New Vision of the Loft 3 - Interviews

I place: Katarzyna Furgalińska and Michał Lisiński from Poland

How did you find out about the competition?

Last year we came across publication of results in various newspapers. We learned about third edition from A10 magazine.

What decided that you took part in the competition? 

When choosing the competition, we always analyse what organizers expect, whether they are ready for bold and interesting solutions. Results of the previous edition and the jury composition gave such hope. Relatively high prize and small scope of elaboration were also in favour of the competition.


Have you been familiar with the FAKRO brand and FAKRO products before the competition?

Yes, FAKRO roof windows are very popular solution. We learned about other products on the occasion of the competition.

Was there anything that caused problems during the preparation of the project? 

We do not recollect any serious problems. Development of the concept went very smoothly.

Which FAKRO products were particularly inspiring when designing the project?

We found flat roof windows the most interesting. Roof windows are widely known and utilized for many years. The potential of flat roof windows has not yet been used, which is why we decided to base our concept on them.

Did you focus only on fulfilling the competition rules or did you express your own personality when creating the project?

Each project in some way expresses our personality but we believe this is not the point in the design. When solving design problem we always tend to reach its essence, think about it completely elementarily, which often leads to formation of very simple, but seemingly unclear answers. We like projects which somehow enter into the dialogue with objectives of the contest.

How long it took you to prepare the project?

Three weekends.

Please give an idea how the work on the project looked like. Was it easy to combine FAKRO products with the contest rules and your ideas?

After some time, especially if success is achieved, the process of reaching particular solution always seems easy. The moment of creating a concept itself, however, involves a number of decisions as to the validity of which you can never be sure.

How do you think the loft of the future is going to look like?

We hope that it will remain a little mysterious space, something of an individual nature, although standardisation and commercialization of lofts, unfortunately, is becoming reality.

How did you find out about the competition?
Internet_Fakro Website

What decided that you took part in the competition?
The competition theme

Have you been familiar with the FAKRO brand and FAKRO products before the competition?
Yes

Was there anything that caused problems during the preparation of the project?
No

Which FAKRO products were particularly inspiring when designing the project?
Folding loft ladders

Did you focus only on fulfilling the competition rules or did you express your own personality when creating the project?
We express our office personality

How long it took you to prepare the project?
Two months

Please give an idea how the work on the project looked like. Was it easy to combine FAKRO products with the contest rules and your ideas?
The project reconciles the contradiction between a critique of the rigid theology-like discourse against gentrification and an ironic view to it since this idiosyncratic, personal intrusive project is here operated in secret.  The elevation of the building to the city is performed as a mimetic, scenographic repetition of the same elements of an existing building while the internal part of the existing structure is totally transformed with the introduction of an elevator, folding ladders and some roof windows.

How do you think the loft of the future is going to look like?
No wall loft

How did you find out about the competition?

In the web..keeping updated with new interesting competitions.

What decided that you took part in the competition?

Topics, themes and prizes were both very attractive.

Have you been familiar with the FAKRO brand and FAKRO products before the competition?

Yes, two member of our team took part in the 2013 competition without getting any awards and it has been a good occasion to look in depth to FAKRO's products. Then it was time to take another chance to make it better.

Was there anything that caused problems during the preparation of the project?

No problems at all.

Which FAKRO products were particularly inspiring when designing the project?

The balcony windows gave us new and original visions while designing the SKY LIGHT. Moreover FAKRO's technologies in general have enabled us to achieve an excellent living comfort inside.

Did you focus only on fulfilling the competition rules or did you express your own personality when creating the project?

The project sought to express a fair compromise: a kind of give and take between the design requirements and our personal interpretation of the theme.

How long it took you to prepare the project?

One whole week to realize the project. Two weeks (not really whole) to give birth to the right concept.

Please give an idea how the work on the project looked like. Was it easy to combine FAKRO products with the contest rules and your ideas?

Our project, The Light Box, has been a good challenge: we tried to give new life to spaces that lost their function. The wide set of FAKRO products helped us following our purpose.

How do you think the loft of the future is going to look like?

Architects of the present are called to design the architecture of the future: that's a great challenge. As we imagined it, the atelier of the future will be more than a space: it will become a place of cultural exchange, a real incubator of ideas where art is the bonding agent, the reason for the encounter between artists and the public. However things turn out, we are sure that the project has to convey present awareness of the finite nature of the available environmental resources and the need to avoid wasting materials, spaces and resources during the processes of transforming the built-up environment.