"Albanian Files" / Architect from Chile recounts phone call with Rama: He contacted me about a tower project

The book "Albanian Files" brings testimonies and accounts from renowned international architects engaged in projects in Albania, revealing how some of the largest urban interventions in the country were initiated and developed.

In one of the stories included, an architect from Chile, part of the renowned Elemental studio, says that the cooperation with Albania began after a direct contact from Prime Minister Edi Rama.

According to him, it all started in 2024, when he was contacted first through intermediaries and then directly by the head of the Albanian government, who proposed a meeting in Tirana to discuss a possible project.

He recounts that communication developed quickly and that his first visit to Albania lasted about 24 hours, and then he returned several times to continue his work.

“Benedetta Tagliabue sent me a message asking if I agreed to give my contact number to the Prime Minister of Albania. I said: of course. Five minutes later the Prime Minister himself contacted me, asking if I could come to Tirana to discuss the possibility of a project.

"Chile is very far from almost any other country in the world, so I told him that the best thing would be to stop in Albania during my next trip to Europe. That trip was scheduled to take place in two weeks, due to a visit to the construction site of the EDP building in Lisbon. So, in the last days of May, I managed to spend about twenty-four hours in Albania. Since then, I have been back four more times ," says the architect.

In his testimony, the architect also dwells on the philosophy of the “Elemental” studio, which focuses on the approach where the structure is the architecture itself and projects are built on the identification of real problems, not on predetermined solutions. According to him, the design process must start from the understanding of needs and constraints, as only in this way can a sustainable and functional result be achieved.

He also emphasizes that the biggest challenge in urban development is not a single project, but the combined impact of many projects on the city space. For this reason, according to him, coordination between the institutions and actors involved is essential to guarantee the public interest and a balanced urban development.

 

"Given the nature of the projects, which are all towers, we foresee that our approach of recent years, according to which the structure is the architecture itself, will become even more radical. When you have 400,000 tons rising 300 meters above the ground, we would like the architecture to be almost finished by the time the structure is finished. It is not only a matter of more efficient use of resources, but also a healthy starting point for the building to withstand time.

We postpone the moment of “wanting to design” as much as possible; we don’t jump straight into an answer (the project) without first understanding what the question is. Only when we have identified the forces that will shape the project do we jump into the blank slate. When it starts by listening, observing, and understanding the constraints, the project is much more likely to be appropriate. Appropriateness is a way of combining responsibility with quality.

The first thing that needs to be agreed upon with all stakeholders is: what are the problems to be solved. There is nothing worse than giving a very good answer to the wrong question. These problems range from the very concrete, tangible and measurable, to the abstract, symbolic and difficult to understand; they often pull in opposite directions. But when the starting point is the problems and not the solutions, the integrity of the design takes care of itself.

In any case, what you are asking refers to the project itself; the real challenge is what happens to the sum of all the projects. It is known that individual actions, even when motivated by good intentions, cannot guarantee the common good. Therefore, in the built environment, coordination, more than money, is the scarcest resource. The role of the architect is to present and discuss with the competent authorities the measures that should be taken to mitigate and, ultimately, compensate for the impact of an isolated project on the overall landscape. I do not yet have sufficient knowledge to cite such an example,” emphasizes the architect