Jan Zachwatowicz practised at a period when the terms of architecture itself were under argument.
The record lists Jan Zachwatowicz as architect, architectural historian, restorer (1900–1983).
Jan Zachwatowicz was born at Gatchina in 1900. His recorded nationality is Poland. He trained at Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering and Warsaw University of Technology.
Modernism rejected ornament and historical style, arguing that a building should express its structure and its function - a claim contested ever since.
He is recorded as architect, restorer and university teacher.
Buildings outlast their architects and usually their purposes, which is what makes the discipline unforgiving.
Recognition followed: SARP Honorary Award, Commander with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta, Commander of the Order of Polonia Restituta and Work Flag Order, 1st class.
That the work was built in Poland shaped it: climate, materials, planning law and who holds the budget all decide what can actually be built.
Jan Zachwatowicz died in 1983, aged 83. The buildings remain, still in use by people who never knew the name - which is the particular afterlife architecture offers.
Achievements
- SARP Honorary Award
- Commander with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta
- Commander of the Order of Polonia Restituta
- Trained at Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering and Warsaw University of Technology
