Together with her husband Alexander Shipkov, Elizaveta Shipkova became the symbol of the 60s architectural romanticism. The Shipkovs, who married as students at Moscow Institute of Architecture in 1956, moved to Norilsk in the north of Siberia upon graduating in 1959. In Norilsk, they designed visionary projects for megastructures, which they called “polyars” (from polar) bringing residential and public service functions under one roof. Their story was reinterpreted and adapted for Sergey Gerasimov’s film Love of Mankind (1972). Just like the film’s heroes, Elizaveta Shipkova remained in the shadow of her “genius” husband, who nevertheless admitted that she was “a full coauthor of all the projects, and nothing would have happened without her” (“Put’ na sever”).

The Shipkovs worked at the design office of Norilsk Mining and Metal Combine between 1959 and 1962. Having left Norilsk in 1962, they returned to the polar city in 1965, this time, with their two daughters. At this time, Elizaveta Shipkova worked at the sector of rapid-construction buildings of the Norilsk branch of Krasnoyarsk institute PromStroyNIIProekt, while Alexander Shipkov was the head architect of the city. The couple moved to Leningrad in 1967, where they continued designing architecture for the North.