Marcin Szczelina

Marcin Szczelina is an architecture critic and curator working in Poland and internationally. He studied architecture and specialises in curating exhibitions, festivals and public conversations that bring architecture closer to a wide audience. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of ArchiSnob (Architecture Snob), an independent, bilingual platform and magazine on architecture, design and the culture of space.

In 2016, together with architect Hugon Kowalski, he created “Let’s Talk About Garbage”, an installation made from 27 tonnes of post-industrial waste. Invited by Alejandro Aravena, the project was shown in “Reporting from the Front”, the main exhibition of the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, the first time Polish authors were included in it. It later travelled to the European Parliament in Brussels, the Arsenał Municipal Gallery in Poznań and the Silesian Museum in Katowice, where it opened during the COP24 climate summit.

The project became the starting point for Architecture Snob, created at a time when, as he recalls, Polish professional media saw little value in such topics. The magazine launched in 2021 and was presented internationally at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona. Published in Polish and English, it has featured figures such as Alejandro Aravena and Liu Jiakun, and its issue premieres, recently held at the National Library in Warsaw, gather hundreds of architects, curators and investors.

Since 2014 he has been an expert of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, the Mies van der Rohe Award, nominating buildings from Poland. In 2020 he curated Katarzyna Krakowiak’s intervention “It begins with one word. Choose your own” at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona. In 2022 he became the first Pole on the jury of the Simon Architecture Prize, and in 2023 he served as a juror and Advisory Board member for the Czech Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. He is an expert of the UN Environment Programme’s Climate Leadership Programme and was an ambassador of the LafargeHolcim Awards for sustainable construction.

He curates PULSE, an international festival and platform that maps and connects the creative scene of Central Europe, with editions in Prague and Ostrava. In 2021 he was artistic director of the Warsaw Home & Contract fair. He hosts Salon Warszawski, a show where his two passions, architecture and cooking, meet around the table, and since 2017 he has organised Architects Play for WOŚP, charity auctions supporting the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.

His texts have appeared in international magazines such as Domus, Aesthetica and Azure. Together with Wise Habit he develops ArchiSnob events and conferences that connect architecture, design and business, including Lust for Life. Lust for Business. at the SARP headquarters in Warsaw.