Early life and career
Ryszard Jurkowski was born in 1945 to a working-class family in industrialised Sosnowiec [5] [2] within the Upper Silesian agglomeration, where later, as factories and coal mines declined, the architectural identity of the Third Polish Republic began to take shape. [4]
Jurkowski went to Bolesław Prus Secondary School in Sosnowiec, and in 1969 he graduated with a master's degree in architecture from Kraków University of Technology, [5] [6] subsequently obtaining the professional qualifications to practice under the title 'architect'. [5]
During the communist era architecture was characterised by extensive housing estates, industrial halls, and administrative buildings in various styles — from the socialist realism to the prefabricated concrete panel buildings. To Jurkowski, and another young Silesian architect Stanisław Niemczyk, these buildings appeared monotonous, repetitive, and neglectful of basic human needs. [4]
In 1969 he joined the Regional Municipal Building Company in Sosnowiec, but two years later began working for a large architectural firm Investprojekt in Katowice. [5] [7] It was there that in 1984 he designed Kokociniec residential complex, where buildings with high gable roofs, overlooking home zones and attractive, accessible spaces and environments for residents, radically differed from the typical communist-era housing estate. [4] Owing to limited availability of adequate building materials and underdeveloped construction technology, the completion of Kokociniec, along with other projects by Jurkowski, presented significant challenges, and even the need for confronting the Committee of the communist Polish United Workers' Party, [3] but it was this architectural style that inspired people’s hope for economic and social renewal. [4]
Jurkowski left Investprojekt in 1990 to establish together with his wife, [7] [8] who also holds a degree in architecture, [9] his own firm AiR Jurkowscy Architekci. [5] [6]
Between 1991 and 1996 hei was a senior lecturer at Kraków University of Technology and in the years 1992-1998 and 2003-2006 the chairman of the Regional Commission for Urban Planning and Architecture in Katowice. [5] He was also appointed a member of Poland’s General Commission for Urban Planning and Architecture in Warsaw [5] [10] and he played a significant role in creating the Act of 15 December 2000 on professional self-governing bodies for architects. [11]
He was the chief coordinator of the professional architects' environments focusing on improving the standards of Polish architecture, [12] [2] and in 2000 was elected the president of the Association of Polish Architects, and held this position until 2006. [5] [13]
In 2018 Jurkowski orchestrated the publishing of the first Polish edition of On Adam’s House in Paradise: The Idea of the Primitive Hut in Architectural History (Polish: O rajskim domu Adama: Idea pierwotnej chaty w historii architektury), a literary work on the history and philosophy of architecture written by the foremost historian and critic Professor Joseph Rykwert, [14] and published under the patronage of the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning (NIAIU) with a foreword from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. [15]
He is also a member of the Polish Architecture Council, [16] and one of the judges of the Collegium of Competition Judges SARP. [17] [18]
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