Infinite Picnic
Born in Poland - now Stockholm based practitioner.
He studied architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology (BSc) and at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (MSc). He also holds a second master’s degree in Spatial Design from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm (MFA). Additionally, he participated in several exchange programs at BTH Karlskrona, Politecnico di Milano, KU Leuven, and ETH Zurich.
He has previously worked as an architect at Atelier Tektura in Warsaw and at Igual & Guggenheim in Zurich. Currently, he is engaged as a bird keeper and assistant at Carsten Höller Studio in Stockholm.
His work is developed with a strong focus on tectonics and the articulation of structures. It often begins at the micro scale, exploring details that are later reapplied within a larger body of work. His practice seeks to engage with a make-do approach—or, in other words, an economy of means: the careful management of available resources. This often involves working with materials found in situ. By doing so, his projects become contextualized, growing organically from the site itself.
Moreover, his fascination with temporary structures, combined with a relational approach to arts, plays a key role in the development of his work. Through workshops and small-scale collaborations, he explores reappropriation as a central concept in shaping spaces of public interest.
The project Infinite Picnic, included in this application, was awarded a Konstfack Foundation Stipendium. Developed as a master’s thesis, it investigated themes of utopian gathering, open form, and waste within the public realm—an approach that motivated the jury to grant the award.
Infinite Picnic explores the speculative refusal of temporary structures. Here, the concept of a picnic is understood figuratively—as a gathering that unfolds into public space, only to be folded back. It is undefined, open-ended—infinite. There is no predetermined activity; rather, it takes shape through objects whose properties enable the structure to evolve. As a result, it can be continuously redefined, allowing users to reappropriate the space.
The field of utopian gathering with its temporary nature serve as a guideline to answer the question what is the topic of this project. Architectural discourse concerning public spaces is evolving around the controlled environment, based on ownership, excessive safety and exclusiveness. This project dives into realm of radical architecture of opposition, exploring possible alternatives.
Open Form theory provided a framework on how the proposal has been developed and what technical strategies were used in that development. It is important to stress that this project begins with the detail itself. The simplicity of individual components allows for intuitive understanding and, as a consequence, gives the ability to change the bigger structure by the user.
Finally, discussion on waste and economy has been used to discuss the materiality aspect of that project and how it can be introduced in the spatial design. All of the objects have been developed solely with discarded materials. This “matter out of place” has been put in use, reconfigured and installed back in a place of the new creative process.
The outcome presented in the proposal should be seen as a materialized toolbox of methods—meant for future development rather than as a fixed design. Though it functions as an installation, it is the act of making, the use of materials, and the interaction with users and site that the project truly embodies. The work serves as an atlas of language that can guide the manifestation of Infinite Picnic on a larger scale.