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Architect, educator
Alexandra Ulner, last edited on 18.07.2022
Name:
Barbara Brukalska-Sokołowska
Life Dates:
1899 – 1980
Country:
Field of expertise:
Architectural design, education, interior design
Education:
Warszawa University of Technology
Barbara Brukalska-Sokołowska was born in 1899 in Brzeźce, Poland. She studied at the Technical University in Warsaw. From 1926 to 1930 she was a member of the Praesens group of architects. Her projects were created in collaboration with her husband, the architect Stanisław Brukalsk. They are known for their designs using industrially produced building elements to reduce the cost of construction. These include modern housing complexes for the Warsaw Housing Cooperative (Warszawska Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa) in the Żoliborz district WWII. She and her husband are also seen as the creators of the concept of cooperative housing in Poland.
In 1948, she became a professor at the Warsaw University of Technology (Politechnika Warszawska). She thus set a milestone by being the first woman to hold this position at that university.
Together with her husband, Barbara Brukalska-Sokołowska designed modern housing complexes for the Warsaw Housing Cooperative (Warszawska Spółdzielnia Mieszkaniowa) in the Żoliborz district before World War II, from 1927 to 1932. Other realised buildings were avant-garde villas in Warsaw.
After the Second World War, from 1948 to 1950, she was responsible for the reconstruction of the Bank House under the Eagles (“Dom pod Orłami”). From 1956 to 1975, she designed a church in Troszyn.
Other designs include the housing estate in Okęcie in 1960 and the Matysiak House (“Dom Matysiaków”) in 1965.
Barbara Brukalska-Sokołowska is not only known for her housing estates, but also for her expertise in interior design. She designed furniture and interior decoration. In 1937, she was responsible for the interior arrangement of the Polish pavilion at the World’s Fair in Paris.
Gawryszewska, B. J., & Wilczyńska, A. CREATIVE URBAN AREAS OR URBAN GARDENING AS A PROCESS OF CONTEMPORARY CITYSCAPE MAKING. EDUCATION FOR RESEARCH, 248.
Leśniakowska, M. (2020). Barbara Brukalska–polska gwiazda światowej awangardy.
SIEMIŃSKI, W. (1986). Collectivism and Social Individualism in the History of Housing Concepts in Poland. The Polish Sociological Bulletin, (73/74), 101-112.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Brukalska (last accessed on 18.07.2022)
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