Milka Bliznakov was born on September 20, 1927, in Varna, Bulgaria to Ivan Dimitrov Tchernev and Dr. Maria Kesarova Khorosova.[1] She earned a master's degree in architecture from the State Polytechnic University of Sofia in 1951.[2]
Career
Bliznakov started an architecture practice in Bulgaria in 1952. Political circumstances forced her to move her practice to France in 1959.[2] She immigrated to the United States two years later, in 1961.[3] She worked as an architect and studied early Soviet architecture during the 1960s.[2] After earning a PhD in architectural history from Columbia University in 1971, she taught at the University of Texas from 1972 to 1974. There she co-founded the Institute of Modern Russian Culture in 1972.[2]
Bliznakov joined the faculty of Virginia Tech's School of Architecture and Design in 1974, teaching in the urban design program.[2] She became recognized as an authority on the avant-garde and Russian Constructivism.[4][1] In 1985, she established the International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA) as a joint program of Virginia Tech's College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the University Libraries.[2][5]
She chaired IAWA's Board of Advisors from 1985 to 1993.[6]
Bliznakov retired in 1998, the same year that the Milka Bliznakov Prize was established. The prize is awarded for research that furthers knowledge of women's contributions to architecture and design.[7]
From Theory to Practice in Constructivist Architecture (1979). Division of Architecture and Environmental Design, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
History and Theory of Urban Form (1985). College of Architecture & Urban Studies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University.
"A Bibliographical Guide to Their Work: Soviet Women Architects, 1917–1937" (1994)
References
^ ab"In Memoriam: Milka Bliznakov". Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design. November 9, 2010. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2013.