Willa Koliba has stood in Zakopane for over 130 years. I asked an architect whether today we still know how to build in a way that fits this place and its architecture.
If you come to Podhale regularly, you have probably noticed that new buildings in Zakopane stir up strong emotions. Some are stunning. Others look as if someone had pasted them in from a completely different world.
I sat down with an architect from the Karpiel Steindel studio — one of the best-known architecture firms in Podhale — and asked about everything nobody usually asks about. About money, mistakes, AI, the billboards along the Zakopianka road and which building he would like to demolish.
It turned into an honest conversation. Below are the most important things I took away from it.
📺 Watch the video – from the Podhale.info YouTube channel (in Polish):
Where does the idea for a design come from?
The architect starts with a conversation with the client and with the site. The plot, the neighbourhood, the slope, the light — all of this shapes the final form of the building before a single sketch is drawn.
An interesting thing: the first sketches often differ little from the final visualisation. A good idea is good from the start.
Some clients want absurd things — a pink house in a historic street frontage, a glass wall facing the halny wind. The studio says no. Not because it can’t do it, but because a good architect also educates the client, rather than just drawing whatever they want.
How much does a house in Podhale cost?
The short answer: more than anywhere else in Poland.
Expensive plots, difficult terrain, rock, slopes — all of this drives up costs from the very start. There is no single answer on specific amounts, because the range is huge. Houses in the Karpiel Steindel portfolio can cost from a few million up to 20–30 million PLN.
But there is a more important idea: the concept matters more than the budget. You can create something wonderful from inexpensive materials. You can also make something shoddy from expensive ones. It is not money that decides quality — it is the design.
Hidden costs nobody tells you about
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation.
People don’t like paying for what they can’t see. And that is exactly what can be the most expensive. Fixing elements for oversized window frames — a single screw costs 2,300 PLN. Soundproofing materials. Floors made of wood seasoned by a single company in the world, which have to be laid at controlled air humidity.
Technology and costs always go together. The more innovative the design, the more things the client doesn’t foresee at the pricing stage.
A wooden house — expensive to maintain or a myth?
A myth. Wood is the cheapest material to maintain, as long as you don’t ruin it.
The biggest mistake? Painting it. Wood is meant to age naturally and develop its own patina. The best protection is grey soap and a rice-straw brush — exactly as the highlanders did for centuries. Just drive through Chochołów to see that houses hundreds of years old look great without any chemical impregnation.
An important design rule: the roof must be designed so that rain and snow affect the wood directly as little as possible. The rest takes care of itself.
Will AI replace architects?
No. At least not the good ones.
The studio uses AI to speed up visualisations and for brainstorming with the client. But the concept itself has to come from a person, because AI doesn’t read emotions and has no experience. Trying to generate a design with artificial intelligence results in a patchwork of other people’s ideas from the cloud.
A spot-on quote from the conversation: AI will replace amateurs, not craftspeople.
What is ruining Zakopane?
This is where the strongest words of the whole conversation came.
Not property developments — although they can be a problem too. The biggest devastation of Podhale is the advertising along the roads. Driving the Zakopianka from Nowy Targ to Zakopane is a sight you won’t find anywhere else in Europe. Advertising banners blocking the view of the Tatras. Meadows illegally filled in to make car parks. Zero enforcement of the rules.
A positive example: Kraków after the introduction of the landscape protection law. The billboards disappeared, the greenery came back into view, and so did the views of historic buildings. It can be done. You just have to want it.
Which building in Zakopane would he demolish?
Not one — a whole category.
The so-called “fours” — houses on a square floor plan, two storeys, a roof on top. A symbol of the 1970s and 80s, when people returning from the United States built as if to escape local tradition as quickly as possible. They still stand in every Podhale village. They have nothing to do with Podhale.
What will Podhale look like in 20 years?
The answer is short and to the point: no billboards and no meadows filled in for car parks.
The full interview on YouTube
The above is just a summary. The full conversation lasts over an hour and covers many more topics — including the story of the studio’s most innovative projects, a design for a treehouse clad in mirrored sheet metal and why some projects waited in a drawer for 7 years before being built.
👉 Watch the full interview on YouTube → Podhale architecture. An honest conversation (in Polish)
Karpiel Steindel Architektura
The studio has been working in Podhale for over 20 years. Its projects have been published in prestigious architecture magazines around the world, including the Swiss Modulare. Designs inspired by Podhale tradition — as recognisable as the contemporary architecture of Tyrol or other Alpine regions.
🔵 Facebook 📸 Instagram → @karpielsteindel_architektura 🌐 karpielsteindel.eu
Website: https://karpielsteindel.eu/
Want to see an inn built in the traditional wooden style? Check out the Chata Zbójnicka inn
