JEMS Architekci — the quiet authority of Polish architecture
In Polish architecture there is a studio whose name rarely appears in the mainstream media and yet, for more than three decades, has set the standard for what the word "quality" means in this profession. JEMS Architekci do not build a cult of personality around themselves, nor do they dazzle with spectacular gestures. They build — consistently, with restraint and with an obsessive attention to detail.
Origins and philosophy
The studio was founded in 1988 by Olgierd Jagiełło, Maciej Miłobędzki, Jerzy Szczepanik-Dzikowski and Wojciech Zych, and its name references the founders' surnames. In 1993 Marcin Sadowski joined, becoming a partner in 1996. The JEMS language is recognisable for its restraint: refined detail, natural materials, modular elevations dominated by vertical divisions, compositional discipline. In 2002 the partners received the SARP Honorary Award for their contribution to the development of Polish architecture.
Office and institutional buildings
Their Warsaw projects remain the calling card. The headquarters of the Agora publishing house on Czerska Street — together with the Spectra office building and the studio's own headquarters — was for years regarded as a point of reference for Polish office architecture. For the Agora project the studio received first prize in the Polish Cement in Architecture 2002 competition. Beyond Warsaw, the most important public project is the International Congress Centre in Katowice — with its characteristic "valley" cutting through the form.
Regeneration and the urban fabric
A separate thread is the work with heritage. JEMS are responsible for the regeneration of Hala Koszyki in Warsaw. Their largest undertaking is Browary Warszawskie — a project delivered for Echo Investment that, on the almost 4.4-hectare site of a former brewery, reassembled a fragment of the city from scratch: office buildings, residential buildings and preserved historic structures. The team received the title of the world's best urban regeneration at the MAPIC Awards 2022, the Grand Prix of the Architectural Award of the Mayor of Warsaw and a nomination for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2024.
Continuity and standing today
The latest recognitions confirm that the form is still current: JEMS were among those nominated for the SARP Award of the Year 2026 for the AFI Office House office building at 10 Wronia Street in Warsaw. This is a practice that over more than thirty years has changed neither the scale of its ambition nor its standard of execution. For premium investors, their body of work is a lesson in how the most durable value in architecture is created not by effect, but by quality sustained across decades.
An editorial piece by Method Press based on public sources (company reports, press releases, trade press). Produced independently, with no commercial relationship with the company described.