Autor/-in: Ievgeniia Gubkina

Ievgeniia (Jenia) Gubkina is a Ukrainian architect, architectural and urban historian, and curator. Her work focuses on twentieth-century architecture and urban planning in Ukraine, with a multidisciplinary approach to heritage studies. She received her MA in architecture with a specialisation in urban planning in 2008. During her doctoral studies in the theory of architecture and restoration of architectural heritage she researched socialist cities. In 2014 Ievgeniia co-founded the Urban Forms Centre, an NGO devoted to the study and promotion of Modernist heritage in Ukraine, gender issues in architecture, and experimental approaches in architectural education. In 2020-2021 Ievgeniia curated the Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Architecture, an online multimedia project that encompassed architecture, history, documentary, and visual arts. Jenia conducted over five years of research into nuclear-power cities (atomograds) and approaches to housing nuclear power plant workers in Ukraine and abroad. Her work includes organising the 'Atomograds: Planned Cities in Contemporary Society' colloquium in Enerhodar and The Idea of the City: Reality Check, an interdisciplinary summer school, in Slavutych. She has also led tours of Slavutych for local residents, tourists, and official delegations from around the world. Since 2020 Jenia has served as the official ambassador of Slavutych, appointed by the city's mayor. Her first book, "Slavutych Architectural Guide", published by DOM publishers in 2016, was dedicated to this very topic. It explores the architecture of Slavutych - the last Soviet city, built after the Chornobyl disaster for workers of the Chornobyl Power Station. After years of research, her second book, "Soviet Modernism. Brutalism. Postmodernism. Buildings and Structures in Ukraine, 1955-1991", was published in 2019. 2023 brought the publication of Jenia's book "Being a Ukrainian Architect During Wartime", which offers insights into her experiences against the backdrop of the war. Her "Kharkiv Architectural Guide", devoted to her hometown, came out in 2025. In 2022 Russia's pursuit of full-scale war against Ukraine forced Jenia to move from Kharkiv. She settled in the UK, where she received a Randolph Quirk Fellowship at University College London under the CARA (Council for At-Risk Academics) programme. Since 2023 Jenia has been a tutor and lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL.