Georgia: Ketevan Sokolova-Qurdiani
Born in 1905 in Tbilisi, Georgia, Ketevan Sokolova-Qurdiani is considered the first Georgian woman architect. She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Georgian Polytechnic Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia (1928). While enrolled as a student, she completed her first professional architectural design—a villa, commissioned to Altebauag, a German construction company. Her professional portfolio also included administrative buildings, hotels, factories, and residential buildings. Sokolova-Qurdiani was one of the first members of the Architects Union in Georgia. She died in 1988.
References
Bianco, Lino. “Shota Bostanashvili, Architectural Discourse and the Foundation of Poetics of Architecture in Georgia.” Papers of BAS: Humanities and Social Sciences 4, no. 1 (2017): 49-59. “https://core.ac.uk/download/160652077.pdf”>https://core.ac.uk/download/160652077.pdf. [Link unavailable as of March 11, 2026].
“First Georgian Female Architect.” ForbesWoman, December 4, 2019. https://www.forbeswoman.ge/en/post/kurdiani.
“Honored Artist of Georgia: The First Georgian Women Architect.” Style: Architecture Interior Design, February, March, April 2016. https://archias.ge/style-magazine/img/journals/Mag_68.pdf?h=ac578aec2c50bc17cac44472b438feac.
Ketevan Sokolova-Kurdiani and the Search for Modern National Architecture in Soviet Georgia – Social and Cultural Anthropology. Ilia University. January 11, 2021. https://anthro.iliauni.edu.ge/en/ketevan-sokolova-kurdiani-and-the-search-for-modern-national-architecture-in-soviet-georgia/.
