A drive to work together

FALA was conceived by the two of us: Kamila Szatanowska and Paulina Rogalska. We met years ago during our architectural studies. What drove us to create FALA was the process of winning our first international competition, Iceland Northern Lights Rooms. Since then, taking part in competitions has been the base of our work. Before the INLR competition, we had gained some work experience working both on public buildings and interior projects, such as museums, a historical railway station or an airport terminal and smaller ones, like multifunctional cabins and residential projects.

FALA means wave

This name was inspired by our local context of the seaside region that shaped us both personally and professionally. For us, it also signifies a change and a real connection with nature in our work. It does not matter whether we design a public building, private house, interior or a birdhouse. What really counts is the meaning each project has. If our goal is aligned with our ethical approach that revolves around the non-invasive relationship of anthropocentric creations with the needs of other species, we go for it.

Going for city walks

On a daily basis we’re intermixing our friendship with our studio practice. This seemingly explosive mixture turns out to be a great solution. Both of us are different in a number of ways, but thanks to that, we somehow complement each other very well. We’re trying to find a work-life balance but in this case it is not so easy! That’s why we often put our thoughts together outdoors - talking about future cities, housing crises, politics or simply weekend plans. An hour a day for exploring the alleys of our district gives us a bit more space to focus on daily professional routines.

Collaboration as a starting point

We are part of a creative family created in a shared space located on the ground floor of a historical tenement house in Gdansk. About one hundred square meters of illuminated spaces with a small garden for summer lunches. This is where the magic happens, we share our knowledge, work, support and of course, make and eat food. There is no hierarchy. We are just friends and partners with different work experiences. We believe that collaboration is probably the best starting point for emerging professionals.

Dealing with different types of costs

Our biggest dream is a multidisciplinary design and research studio. It’s no surprise that it turns out that it requires a lot of time, brain RAM and finances. For now, we are reading and researching a lot, taking part in architecture competitions and devoting a lot of time and attention to make our projects as thoughtful and ecologically optimised as possible. We are experimenting, searching for new ways of thinking about architecture and celebrating the design process. It definitely costs a lot. We faced the reality that making something upstream has its consequences. For us the biggest ones are definitely a financial and energy cost!

Taking responsibility

We find our role to be extremely attentive to the world around us, deriving the maximum amount of information about different species functioning in space to use it for creation. Architecture is not only about structuring buildings and solving technical problems. It is also, and perhaps above all, giving shape to human life, creating a background for everyday events, and, at the same time, taking great responsibility for influencing our environment and interspecies life of our planet. We believe that multi-species, local, socially responsible and democratic architecture, with nature in the foreground is the nearest future of our profession.