Biography
Architect, professor, co-founder of Kuryłowicz & Associates and the firm’s lead designer since 1990. From 2011 to 2022 she was general designer and vice-president of Kuryłowicz & Associates. Wife of Stefan Kuryłowicz, mother of Michał and Marek. She was born on 4 December 1953 in Warsaw. A graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology and of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, USA (1975). For 45 years she was associated with the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, where she defended her doctorate and obtained her habilitation in 1997. From 2002 to 2022 she headed its Department of Design and Theory of Architecture. Since 2014 she has held the title of full professor. She has supervised more than 150 diploma theses defended at the Warsaw University of Technology, many of them awarded in national and university competitions. She has reviewed numerous academic works.
Ewa Kuryłowicz is a member of the Committee on Architecture and Urban Planning of the Polish Academy of Sciences. From 2000 to 2008 she served as PR director of the International Union of Architects (UIA) programme “Spiritual Places”, and from 2005 to 2008 as an expert of the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) on universal design. She is a member of the Chamber of Architects of the Republic of Poland and a SARP judge. Until 2011 she served as the lead designer in charge at the Kuryłowicz & Associates studio. Her completed projects include the Courtyard by Marriott hotel at Warsaw Chopin Airport and private residences, such as the Residence of the Ambassador of South Korea in the Wawer district of Warsaw, the Faculty of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics of the University of Warsaw, and the Wilanów Town Hall. At Kuryłowicz & Associates she co-created many buildings, including the National Forum of Music in Wrocław, the Galeria Warmińska in Olsztyn, the Białystok City Stadium, the Tides building in Warsaw, the Q22 tower and the H. Arctowski research station in Antarctica.
In her research and professional work Ewa Kuryłowicz frequently addresses the question of inclusive architecture. In 1996 her book “Universal Design: Making the Environment Accessible to People with Disabilities” was published (Research and Development Centre for the Rehabilitation of Disabled People, Warsaw 1996), followed by a revised second edition in 2005. It was the first publication in Poland to address the design of space taking into account the needs of people with disabilities. Ewa Kuryłowicz was also a consultant to the University of Warsaw on adapting the university’s buildings for people with disabilities, a role she held until 2012.
Ewa Kuryłowicz has served as a juror in international and Polish architectural competitions, including the Wienerberger Brick Award, the EPSE Awards and the Annual Polish-German BDA-SARP Integration Award. She has chaired many juries in national and international architectural and urban-planning competitions.
In 2016 SARP honoured her with the “Bene Merentibus” Medal, and in 2017 she received the association’s Golden Badge. In 2022 she received the SARP Honorary Award; that year she also published the book “The Human Dimension of Architecture. Theory for Practice”. She is a member of the jury of the POLITYKA Science Award and of the Architecture Councils of the cities of Gdańsk and Kraków. In 2025 she was entered on the Golden List of graduates of the Warsaw University of Technology.
Ewa Kuryłowicz is the founder of the Stefan Kuryłowicz Foundation, whose aims include encouraging the continuation of the Patron’s attitude — his passion, his warmth towards people, and his ability to combine artistic talent with managerial and business acumen.
