What is the Value of having a trusted Visualization Partner? - Interview with Anna Sulikowska
Updated: Mar 22
"Having a trusted partner in your business is important."
Over the past few years we've had the pleasure of working together with Anna Sulikowska, a Canadian Architect, on a few different projects. This time we collaborated in bringing an art studio and an apartment in Palm Springs to life with a 3D visualization Video.
#AnnaSulikowska #3Dvisualizationvideo
Below you can see our interview and all the topics that we cover, as well as Annas contact information and the results of our collaboration.
Anna Sulikowska interviewed by Eeva Kavenius from Prefixa
This is what we cover in the interview:
Annas latest project and our collaboration
How her clients have reacted to our work together
Why she has stayed as our client for so long
What is up next for her business
You can find Anna and more about her work on her Instagram and LinkedIn accounts.
Below the transcript of the interview:
Eeva: Hey everyone, it's Eeva here again! And today I'm talking with Anna Sulikowska and we're going to talk a little bit about
her latest project and how she's been using high-quality 3D visualization videos to bring her vision and design to life in an effective way to communicate with her clients. Now with Anna, we do have a little bit of a history together, working together, but for those who are seeing our collaboration for the first time, Anna, can you kind of introduce yourself a little bit and tell me what you do?
Anna: Sure! So I am a nearly licensed architect in Canada. I'm with the Ontario Association of Architects, and I've worked for about 13 years now on different aspects of, different kinds of typologies. Anything from residential, large scale residential to government projects, transportation projects, airports, instituational projects. So, a whole variety. I specialize mostly in Revit, I love that program. So, I'm all about advanced technologies and efficient logistics I guess. Yeah, and I've lived in Toronto mostly. I went and did my masters in Toronto and I'm in western Canada right now, in Edmonton. And lately, I've been working on smaller projects even in Italy.
Eeva: Wow, yeah that sounds great! So, a large variety of projects and internationally as well.
Anna: Yeah, I'm beginning to sort of do smaller projects outside of Canada.
Eeva: That sounds great! And so you have been using Revit your whole career or is it something that you kind of lately started using?
Anna: No I've been using it. In school, the tendency of the academic world was to push other software on as a standard, but I always found them very clumsy and not synchronized enough. Revit was the only software which sort of aligned with how I think about design and construction. So yeah, I've definitely have been using it since maybe 2007.
Eeva: Oh okay! That's great, that's great. So, about our latest collaboration, we've been working together for a couple of years now right?
Anna: Yes
Eeva: And we've made a couple of projects together. So can you tell me about our latest project?
Anna: So the latest project was a, it's a proposal for someone's house in Palm Springs. And that client is also an old friend. And He is someone who works, he is a photographer, he is a quite a know photographer. And he also paints quite a bit. So I decided to make a proposal for his house which is two buildings with a swimming pool. One is a studio and one is the residence. And it's just a very simple frame with a lot of glazing surrounded by the context or like the landscape of palm springs and area, like the beautiful landscape and desert. So I wanted to highlight that and Prefixa definitely helped me contextualize that Idea. Without, you know, using prefixa to make this project happen I wouldn't be able to communicate the context as well, as with this video. Yeah, you guys did a great job, so Thank you!
Eeva: I'm very glad to hear that! Yeah, so the whole project was really about bringing the landscape kind of into the design and just really designing for a dear friend of yours to have a place for him.
Anna: Yes! But also because he's just a very inspiring individual and these are the kinds of clients that I, you know, aspire to be working with.
Eeva: Great! So the client inspires you, and you maybe inspire the client with your work as well?
Anna: Exactly!
Eeva: That's amazing! Yeah, so, can I ask since we've been working for a couple of years, what has kind of made you stay with us this whole time?
Anna: Because, well part of it is because you guys, we have a good repore, so, you know we have a good relationship. It's really easy to work with you guys, you're super accommodating even if my schedule is crazy sometimes. Yeah and you're so patient, you know if something takes me a long time to deliver for you to work on. But You know there are so many more projects that I would like to do in the next year. It's just a matter of time, finding time to give these projects to you guys. But Definitely, and the final products is incredible, because you know I was never into fancy renderings or really... Like I always liked very basic kind of almost like understanded, minimalist renderings, images. But I love like I like how simple and how you can communicate that also with the software that you use. So, for me, it's definitely, yeah it's one of the reasons I love working with you guys.
Eeva: Yeah, definitely! And working together for quite some time, it's been nice because now we know how you work, and we kind of, it's very easy to communicate with you, and we know what you want and kind of the style you want to go for. So, it's really nice being able to work together on those projects because we kind of know what to expect, and you know what to expect from us as well.
Anna: Yeah, and you guys are really nice, so yeah!
Eeva: Thank you! We love working with you! So, you've been really using these videos to communicate with your clients and the people you do your work and proposals for. What has been their reaction to the work?
Anna: Usually it's WOW, like people are so, you know, astonished by even... The two projects you guys did for me, where the clients were friends, were so surprised by how well everything was executed. It just looks like, you know like they were impressed. And these are, I would say like people who are a little bit higher caliber, who have very good taste themselves. So if I'm impressing, or you know if your work is able to impress people who have these high standards, or high aesthetic, I would say, then it's definitely a successful project.
Eeva: Yeah, no definitely. And bringing your vision and your designs to life, like that's what we're doing. And, I'm glad that we've been able to do that, to communicate your vision to them as well.
Anna: Yeah and I definitely, you know, I wouldn't be able to do such an amazing job myself because I'm focused on other things and other aspects of the design. So I'm happy to leave it to professionals who are just very good at what they're doing.
Eeva: Yeah, I think last time we talked about how you want to focus on the design, and you can leave everything else to other people, and that way you actually have time to focus on the design actually.
Anna: Yeah thanks for remembering that! Yes, that definitely is a, you know, it's like a very valuable tool, or like a valuable business, valuable service you guys provide to help us do this. Because, like I said, like you said, sometimes we, you know, we wouldn't be able to do it ourselves.
Eeva: I'm glad to hear that, I'm glad we've been able to help you in your design process as well.
Anna: Thank you.
Eeva: So, can I ask, would you recommend other architects like you to work with us? I know it's a pretty straightforward question but I would love to hear your ideas.
Anna: Yeah, and I've talked to other friends about your software as well. I think just maybe, I think a lot of different offices have their own teams already, or sometimes the architects do produce their own renderings and they're like "oh maybe we don't need a video", but that may change depending on the scale of the project. But yeah, I definitely keep telling my colleagues about your company and if people are not using you, I think they're missing out on opportunities.
Eeva: I really appreciate that Anna, thank you! That's great, so, you talked a little bit about your next projects and things that you have underworks. Can you tell me a little bit more about those?
Anna: Yeah so there are a few more things that I've been sort of designing or thinking of doing, and I'm not sure if I want to talk about them exactly. But some of them have to do with, you know, maybe doing a little project in Italy, or there are just some other smaller things that I'm thinking of doing. And maybe doing a design like an urban landscape with residential towers. I think we talked about it.
Eeva: Yeah I think you mentioned it!
Anna: Yes, so I would like to start working on that.
Eeva: Great! Okay, so a couple of smaller projects coming up for you in the near future, right?
Anna: Yes!
Eeva: Okay! And so finally, where can we find out more about you and your work online? Do you have an Instagram page, something like that?
Anna: I just have an Instagram account and but the way that it's spelled is a bit difficult. I'm trying to, I'm basically trying to come up with a good, I'm very bad at marketing I actually should hire you guys to do my marketing. I should hire you as my PR person. No, so yeah. That's still in the works, I have to find someone who is going to design my website. It's just always a work in progress. I feel like its, I don't deed it that much right now. Once I have everything compiled it's going to come together. It's really hard to decide on the name of the firm and things like that. I just, I find that I change my mind way too often so I need a professional to tell me like "this is what the name of your company is" and I'll be like "okay".
Eeva: Okay, well I'll link your Instagram account to this video as well so maybe we can go see some of your works there as well.
Anna: Okay
Eeva: Yeah perfect! Thank you so much Anna for taking the time to talk with me and tell me about your project and our collaboration. I really appreciate that.
Anna: Thank you, it's always a pleasure. Thank you so much, Eeva! And yeah!
Eeva: Okay, see you later everyone! Bye!