Maria Lezhnina
Master's in Urban Vision & Architectural Design
Year of Graduation: 2012
Current role: Artist and Architect
Country: Russia
Maria Lezhnina is an artist and architect based in Taipei. Born in Kazan, she studied architecture in Russia before earning a Master in Urban Vision & Architectural Design at Domus Academy in Milan, graduating in 2012 under the supervision of Gianandrea Barreca.
After graduation, she worked with several international architecture firms, including Open Building Research, Archea Associati, and Kris Yao | Artech. These experiences shaped her approach to material research, construction, and the realisation of complex projects, laying the foundation for her multidisciplinary practice.
Maria Lezhnina is an artist and architect based in Taipei. Born in Kazan, she studied architecture in Russia before earning a Master in Urban Vision & Architectural Design at Domus Academy in Milan, graduating in 2012 under the supervision of Gianandrea Barreca.
After graduation, she worked with several international architecture firms, including Open Building Research, Archea Associati, and Kris Yao | Artech. These experiences shaped her approach to material research, construction, and the realisation of complex projects, laying the foundation for her multidisciplinary practice.
Today, Maria’s work spans public art, installation, architecture, photography and spatial research. Drawing on her architectural background, she creates site-specific works that explore the relationship between light, colour, materials, climate, and the surrounding environment. Rather than treating public art as standalone objects, she designs spatial experiences that invite people to move through, inhabit, and engage with them.
Her work has been presented internationally through galleries, art fairs, residencies, and public commissions. Recent projects include permanent installations for National Chengchi University and NOKE Mall / Aurora Ice Rink in Taipei. Alongside her artistic practice, she has also taught at the i2a – Istituto Internazionale di Architettura in Lugano–Vico Morcote, as well as at Huafan University and Shih Chien University in Taipei.
“Domus Academy gave me the confidence to work across disciplines and helped me understand architecture as a way of observing, interpreting, and transforming the environments we inhabit – well beyond the design of buildings.”
