ORIS: Would you say that today the key principle applied in architectural creation is teamwork?

Rogina: I think it’s fashionable, this turning of individual effort into a sort of workshop, called “Foreign Office” or “Work Station”, or whatever else. We didn’t start out with a programmatic position. It was rather a spontaneous, intuitive thing, the idea being not to have a big office but to create. We felt we could do it better together, we were doing well and the results showed that we were right. That’s how we started, and at the first opportunity we named our office PENEZIĆ & ROGINA, architects. 

Penezić: You’ve touched on several interesting topics worth elaboration. Our method is neither specific to, nor uncommon for, the way things are today, but our collaboration is far more than just a pragmatic partnership, and that’s what’s important. Architecture is not just a creative expression of the mythical proto-master, of the artist whose sketch determines the fate of a building, but a complex discipline involving many different professions in which the architect needn’t necessarily be a specialist. What’s required is that he is familiar enough with all of them to be able to compose the whole, as he is the only one with a clear vision of the whole. He is like a conductor with the job of bringing many different sounds into harmony or like a captain of a ship managing a large crew. We’ve seen examples of teamwork in contacts with world-renowned architects … they’re much like the frontmen to many collaborators operating in a certain type of democracy where people with ideas and ambition are always welcome. However, in architecture, as in any responsible undertaking, it’s the moment of decision-making that matters. The responsibility of the decision lies with the one signing the project.