Kurdiani, Archil Grigorevich

Kurdiani, Archil Grigor’evich 

Born Mar. 13 (26), 1903, in Tbilisi. Soviet architect. Honored Art Worker of the Georgian SSR (1961) and People’s Architect of the USSR (1970). Member of the CPSU since 1942.

Kurdiani studied at the Georgian Polytechnic Institute from 1922 to 1929. Between 1936 and 1944 he was the chief architect in Tbilisi, and in 1959–62 he was chairman of the Board of the Architects’ Union of the Georgian SSR. Kurdiani’s work is distinguished by conceptual integrity, varied methods of composition, and the extensive use of Georgian decorative elements. His works include the pavilion of the Georgian SSR at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow (1939; State Prize of the USSR, 1941); the stadium Dynamo (1933–37), Didubiiskii Bridge (1954), and the television center (1957), all in Tbilisi; and J. V. Stalin’s House-Museum (1955) and a hotel (1956), both in Gori. Since 1948 he has taught at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts, becoming a professor there in 1960. Kurdiani has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.