Bohdan Wiktor Kazimierz Pniewski (1897-1965) - Polish modernist architect, professor at the Warsaw University of Technology. In 1914 he enrolled at the Building Department of the Hipolit Wawelberg and Stanisław Rotwand Mechanical and Technical School in Warsaw. During his studies, he served apprenticeships with various architects, including Jan Heurich, Rudolf Świerczyński, Karol Jankowski and Kazimierz Skórewicz, gaining valuable experience. In 1915, he was not accepted into the newly opened Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology. Instead, he took up gainful employment as a graphic designer, which resulted in him winning two prizes in graphic design competitions in 1916 and 1917. It was not until 1917 that he was admitted to the Faculty of Architecture, but his studies were interrupted by historical events, including the closure of the university from November 1918 to October 1919 and its closure again from the summer to November 1920. In 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War, he served as a soldier in the 1st Cavalry Regiment under Colonel Gustav Orlicz-Dreszer and was wounded in the leg. He was awarded the Cross of Valour for his bravery. After his recovery, he returned to civilian life. In December 1920, after convalescence, he returned to his studies and graduated with honours on 1 February 1923. During his studies, he defended his thesis in monumental design under Professor Czesław Przybylski. In addition, he studied sculpture under Tadeusz Breyer and Edward Wittig. During his studies at the university, he was a member of the academic corporation Welecja. After graduation, he continued his academic career. In 1946, he became a professor at the Polytechnic, and in 1932 he took up the position of professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. He began his career as an architect as a proponent of functionalist avant-garde architecture. During this period he designed two colonies of terraced houses: the Słońce colony at 83-95 Madalińskiego Street in Mokotów and the Strzecha Urzędnicza at Kochowskiego and Niegolewskiego Streets in Żoliborz in the late 1920s. In 1928, he won first prize in a competition for the Polish embassy in Sofia. He then went on to design an increasing number of public buildings, such as the Grodzki Courts building in Leszno, Warsaw (1935-1939). Nevertheless, many of his designs were not realised due to the outbreak of the Second World War, including the Temple of Providence in Pole Mokotowskie (where he won prizes in competitions in 1930 and 1931) and the complex of Polish Radio buildings in Mokotow. During the war, he actively participated in clandestine education and sat on the jury of clandestine competitions aimed at rebuilding the country. After the war, he returned to his architectural and academic practice. His projects initially referred to the style of the 1930s, including the complex of buildings of the Ministry of Communications at Chałubińskiego Street, the residential buildings of the National Bank of Poland at Boya-Żeleńskiego Street and, from 1948, the realisation of a complex of parliamentary buildings attached to the existing assembly hall designed by Kazimierz Skórewicz. It is worth noting that in the case of the latter realisation, special attention was drawn to the architectural detailing, which represented a certain deviation from the ideology of socialist realism. In 1952 he became a correspondent member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), and was promoted to a full member in 1958. Between 1957 and 1962, the Peasant House, adjacent to the National Bank of Poland, was built and is regarded as one of the architect's outstanding works. His last project was the reconstruction and major extension of the Grand Theatre, including the new façade of the building on the side of today's Marshal J. Piłsudski Square and the representative interiors. Pniewski's last work, the reconstruction of the Grand Theatre, opened on 20 November 1965 with the premiere of 'The Haunted Manor', but the architect died on 5 September 1965.