052-1121-20L Architectural Design V-IX: Pallati i Brigadave. Tirana (F.Persyn)
Semester | Autumn Semester 2020 |
Lecturers | F. Persyn |
Periodicity | every semester recurring course |
Language of instruction | English |
Comment | Please register (www.mystudies.ethz.ch) only after the internal enrolment for the design classes (see http://www.einschreibung.arch.ethz.ch/design.php). Project grading at semester end is based on the list of enrolments on 3.11.2020, 24:00 h (valuation date) only. Ultimate deadline to unsubscribe or enroll for the studio is 3.11.2020, 24:00 h. |
Abstract | The studio is evolving around the Pallati I Brigadave in Tirana. We invite you to join us to develop a rich variety of speculative ideas and concrete interventions at different scales. We aim at bringing people with very different or even conflicting views into dialogue in order to help create the conditions for co-creation and –habitation in and around the Palace of Brigades. |
Learning objective | The NEWROPE Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation» of Prof. Freek Persyn at ETH Zurich is organizing a studio evolving around the Pallati i Brigadave - or Palace of Brigades - in Tirana, the capital city of Albania. Moving beyond binaries and blurring the boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’, we invite you to join our interdisciplinary team to develop a rich variety of speculative ideas and concrete interventions at different scales. Collectively, we aim at bringing people with very different or even conflicting views and interests into dialogue in order to help create the conditions for co-creation and –habitation in and around the Palace of Brigades. Working in small groups from Zürich, you will explore the palace and its various contexts (historical, morphological, ecological, economical...) remotely through a variety of tools and methods, from analogue and archival research and interviews to digital scanning and remote sensing technologies. Our intention is to deconfine the palace, and rethink its ownership, use and accessibility. Through the exchange and dialogue with various "muses", i.e., inspiring stakeholders and experts from Tirana and other places, you will learn about the challenges, power dynamics and potentials of local urban transformation processes. Listening to this variety of different voices and their specific positions, will give you the opportunity to position, act and react. You will have a chance to define your own focus and ways of working and will be free to express your project in a variety of formats, from models and drawings to installations and performative actions. A series of smaller and bigger workshops and so-called Design in Dialogue sessions will help you to sharpen your ideas and strengthen your collaboration. You will get input from others, and will shift between roles and positions, before presenting the final output during a collective presentation and ‘Vernissage’ in Zürich and online. As muses we understand people of different backgrounds stating a strong position regarding urban transformations. We see them as inspiring people who are also open to new ideas. Each student group will have a chance to work with one of the muses.. This “pairing” can take various forms, from supporting to agreeing, questioning or even opposing. The form and intensity of the collaboration will be decided upon by the students and the muse. |
Content | Dear Student, I am writing you with a request. It has to do with my situation. I know you too have been forced to not see anyone for a while, but my solitude started long before the arrival of the virus and still continues. When I was younger, powerful people wanted to be in my company. I hosted kings and generals, judges and other high ranking officials. Now it’s mostly quiet. Only every now and then I receive guests, who are primarily interested in themselves, not in me. Time hasn’t been kind to me. The faded colors, the cracks, my dull expression… I’m nothing more than a vague shadow of my younger self. Next year I’m turning eighty. Looking back on my long life I have come to realize that I have always been subordinated by others. From the royals who put me here, to the fences who keep people away from me, there is always someone or something preventing me from opening up to the world. Stuck in solitary confinement, I spend my days scanning my surroundings for a sign of life. I see the cypresses waving in the wind. Clouds are drifting by, bringing rain and snow from the nearby sea and mountains. In recent years it has been increasingly dry. The sunlight scorches the grass, the soil becomes sandy, the fountain stopped running. I feel trapped, unable to change my own conditions. Increasingly I wonder who has the imagination and power to unleash my potential and see the value of a more progressive preservation of my heritage? One that respects my integrity while allowing me to develop. Who or what can create the conditions for me to flourish and become a meeting place for people from near and far? How can my luscious garden be rejuvenated and connected to the larger natural environment? So please help to unlock my golden cage! By listening to the people that take care of me everyday, discover the hidden stories and let me finally become part of the city that has gradually grown around me. Even if you were allowed to travel to Tirana you would not be able to visit me, due to my fragility and state of seclusion. But you can get to know me from a distance by joining the NEWROPE Design Studio. They are inviting you to collectively imagine alternative futures for me and beyond myself – in dialogue with experts and leaders and by exploring digital and analogue means. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Sincerely yours, Pallati i Brigadave |
Prerequisites / Notice | Individual work and group work, whereof 5 or more weeks of group work. Extra costs: CHF 200.-- (seminar week not included) |