Wejchert’s creative design ethos has firm foundations
Three months after Andrezj Wejchert’s untimely death, the practice he founded with his wife Danuta lives on and remains true to the principles he established – how the buildings he and his partners designed would work for people as well as relate to their settings, answering the issues of function and place. Andrezj was a true gentleman, a Pole who found his place here after winning an international competition in 1964 – when he was not yet 30 – to design UCD’s Belfield campus; legendarily, he sketched his concept of laying out the new buildings along a pedestrian spine on the kitchen table of his mother’s flat in Warsaw.
AD Wejchert went on to design numerous buildings in Ireland and, latterly, Poland. “Whether large or small, his attention was always to detail, function, environment and how it would work,” says Danuta. “He wanted us to continue giving that attention, saying good design is the most important thing and never forget about that.”
Managing director Paddy Fletcher says the practice “never had a set style” and always designed a building in response to the site. “Most of our projects have a very strong concept, which is important to ending up with a better building. We’re always very conscious to learn from each project, but there’s no repetition in what we do.”
