About the Krystyna and Jim Johnson Awards (KJJA)
Photo of Krystyna and Jim Johnson.
Krystyna lived through the Nazi occupation of Warsaw with its famine, repressions and terrors, which taught her the need to conserve, to recycle and, at all costs, to avoid waste. She helped found SEDA and got huge satisfaction from her teaching at the two schools of architecture in Glasgow. After her death in 2003 it was natural that her husband, Jim, and SEDA, would create a student award in her memory, the Krystyna Johnson Award (KJA), to be assessed on sustainability criteria.
Jim was one of the first architects to realise and act upon the climate crisis both in his architectural practice and education in the 1970s. Co-founding ASSIST Architects and working with communities across Glasgow, Jim could easily be said to have instigated the community based housing movement. But his interests and influence reach far beyond to historic buildings, conservation and self build. Jim chaired the award and selected the winner right up until his death in January 2025. It is fitting, therefore, that the award is now named the Krystyna & Jim Johnson Award (KJJA) for ecological design.
