Valery Akopjanyan

Valery Akopjanyan was born in 1949 in Stepanakert, the centre of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. In 1967 he entered the Samarkand Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering. While still a student he took part in creative competitions and won a prize in a student competition in Madrid. His winning entry became his first independent project, on which a memorial complex in the Ishtikhon district was built.

After graduating he stayed on as a lecturer in the institute’s department. In 1976 he began postgraduate study at a Moscow architectural institute for residential construction and, during his studies, defended a scientific thesis on using solar energy to heat residential buildings.

In 1979 he became head of the residential construction laboratory at the Tashkent Research and Design Institute, where he had earlier been chief architect. In those years he led several projects and research efforts, among them a rest house in Zaamin and housing projects in the old part of Tashkent.

In 1992–1993 he worked on a large complex of modern buildings, including the International Exhibition Centre in Tashkent. His projects include a monument to Alisher Navoi, the summer palace “Turkiston”, the Bektemir bazaar, an indoor tennis court and the building of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis; in 2010 he drew up a development plan for the old Olmazor district.

He served as first deputy head of the Tashkent city Main Department of Architecture and Construction and as director of the research institute for Tashkent’s master plan. He is the author of 90 projects and 25 scientific works, and in 1995 was given the honorary title Honoured Architect of Uzbekistan.