Architecture Competition Timber Skyscraper Challenge Sustainability Award winners – CITY VISION

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the Sustainability Award winners of our "Timber Skyscraper Challenge" competition – Michał Spólnik and Marcin Kitala from Poland!

Buildner Sustainability Award from Poland

City Vision, an informal design studio founded in 2022 by two polish architects living in Warsaw and Vienna, addressing relationships between natural landscapes, modern cities and human ambitions. Our work is future-focused, with orientation on reusing local materials and techniques in a new, modern way. Reaching out for unknown and constantly asking new questions – we aim to challenge architectural discourse, pioneering the ways to create new futures.

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 the company/ individuals have been involved?

Recently we have been thinking how to change traditional high-rise building typologies to address climate change related issues, such as food and water shortages, as well as big cities problems connected with unused spaces and vacant buildings. We think in ecosystems – often relating to novel habitats, modes of living and variety of usage.

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

We believe that the role of architect it is far from only being designer of buildings. In order to have positive impact on society, architects need to constantly inform themselves about different, seemingly unrelated topics, such as nature conservation, information technology or astronomy. With this kind of broad orientation, projects can answer more holistically to design questions.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

On one hand we can address some of the contemporary problems, on the other we can test our ideas relating to geometry, presentation, function or typology.

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

With each project the build-up of knowledge and ideas is getting bigger. This aggregation let you to choose and connect between different themes, so with time your projects can be more and more sophisticated and problem-oriented. The bottom line is – competitions are a great way to get off the beaten track, to look beyond our standard solutions and keep asking questions that define what modern day architectural discourse really is about.