Architecture competition "Sydney Affordable Housing Challenge" 3rd prize winners - PODHALE STATE COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCES IN NOWY TARG

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the winners of the 3rd prize of our “Sydney Affordable Housing Challenge” competition - Olga Filipowska and Tomasz Twaróg from Poland!

Olga Filipowska and Tomasz Twaróg from Poland

We are University friends studying architecture together. We are from a city called Nowy Targ which is the gateway to a mountainside in southern Poland. We love to travel as this is how we find inspiration for our work. Apart from creating projects for our course we have already participated in design competitions.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where company/ individuals have been involved?

We are final year Master’s students. Throughout our university years we have worked on many projects and this time made us aware of our strong and weak points. Tomasz is definitely more keen on urban planning projects while Olga’s interests are more housing unit related. Thanks to this combination of our interests we make a great team.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

We believe that the role of architecture is mainly to solve current social issues rather than creating architecture for the architect. The social aspect of architecture is not about creating million dollar buildings for rich people.

Why do you participate in architecture vision competitions?

For us participation in architecture vision competitions is a great opportunity to develop our skills and broaden our perspective. Most importantly we treat this as a new experience and we wouldn’t be able to have this sitting around doing nothing.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture vision competitions?

Not to think too much about taking part or not. There is so much to gain and nothing to lose really!