09/28/2026
Architecture is shaped by more than buildings. It’s shaped by experiences, influences, and the people who choose to dedicate their careers to the built environment. We asked Krzysztof Olak, one of our architects, and his answer takes us back to childhood, growing up surrounded by construction, experiencing architecture across Europe, and discovering how art, history, creativity, and logic could come together through design.
Here’s his story.
Perhaps architecture was always part of my story.
Born in Poland and raised in a family of builders, I was introduced to the world of architecture and construction from an early age. My mother was an architectural technologist, while my father was a civil engineer and ran his own construction company. Construction sites were a familiar part of my childhood, and watching ideas take shape in the real world came naturally to me.
Growing up in Europe, I was also fortunate to travel extensively. From historic and classical architecture to modernism and contemporary design, I was surrounded by an extraordinary diversity of buildings, cities, and places. Experiencing how architecture can reflect history, culture, technology, and identity only deepened my curiosity.
In high school, my fascination with art and history began to converge with this early exposure to construction. Architecture felt like the natural intersection of everything I was drawn to.
The more I learned, the more fascinated I became.
I’ve always had an analytical mind, and one of the things I value most about being an architect is the ability to look at a project holistically, bringing together design, structure, materials, technology, construction, and the experience of the people who ultimately inhabit a space.
For me, architecture is where creativity meets logic, and ideas become tangible.
Perhaps that is what drew me to it in the first place: growing up surrounded by the process of building, and eventually finding my place in shaping what gets built.
