urban development | city of Himare

collage, 2012 

Castle of Himare - How we protect our heritage

left photo taken in 2012 - right photo taken in 1992

Upgrading of three traditional wells, in Himare, Albania [by Arch.Mess]

The wells are located in the entrance of the town of Himare, near the 'Castle' neighborhood, at a latitude of 180 meters above sea level. The wells and the surrounding environment cover an area of approximately 250 square meters. A local dirt road, providing access to nearby houses, crosses the area. The well and the water tanks are not currently functional and are filled with rubbish floating in the water. The tops of the well and of the two water tanks are uncovered, this resulting to rubbish, dirt and polluted water falling in.


Upgrading of the surrounding area consist of:
-paving of the local road with local stone
-reconstruction of the top parts of the wells
-planting of olive trees
-reinforcement of the concrete aprons, part of them paved with local stone
-construction of benches and seating elements
-construction of new animal watering troughs

perspective architecture - architecture 'me perspektiv'

Two years ago we spent quite a few minutes discussing about what is happening right now in the field of architecture in new - post Albania, and it was actually mostly a title-giving conversation. One of those titles was perspective architecture but better said 'arkitektur me perspektiv' (in albanian) - architecture with prospect (or prospect architecture).

• Perspective (visual), the way in which objects appear to the eye.
• Perspective (graphical), representing the effects of visual perspective in drawings

Metaphorically, in relation to cognitive topics:

• Perspective (cognitive), one's "point of view", the choice of a context for opinions, beliefs and experiences
• Perspective (pharmacoeconomic), the vantage point from which a pharmacoeconomics analysis is conducted
• Point of view (literature), the related experience of the narrator
• Perspective (psychological), or wisdom

(source wiki)
[I'm googling 'perspektiv shqip' and the first link I get is 'dashuri pa perspektiv mp3 shqip shkarko falas (love with no prospect mp3 free download)]

prospect vs perspective (and if we are asking for trouble we could also involve the greek word προοπτική)

Future and Past (without considering the present as an existing unit of time) are well expressed in that term. Someone could argue that it's a remain of the five year communist planning, or just a longing of immigrants, someday they will be home.
In order to get somewhere we have to take sth as a fact and determine an x factor, my teachers at school say, even if the fact does not exist as a fact till that moment. The fact is that everything involves prospect and perspective before its launch. Architecture does too. Using samples of what suggest prospect-perspective in the expression of architecture in the location of the Himara town (south Albania) could be the theme of this year's study.
Samples:

- an agricultural depot
- a traditional stone house
- a person who works /with stone
- a typical 'room to let'
- a book (you guys each choose one you fancy)

to be continued soon_the main purpose is to try and discover architecture through non architecture stuff (and have fun doing that)!