One of the main events in Granit’s calendar is the annual summer trip. Each year we take the whole team out of the office in search of inspiration, some fresh ideas and of course some good old fashioning team building.

There are examples of magnificent architecture and design everywhere you look, and we’re firm believers in the value of continually refreshing our thinking. It’s what keeps our designs fresh, modern and up to date with what’s possible. This year we took the whole team to Krakow, Poland.

According to Wikipedia, Krakow is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. It’s situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region and was the official capital city until 1596. It has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural and artistic life. It is known to be one of Europe’s most beautiful cities – in fact, Krakow’s Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We went intending to see as much as we could in three days, and we packed in a lot. The city and its people and, of course, its buildings were fantastic. One thing you can be confident about when you’re travelling with a team of Architects is there will be a lot of photographs. So, after some editing, here are a handful of the more interesting architectural highlights from the trip and a few team photos too:

We also spent some sobering time at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. A very moving place to visit.