furious when they tell us that it is impossible, but we know that it is possible (laughs). Sometimes we just bang our foreheads against the wall, but more often we pass through it.
