2025.11.09-11.14 Jiang Kunzhi + Lin Huangyi
This survey aims to explore the interaction between Soviet culture and Islamic culture within the urban space of western Tashkent, with a particular focus on whether this cultural layering has given rise to region-specific lighting approaches and expressions of the luminous environment. Therefore, a systematic field survey and documentation were carried out across the urban areas of Tashkent.
As the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent reflects both Soviet modernism and Islamic architectural traditions. The city features large Soviet-era public buildings alongside religious architecture that blends tradition and modernity. In addition to above-ground buildings, this survey also examined the Tashkent Metro, Central Asia’s first metro system opened in 1977, where refined lighting and rich materials create museum-like underground spaces. (Jiang Kunzhi)
■Aerial night view of Tashkent
Viewed from the TV Tower, Tashkent’s nightscape appears as a network of “lines” and “points” rather than a continuous illuminated façade. The road system forms the clearest visual structure: main roads and ring roads read as linear light bands, while bridges and major intersections appear as brighter nodes, creating a legible traffic framework over the city’s flat skyline. These linear elements strongly define the city’s sense of direction and scale.
In contrast, most buildings remain dark at night, with their presence defined only by entrance lighting, limited window glow, and reflected ambient light. As a result, the overall background luminance stays low, allowing a few landmarks—such as tall structures or media façades—to stand out as highly recognizable visual anchors through contrast rather than brightness.
■Soviet Modernist Architecture
Tashkent retains many representative Soviet-era public buildings that form the foundation of its modernist urban structure through monumental scale, strict geometry, and functionalist design. While these buildings show strong architectural presence during the day, their nighttime condition is markedly different. This survey focuses on how Soviet modernist architecture performs under low-light conditions from nighttime and pedestrian perspectives.
Overall, these buildings do not form a systematic illuminated façade at night. Most lack wall washing or floodlighting, and their visibility mainly relies on entrance lighting, limited interior glow, and ambient light from surrounding streets. As a result, buildings appear as large dark volumes, with daytime structural rhythm and geometric order significantly weakened, causing them to recede into the background of the nightscape.
From the pedestrian scale, visual perception is dominated by roadway lighting, intersections, plazas, and entrance highlights rather than façades. While the low contrast makes architectural forms less legible at close range, it also avoids visual overload, creating a calm and orderly nighttime environment where infrastructure plays a primary role.
Against this low-luminance background, a few landmarks stand out clearly. The Tashkent TV Tower, illuminated through projection and a media façade, becomes the most recognizable landmark and a key directional reference at night.
The Palace of Peoples’ Friendship, in contrast, maintains visibility through restrained interior glow and upper façade lighting, reading more as an illuminated public space than a façade-driven icon. Its interior lighting quality is notably stronger than its exterior night expression.
Overall, Soviet modernist architecture in Tashkent’s nightscape is characterized by low brightness, restrained façade expression, and a priority on functional lighting. This approach gives the city a stable and orderly nighttime character, while leaving room for future enhancement through precise, small-scale lighting interventions. (Jiang Kunzhi)
■Islamic Architecture
Islamic architecture in Tashkent is mainly concentrated in the old city and religious cultural areas, represented by the Hazrati Imam Complex. In sharp contrast to Soviet modernist buildings, these structures embody the historical lineage of Central Asian Islamic culture, emphasizing spirituality, ceremonial qualities, and decorative aesthetics.
Their architectural language is more complex and symbolic, with regionally distinctive materials. In this survey, particular attention was given to how mosque materials reflect, transmit, and reveal texture under light.
1. Hazrati Imam Complex
The Hazrati Imam Complex is Tashkent’s most significant Islamic religious and cultural center, representing core features of Timurid and Islamic architectural traditions. The complex includes a mosque, madrasah, religious library, and administrative institutions, forming a symbolic center of religious and architectural culture. Rich decorative patterns—calligraphy, arabesques, geometric mosaics, and brick relief—define its artistic identity.
During the survey, lighting and mapping-show tests were ongoing for the newly built Islamic Cultural Center. Unlike historical structures, the new building incorporates more architectural lighting such as linear wall washing and façade floodlighting. However, due to structural limitations in the old buildings, wall washers were installed too close to the surfaces, resulting in overexposure, dark patches, and visible fixture-to-fixture shadow gaps, reducing lighting performance.
2. Minor Mosque
The Minor Mosque is a major 21st-century religious landmark located along the river in Tashkent’s modern district. Known for its white marble façade, pure proportions, and blue dome, it forms a “traditional × contemporary” dialogue with historical Islamic structures.
The plaza illumination is relatively low, with floodlighting only on the upper right corner of the mosque. While the darker environment preserves the quiet and sacred atmosphere, functional wayfinding and safety illumination are somewhat insufficient. (Lin Huangyi)
■Tashkent Metro Survey
The Tashkent Metro, Central Asia’s first metro system, opened in 1977 and is renowned for its diverse decorative styles, artistic spatial qualities, and thematic design. Photography was banned for military and security reasons until 2018, after which the stations could be documented and studied. The metro is not merely a transportation system but a series of “underground palaces,” representing a unique integration of engineering achievement, artistic craftsmanship, and political symbolism.
1. Kosmonavtlar
Opened in 1984, Kosmonavtlar Station is one of Tashkent’s most iconic metro stations. With deep blue tones, astronaut portraits, crystal luminaires, and futuristic décor, it forms a unique “space-themed” environment.
2. Alisher Navoi
Opened in 1987 and named after Uzbekistan’s celebrated poet Alisher Navoi, the station features a series of Islamic domes with intricate geometric patterns incorporating astronomical symbolism, regional tile craftsmanship, and an Eastern color palette of blue, gold, and white. Lighting is primarily functional, delivered through downward linear fixtures around the dome perimeter, while the dome itself is illuminated by ambient reflected light.
3. Uzbekiston Station
Uzbekiston Station follows the “underground palace” typology, featuring vaulted ceilings, symmetrical planning, and a triple-aisle spatial layout. Two types of luminaires are used: large cotton-shaped chandeliers providing diffuse ambient light, and downward-tilted luminous panels that supplement ground-level illumination. (Jiang Kunzhi)
■Samarkand Architecture
The team also conducted a supplementary survey in Samarkand, coinciding with the UNESCO General Assembly—its first session outside Paris in nearly 40 years—enhancing the cultural significance of the study. The survey focused on Timurid mausoleums and surrounding religious structures, examining nighttime lighting performance such as tile visibility under low illumination, layering of domes and arches, and how lighting enhances sacredness and narrative expression while preserving heritage.
1. Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum
The Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum, built in 1403–1404, is the resting place of Amir Timur and later his descendants. Its monumental blue dome, glazed tiles, and refined ornaments represent the height of Timurid architecture. The interior integrates daylight with artificial lighting, with pole-mounted track lighting in each corner supporting over ten adjustable spotlights aimed at the domes. The chandelier at the dome apex was not lit during the survey.
2. Registon Square
Once the royal square of the Timurid Empire, is framed by three madrasahs: Ulugh Beg, Sher Dor, and Tillya Kori. Nighttime lighting is comfortable, using a mixture of cool blue tones and warm low-color-temperature lighting that complements the buildings’ original colors. The golden dome of Tillya Kori is especially magnificent, with warm lighting enhancing its brilliance—similar to the lighting approach at the Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum.
3. Bibi-Khanym Mosque
Built between 1399 and 1405, the Bibi-Khanym Mosque was one of the largest mosques of its time, featuring glazed tiles, mosaics, and calligraphic ornamentation characteristic of the Timurid Renaissance. Unfortunately, there is no dedicated nighttime architectural lighting—only basic functional illumination. (Lin Huangyi)
■Conclusion
This survey focuses on Tashkent and Samarkand, examining Soviet modernist architecture, Islamic architecture, metro spaces, and historical heritage sites through architectural form, materials, and nighttime lighting conditions. Uzbekistan’s architecture can be read as a three-dimensional history book: Tashkent reflects the layered complexity of a modern city, while Samarkand reveals the spiritual depth of ancient civilization. In this context, urban light functions not only as illumination, but also as a medium of urban development narrative. (Jiang Kunzhi)
