Rruga B_ Park

5//Jun. 2023 | Architecture, Industrial Design, Urban Design,

Public spaces play an important role in creating vibrant and connected communities. They provide opportunities for people to interact, relax, and engage in a variety of activities. Unfortunately, not all neighborhoods have access to such spaces. One such neighborhood is Mati 1, which in terms of public space availability is considered one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. To help this issue, Architecture for Humans proposed an urban intervention for the ‘Rruga B’ public place, which can potentially transform an abandoned area into a flourishing public park.

The proposal suggests creating a public place that caters to different age groups and offers various activities. The space is divided into three main clusters – leisure, entertainment and health. The leisure cluster includes seating areas, green spaces, and a small amphitheater. It provides opportunities for people to relax, read, or socialize with each other. The play cluster includes a playground and a basketball court. It is designed to attract children and teenagers and encourages physical activity and socialization. The health cluster includes exercise equipment, a running track, and a small garden. It provides opportunities for people to engage in healthy activities and spend time in nature. Due to the lack of green spaces in the neighborhood, this park is a good opportunity to create new green spaces that would offer the residents of the neighborhood and the users of the park, areas of cleaner air. Therefore, the proposal includes a variety of tall and low vegetation to be planted and maintained the in the park.

Another important aspect of the proposal is accessibility. Due to the topography of the site, specifically the steepness of the terrain, one of the key goals of our design was to make sure that the space would be accessible by any category of users. Therefore, the space is designed to be inclusive with ramps and stairs that are incorporated to make ascending and descending of the public place accessible to anyone. This ensures that the space is usable by people with disabilities or limited mobility, making it truly an inviting and gathering space for anyone.

Since we people that public spaces can also serve as strong anchors of identity the designers have incorporated uniquely designed lamps into the lightning design of the park. The lamps are not only functional but also add aesthetic value to the area, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere, making the space more welcoming and safe for people to use.

Never Say Never_ by Alban Muja

4//Jun. 2023 | Architecture, Urban Design,

Imbued with historical significance and cultural relevance, the “Never Say Never” monument is a powerful embodiment of the strength and resilience of the human spirit. It stands as a testament to the struggles and sacrifices made in the name of freedom and justice. Crafted with immense care and precision, this monument is a masterpiece that blends the grandeur of architecture with the profound depth of human emotions.

Conceptualized by the acclaimed artist, Alban Muja, the “Never Say Never” monument is a magnificent architectural feat. The monument was constructed using the pre-cast concrete method. A process that involved crafting the concrete elements in a controlled environment and then assembling them on-site. This method allowed for a high level of precision and accuracy, ensuring that every detail of the design was executed to perfection.

The monument’s design features a columnar shape, constructed using a formwork of the desired shape and size. Reinforced steel, or rebar, was placed within this formwork before the concrete was poured, providing additional strength and stability to the structure. The concrete surface was then meticulously finished to give it a smooth, uniform appearance.

The construction team worked closely with a structural engineer to ensure the monument’s structural integrity. Given the monument’s purpose to stand for eternity, every aspect of its construction – from the design of the precast elements to the assembly and connection details – was carefully considered to withstand the test of time and environmental factors.

The use of pre-cast concrete and reinforced concrete was a strategic choice. These materials not only offer durability and longevity but also provide resistance to weathering, erosion, and other environmental factors. The use of formwork allowed for precision in creating the monument’s unique shape, and the uniform color and type of concrete used contributed to its monolithic appearance.

The “Never Say Never” monument is dedicated to Adem Demaçi, a prominent figure in Kosovo’s political history, and other political prisoners of Kosovo. Demaçi, a leader of the Albanian nationalist movement, spent over 28 years in prison for his political activism. His struggle and sacrifice are emblematic of the fight for Kosovo’s independence and freedom.

The monument also serves as a symbol of respect and remembrance for all those who suffered in the name of freedom and justice. It is a reminder of the sacrifices made by these individuals and emphasizes the importance of their contributions to the country’s history and culture.

Engraved with the words “Never Say Never”, the monument is a beacon of hope and perseverance. It is a powerful symbol of the resilience and determination of the human spirit, a reminder that even in the darkest of times, there is always hope for a brighter future.

Moreover, the monument serves as a symbol of unity and solidarity. Its dedication to political prisoners from diverse backgrounds is a poignant reminder that the country’s diversity is its strength. It underscores the message that all citizens should stand together for the same goal – the freedom of the country.

In conclusion, the “Never Say Never” monument by Alban Muja is a significant addition to Kosovo’s cultural landscape. It stands as a symbol of remembrance, hope, perseverance, unity, and solidarity. The monument is a tribute to the sacrifices made by individuals for the country’s freedom and serves as a reminder of their invaluable contributions to its history and culture.

A collaborative effort, the monument was brought to life by Alban Muja, Architecture for Humans, MB Office and AL Stone. Their combined expertise and dedication resulted in a structure that will forever stand as a testament to the resilience and unity of the human spirit.

Artist: Alban Muja
Architecture: Architecture for Humans
Production: MB Office
Structure: AL Stone
Foundations: Enes Krasniqi
Photography: Engjell berisha

Lockdown Drive-In_ Cinema

3//Mar. 2023 | Urban Design,

During the COVID-19 lockdown, many people were looking for ways to enjoy themselves while staying safe. In following the dedication of creation interventions that benefit cities, Architecture for Humans, came up with the ide a of implementing a drive-in cinema. The Municipality of Prishtina took up the initiative and implemented it, using the parking space behind the Youth Palace.

The drive-in cinema was a great way to keep people entertained while still following social distancing guidelines. By staying in their cars, people were able to enjoy movies without worrying about being in close proximity to others. The sound aspect of the screenings was done via radio, which allowed people in their cars to tune in and listen without causing a disturbance to the neighborhood.

Temporary interventions like this are a great way to add value to a city, especially during difficult times like a pandemic. They provide new opportunities for people to come together and enjoy themselves, even while physical distancing. The drive-in cinema was a perfect example of this, offering a safe and enjoyable way for people to get out of the house and do something fun.

This project serves as an inspiration for the importance of temporary interventions in cities, particularly during challenging times like a pandemic. It demonstrates the positive impact they can have on individuals and the community as a whole.

“Europe Without Monuments”_ by Stanislava Pinchuk

15//Aug. 2022 | Architecture, Urban Design,

‘Europe Without Monuments,’ is the new piece of art by renowned artist Stanislava Pinchuk and curated by Petrit Abazi, which was commissioned by Manifesta 14 and brought to life by Architecture for Humans. The pavilion was constructed in the ‘Ibar’ river in Mitrovica, using scaffolding that also offers citizens a new way of connecting and interacting with the river of their city.

The city of Mitrovica lies 37 kilometres north of Prishtina along the Ibar river; one of the many territories long disputed between Kosovo and Serbia. Defined by its expansive Trepča mine, Mitrovica is home to Kosovo’s third largest population – yet is often described as the ‘most divided city in Europe’. Following the atrocities of the 1998-99 war, the Ibar river has splintered the city into primarily Serbian north and Albanian south banks – with different languages, religions, mayorships and currencies.

Although a new bridge has been built, for over two decades it remains a barricaded point of tension, witness to sporadic ethnic violence. Continuously patrolled by Italian KFOR-MSU military, the bridge has seen a rise in pedestrians over the last years – although it still remains blocked to cars.

‘Europe Without Monuments’ is a playground and pavilion; an artwork placed in the middle of the Ibar river by the city’s New Bridge. Its three forms are taken at scale from Mitrovica’s iconic concrete ‘Monument to Fallen Miners’ built by architect Bogdan Bogdanović commemorating the unified revolt of Albanian and Serb workers from the Trepča mine against Nazi occupation of the city.

A difficult monument for both sides of the river, Bogdanović’s trilith weighs heavy with the promise and betrayal of Yugoslavia; belonging to everybody and nobody at the same time. Built from scaffolding in steel and zinc (a material still mined in Mitrovica), Pinchuk’s work re-imagines the city’s riverscape as a fluid and ambiguous boundary, rather than a strict geopolitical divide.

Open until the end of summer, the installation celebrates a popular bathing spot; providing a playful point of congregation in a city where green and public spaces are profoundly lacking. Like a shimmering whale skeleton washed ashore, the scaffold recalls the process by which Bogdanovic’s monument was once cast, that can now be walked into and explored; where new narratives might form in the space left empty.

A Serbian humanist and intellectual, with ancestral roots in Kosovo, Bogdan Bogdanović was a publicly outspoken critic of the rise of Milošević’s nationalism. Once a Mayor of Belgrade, Bogdanović would spend the remainder of his life exiled in Vienna – close to his beloved Danube river. In his last interview, Bogdanović wished that he never had to build such monuments:

‘I dream of a Europe without monuments. By that I mean without monuments of death and disaster. Perhaps philosophical construction: monuments to love, to joy, to jokes and laughter.’

Despite their tragic context, Bogdanović unusually loved the idea of children playing around his works – designing them to hold meaning and wonder long into the future, for when war in Europe would be a distant memory.

On 22 July 2022, Manifesta will open in Kosovo. 700km away, Ukraine will enter its 149th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Kharkiv, Pinchuk’s home city, will enter another day with sand-bags and scaffolding protecting the monuments that are still standing.

While we dream of a Europe without monuments to death and disaster, we still face a Europe that may be without monuments at all.

Meanwhile, the city of Mitrovica is facing new tensions that have the potential to escalate further.

Credits:

Author / Artist: Stanislava Pinchuk
Curated by: Petrit Abazi
Architectural Design and Construction: Architecture for Humans
Photographs: Marcello Maranzan
Scaffolding: BS BauMetal
Commissioned by: Manifesta 14

Social Distancing_ in Public

18//May. 2020 | Research, Urban Design,

The new normal that has already come as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic will require rethinking and new concepts for public spaces.
It’s now clear that many people will continue to use public spaces regardless of the risk of spreading the infection. At the same time, cafes/restaurants as a very important industry for our cities, will begin to reopen in order to economically survive this period. This can increase the risk of infection manifold.

To better organize life in public space and to minimize staying inside cafes / restaurants, one intervention proposal may be to place seats with a distance of 2 meters from all directions, in which citizens who buy Take-Away coffee/food (contributing to the gastronomy industry), continue to stay and sit in public spaces by still implementing measures for social distancing.

The seat system is designed in such a way that the surface that can be touched, especially with hands, is minimal.

Installing and removing the seats is easy, as they take up the space between the floor tiles: The floor tiles are removed, the seats are placed, in which case the tiles are positioned back to serve as stiffening weight for the seats. This makes this intervention affordable and reversible.

The Yellow_ Pavilion

14//Jun. 2019 | Research, Urban Design,

1. BACKGROUND

The post-’99 city of Prishtina has had the burden as well as the delight of providing for an extensive part of Kosovo’s population. Among other things, this has put a strain on the city’s urban development with a constantly growing number of illegal buildings and extensions, usurped public spaces, and an increasing disregard for the city by the citizens.

One individual that tried to put an end to this city’s deterioration that had already begun was Rexhep Luci, a citizen and architect who at the time was working towards the demolition of illegal buildings. His work in this regard and almost every similar process were terminated when Rexhep was shot in front of his apartment in the capital. With Rexhep Luci’s murder, the city of Prishtina became the committer, the victim as well as the spectator of this crime.

Years later, one of the busiest connections to the boulevard, bears his name. The street that bears the name of the architect that once started the fight against clutter and chaos, is one of the most cluttered and chaotic arteries of the city.

2. SITE ANALYSIS

Rexhep Luci street has true potential to become a successful public space. Based on the site analysis, we have found out that there is certainly no lack of people and the street itself is an active artery of the urban outline of the city. However, the street is mostly used as transit, with a very small number of people slowing down or stopping to enjoy the space. To get a better understanding of the place and the form of the intervention, the analysis of the site was divided in two parts:

The physical dimension – space – dealing with the buildings, infrastructure and everything on site that can be physically evaluated, the street as a space.

– Streets, Building Characteristics, Greenery, Elements, Environment, Software Analysis of Vistas.

The social dimension – life – will include everything that happens between the buildings, the street as a place. The purpose of the interventions will be to enhance the interaction between the space and the life developed there.

– Counting, Behaviour Mapping, Tracing/Tracking, Photographing, Test Walks and Interviews

3. REXHEP LUCI STREET INTERVENTION, AN OVERVIEW

The aim of this design proposal is to install a temporary intervention in the form of pavilions and structures to inspire social interaction on the street by providing the very simplest infrastructure. The structures support a wide range of activities for the users of the spaces, therefore engaging the people directly. The pavilion will also provide a semi-covered area and a vantage point within the street. Conceptually, the whole setting in itself represents a version of a utopia, working towards a vision about how public spaces can be more sustainable, productive, and human-oriented.

The pavilion and the pods will stand out and give Rexhep Luci Street the distinct identity that it is lacking, which will be done by engaging the public and will last for a longer period of time. By doing so, citizens will see that changes that increase the quality of the place can be made on a human scale, at the same time setting up a chain reaction to bring the user closer to the public space itself.

The Yellow Pavilion

A large bright pavilion will be built in the street close to the cinema in order to visually attract pedestrians, giving the street a characteristic that is visually present as well as inviting for the users. The main aim of the pavilion will be to connect the street with the boulevard in two essential dimensions. First, connect them physically so that the street becomes an active extension of the boulevard, and second, connect them visually and socially so people engage in collective activities around the joint public spaces.

Pods

Pods are complementary to the pavilion, and though smaller in size and visually lighter, they will be carefully dispersed along the street to provide flexibility for a variety of uses. These multi-purpose frames will turn the space into an inclusive area for all age groups and types of activities.

The Intervention

The intervention took place from 5 -11 May in Rexhep Luci Street, acting as a temporary transformation of this area into a space dedicated to everyday users. Changing the composition of this street provided multiple areas for various activities which took place during the one week the structures were present. Except for offering a smooth sense of movement from the boulevard, the intervention proved to be a visually attractive and physically engaging hotspot of the city. What is more, the people’s interaction started before it was fully assembled on the site, with people sitting in the still scattered pieces since the initial most noticeable welcome difference, was the lack of parked cars.

During this period, the intervention went on to host a number of activities that covered a wide range of fields from a relaxed basketball game, a spontaneous hangout spot, or a photoshoot background, to a venue for debates and discussions, organised events, as well as a space for students to display their work. The people finding their own space within the street were attracting other people and other activities.

By the end of the one-week intervention, through observing the citizens using and passing through the structures placed on the street, it is obvious that they are in dire need of free and accessible public space. However, public space is still more often than not perceived as a luxury instead of a fundamental necessity for a healthy everyday public life. As much as good infrastructure can help with public life, organising and taking part in debates and discussions, raising awareness, taking the necessary steps towards education, and together creating a quality experience of good public spaces and the life in-between, can help a city and the citizens in fundamental aspects.A second life for The Yellow Pavilion will begin when the structures will be placed in different neighbourhoods, enhancing public space at least temporarily.

This project is a collaboration with MB Office Film Company, and was constructed by Greatwood.

The construction of the Pavilion and the pods was supported by the Culture for Change Program, funded by the European Union and implemented by Qendra Multimedia and Goethe Institute, as well as the Municipality of Prishtina.

The Yellow Pavilion is part of a documentary project by MB Office titled “What Killed the Architect”

ZERO_ Emission Neighborhood

1//Feb. 2018 | Architecture, Research, Urban Design,

This project deals with the problems and difficulties mankind and society is increasingly facing due to climate change, especially the strains climate change puts on families and their economies.

This project argues that buildings no longer exclusively belong to the demand side of the energy system, rather they have become a convenient way of generating energy. The proposed project provides a possible solution on Zero Emission Building can be beneficial to the social aspects of living in a sustainable way; this includes family relationships, working hours, nutrition and many other hedonistic aspects of healthy living.

Potential outcomes and causes of climate change have been analyzed and compared with computer simulations, in order to get the overall impact that they present to residential buildings in general as well as family economies.

A special attention in this regard is put on residential buildings, due to the extensive role they have on energy consumption and CO₂ emissions, not excluding the fact that it is where people spend the majority of their time in. This project also considers the quality of life, sense of community, identity and other factors that further enhance the concept of Zero Emission Neighborhoods.

Results of this project point to the combination of passive solar design strategies, energy efficient appliances, and active solar systems that will lead to net zero energy performance given contemporary lifestyles and the impact of the digital age. The proposed model provides the necessary energy to cover the energy needs of the family, with the possibility of it becoming a source of income in the future. The case study presented here is the city of Prishtina, Kosovo, however the model is replicable and can be modified depending on the chosen location and/or the variable input.

Trepca_ Cultural Complex

27//Oct. 2016 | Architecture, Urban Design,

The old ‘Trepca’ complex is an industrial zone that has always posed an environmental problem for the city of Mitrovica. Even though it is abandoned, it still has the capacity to pollute the city.

By turning the whole complex into a culture town, the city will become attractive to the whole region of the Balkans. The culture town will have various buildings of various functions which will enable every visitor to find what they desire.

Germia_ Sports Center

| Architecture, Urban Design,

Being active in modern day society is much more than just an activity you do purely for pleasure, it is a necessity. Living in the city often means that we are not as much in touch with nature as we would have liked to. There are no more spontaneous occasions of having activities in nature, rather they have become quite important events in our lives. Pristina has a high rate of greenery however the majority of it is densely concentrated in the Germia national park. Regardless, not enough people use Germia’s nature for recreational and athletic purposes. The entry way into Germia is destined for sport buildings, but instead of having a homogeneous building, we could have a whole complex which all group ages and all the citizens can share.

Between the hall, skate-park, basketball and football fields and the Germia swimming pool, the whole zone is converted into a big complex in which people can escape to from the stresses of the city. The Germia Sports Center, is not just to be used for sports games, it also has a garage annexed which is set to clear the whole park from unnecessary car traffic.