This year’s Latvian Architecture Award 2025 Grand Prix went to MADE Arhitekti, whose wooden kindergarten in Salaspils is the first public building in the Baltics to receive a passive building certificate. To achieve this, the architects had to overcome a number of obstacles that make it difficult to use wood in public buildings. In the Nice Touch section, one of the project’s authors, co-founder of MADE Arhitekti Miķelis Putrāms, talks about a method that helps overcome communication barriers.
«When talking to other people, it is worth asking questions in such a way as to receive a negative answer — no. For example, instead of «Can you talk right now?», ask «Am I disturbing you?». In this hectic world, other people usually want something from us, so we are cautious about agreeing immediately. By asking in such a way that the answer we want includes denial, we allow the other person to be in control of the conversation and express their position. Moreover, the answer «yes» does not always mean complete agreement.
This tip comes from a book I have read several times — Chris Voss’ Never Split the Difference. The author emphasises that the goal of negotiation is not manipulation but purposeful empathy to find the truth. Sometimes, in order to better understand my conversation partner’s point of view, I rephrase what they have said in the opposite sense; when I receive a certain rejection, I confirm my conversation partner’s position.»
Architects Miķelis Putrāms and Linda Krūmiņa run the MADE Arhitekti office, passionately creating creative, rational, and multi-layered projects, both private homes and public buildings, with a particular focus on sustainable timber architecture. One such project is the Salaspils kindergarten building, which won the Grand Prix at the Latvian Architecture Awards 2025. The authors managed to implement the project by finding alternative solutions to restrictive and outdated fire safety requirements. In 2023, MADE Architects received the Latvian Architecture Award for the wooden office building in Lizums and also won the Grand Prix for the Dailes Theatre square.
Viedokļi