Ohannés Gurekian (
Armenian: Յովհաննէս Կիւրեղեան,
Italian: Giovanni Giorgiano; August 24, 1902, in
Constantinople – March 1, 1984, in
Asolo) was an Armenian architect, engineer, and
alpinist.
At his father's direction, Ohannés enrolled in the school of engineering at the University of Padova, where he received a degree in Civil Engineering in 1924, and completed a specialization in Hydraulic Engineering in 1926 (though he never worked as a hydraulic engineer). Immediately after completing his specialization, he was apprenticed to the Architect Ballatore di Rosanna[2] at his firm in
Turin.[citation needed]
The Dolomites
After a brief period of collaboration with the engineer Bolzon, of
Asolo, Ohannés moved to Frassené Agordino, which he had gotten to know as a regular vacation spot since 1922. Attracted by the mystique of the
Dolomites, he established himself there as a civil engineer.[citation needed]
As a student, Ohannés had belonged to the Treviso chapter of the
Italian Alpine Club and, having moved to Frassené, he joined the
Agordo chapter. There he met the "Axis of Alpinism"
Attilio Tissi, Giovanni and Alvise Andrich, and
Domenico Rudatis.[3] On the 25th of August 1929, he became the first to climb the "Torre Armena" peak of the Agner Mountain group.[4]
In 1932 he was appointed Special Commissioner of Agordo's chapter of the Italian Alpine Club[5] and, from 1933 to 1946, he was its president.
In 1935 he collaborated with
Ettore Castiglioni to draft the section of a guidebook for the Italian Alps relating to the southern chain of the
Pale di San Martino.[6]
He is considered a pioneer of modern alpinism of the
Eastern Alps,[7] and the refuge at Malga Losch, at the feet of the massif of Mount Agner (which he considered "his mountains") was dedicated to him posthumously.[8]
He dedicated himself to the promotion of tourism for Frassené, where he founded the first Italian "
Pro Loco" association[9] and in 1933 he became a member of the Provincial Tourism Council of (
Belluno).[10]
From 1934 to 1946, in addition to his professional activities, he taught at the Mining Institute of Agordo.[citation needed]
In 1936 he Married Dina Della Lucia Dies (of Frassené). They had three children: Armen, Mannig, and Haïg.[citation needed]
Professional life
At the start of the
Second World War Ohannés moved definitively to
Asolo despite continuing, for the rest of his life, to retain professional ties in the Agordino valleys.
At the end of the war he was called to take part in the Committee for the Reconstruction of the Province of Belluno.[11][12] He identified the traditional architectural styles which should be adopted for each area in need of reconstruction. He also designed the Reconstruction Plan for the town of
Caviola, which had been burned down in retaliation by Nazi troops in
(20–21 August 1944).[13]
In 1948, driven by the necessity of updating his skills after the unproductive wartime, he enrolled in the School of Architecture and Urbanism of the
Institut Polytechnique at the University of
Losanna - Rector of architecture
Jean André Tschumi. Despite Having completed his coursework there, his own work did not leave him with enough time to matriculate.
His Professional work was fundamentally directed towards
Urbanism, to public buildings, and to Industrial structures.[citation needed]
From 1964 on, his sons (first Armen and then Haig) collaborated with him in his Architectural Practice. He died in Asolo on 1 March 1984.[citation needed]
^R.Prefettura di Belluno – nº1483 in data 21 Luglio 1933
^R.Prefettura di Belluno . Gab.Prot.5000/1/ in data 31 ottobre 1945
^Rivista n.4 - Comitato Ricostruzione Provincia di Belluno, Valli Alpine, 1947
^Gasperi, La strage della valle del Biois, in: Nationalsozialistische Besatzungs und Annexionspolitik in Norditalien 1943, Michael Wedekind, 2003, pag. 330
Bibliography
Fondazione Architettura Belluno Dolomiti - Fulvio Bona, Tommaso Del Zenero, Sara Gnech, Ohannés Gurekian, L'ingegneria, L'architettura, L'Urbanistica, Istituto Bellunese di Ricerche Sociali e Culturali, ISBN 978-88-98941-27-8, Godega S.Urbano, 2021.