he office of Mark Dziewulski Architect has grown significantly in experience and reputation since it was established nearly twenty years ago. With offices in San Francisco and London, they carry out projects in the USA, Europe and Asia. They have received many design awards, including three Excellence in Design awards from the American Institute of Architects for “Significant Works of Architecture”, as well as the International Design and Development Award and the Pacific Coast Builders Design Award two years in a row. Their work includes important cultural and institutional buildings as well as commercial and residential projects. Increasingly recognized as a design leader, their buildings have been published in over fifty books and magazines in twelve countries, including The Times in London and several articles in The New York Times. Their projects have also been featured in television stories and interviews, which can be viewed on this web site on the Television page.

The office was set up with the aim to build architecturally significant projects, creating iconic buildings in the public realm. The designs are intended to be a rigorous expression of dramatic architectural design, whilst also being sensitive to their context and users. The projects combine the use of technological innovation with poetic and sculptural forms to create a strong sense of “place”. Mark Dziewulski is personally involved with each project from start to completion, so that the work reflects an individual and distinctive design sensibility. Each new commission receives a fresh approach based on its contextual and programmatic influences. The office is committed to environmentally sensitive construction and has created several technologically innovative buildings.

The office has built several public projects, including a national war memorial in Poland and a United Nations trade headquarters in China. They have also created designs for a variety of cultural and public buildings, including several museums. Their design for the National Gallery, in Trafalgar Square, was published by the Royal Institute of British Architects and was widely praised. The office is currently working on a residential apartment building in London, several houses and commercial projects, and a conceptual design for a performing arts centre. They recently completed a design for a new museum of aviation in Cracow, Poland.

The work has been praised as being both sensitive to its context as well as providing iconic design, making the buildings important landmarks within their communities. Their goal is to continually evolve and grow as a design firm, expanding the range of their portfolio while striving to create innovative and exciting architecture.

Experience

The office has substantial experience in a broad range of building types, including cultural, residential and commercial. This variety of work creates many useful advantages because it allows important lessons and techniques to be learned from several different fields and provides a cross-fertilization of ideas, which can be applied to other building types.

Cultural and institutional projects have allowed an opportunity to create significant public work that responds to civic and urban needs. Private houses allow a large degree of creative independence and provide an excellent environment for experimenting with new ideas. These ideas and new forms can then be used as inspiration on larger public buildings. Commercial projects have been an invaluable learning context for high-density public environments, where the need to create identifiable urban landmarks is combined with the requirements for handling large public spaces. The density and high-traffic requirements provide important experience with heavy pedestrian flow and the spaces and materials that can deal with it. In turn, this knowledge is directly relevant for civic and cultural buildings.

Budget and Schedule Control

Many years of experience with commercial and retail projects in the private sector have given the office invaluable experience working with tight budgets and short deadlines. The techniques they have developed are applied to all their projects, enabling them to use the available funds in the most cost-efficient way. For example, on one of the larger commercial centres they found a way to create a warped roof system instead of the traditional single slope with crickets. Combined with other value-engineering solutions, this reduced construction costs by 7%. Although this was considerably more effort for the office, it saved enough money to be able to add more detail and better materials to the facades and entrance areas. In turn this differentiated the project sufficiently to command significantly higher rents than the competition. By spending the extra time and effort to design and detail carefully, the office is able to add value to their projects. Their experience in balancing not only construction costs but, just as importantly, life-cycle costs is invaluable for any building.

Quality Control

Creating signature houses has provided important experience with an extremely high level of detailing and careful attention to design. The close control of details is very important for any project and the office’s experience and knowledge allows them to complete their work both expeditiously and within budget. Mark Dziewulski personally leads all projects and the design team’s experience enables them to produce both the high quality of architecture required as well as meeting schedules and budgets. The office has developed a very successful team-approach system that includes all parties in the design process.

Energy Conservation and Sustainable Design

Mark Dziewulski has been committed to energy conservation and sustainable design since his time at Cambridge University, where he studied environmental control at the Leslie Martin Centre. This is considered a world leader for the conservation of energy in buildings and is the source of many of the books and design guidelines that have now become international practice.

The office makes a commitment on every building to incorporate integrated energy conservation and sustainable design features. Many of their projects use cutting-edge technology. A new loft building in London is designed with a hydraulic piping system cast into the deep concrete foundation piles, through which re-circulated liquid transfers the lower earth temperature to create a low energy cooling system. A house in California was built with a high-efficiency photo-voltaic panel roof that generates more power than the house consumes and the excess is sold back to the grid. In addition to utilizing the latest high-technology solutions, the office also stresses the importance of simple passive control methods, such as the careful use of orientation, shading devices and advanced insulation. The office applies its experience in energy reduction to all their projects to reduce life-cycle costs.