Karolina Pieniążek
#EditorialWriter
In the midst of the complex conflicts within urban environments, there must be a critical space to reimagine modernist architectural legacies and forge a new path for preservation
Karolina Pieniążek is a PhD candidate in the Built Heritage Preservation program at the Polytechnic University of Milan, in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DASTU). Her research focuses on 20th-century architecture in the context of the former Soviet Union, with particular emphasis on its preservation. Her PhD thesis has been recognized by the UNESCO Chair in Mantova for its contribution to the field of heritage conservation.
Since 2021, Karolina has been actively engaged in research in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, where she initially explored the city’s modernist architecture. For her master’s thesis, she focused on the Panoramic Cinema—one of Tashkent’s most iconic modernist buildings—analyzing its architectural significance and developing a preservation strategy combined with adaptive reuse. Building on this work, she contributed to the nomination of Tashkent Modernist Architecture: Modernity and Tradition in Central Asia for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
In 2025, Karolina joined the curatorial team of the Uzbekistan Pavilion for the Venice Biennale, led by GRACE. The exhibition, A Matter of Radiance, highlighted Uzbekistan’s modernist architectural legacy, focusing on the Sun Institute of Material Science (formerly the Sun Heliocomplex). Built near Tashkent, this solar furnace is one of only two facilities worldwide studying material behavior under extreme temperatures, representing one of the final major scientific projects of the USSR.
In addition to her academic research, Karolina has collaborated as a consultant on international heritage projects. Notably, she was involved in the master plan project for Mykolaiv, Ukraine—a part of the global “Build Back Better” initiative—led by the One Works Foundation and promoted by UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe). Her contribution focused on promoting strategies to integrate Mykolaiv’s heritage into visions for the city’s reconstruction, while addressing gaps in the current local heritage list, particularly the absence of 20th-century architectural heritage from the Soviet period.
For several years, she has been collaborating with the Polytechnic University of Milan, where she assists in teaching activities in courses that combine architectural design and architectural heritage preservation.
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