Italian Imperialism in the city of Tirana by agkiosa

Italian Imperialism in the city of Tirana

Amarilnto Gkiosa

Contents Introduction: Political Context......................................................................................................................................................5 Architectural Context..............................................................................................................................................6

Piazza Skenderbeu: The Ministries Complex.........................................................................................................................................12

Via dell’ Impero: National Bank of Albania........................................................................................................................................17 Hotel Dajti...............................................................................................................................................................20 National Theatre.....................................................................................................................................................24 Lieutenant’s Headquarters.....................................................................................................................................28 Sede INFAIL/House of Parliament..........................................................................................................................33

Piazza Littorio/ Sheshi Nënë Tereza: Opera Dopolavoro Albanese.................................................................................................................................37 Palazzo della Giuventu del Littorio Albanese- Archeological Museum of Tirana..................................................40 Casa del Fascio.....................................................................................................................................................42

Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................................47 Bibliography.......................................................................................................................................................48

“Each generation must rewrite and re-read the story in its own way, without any fear, even with all the pleasure and power of demystifying it.” –Aurel Plasari.1

1 Maria Adriana Giusti, XX Secolo- Architettura italiana in Albania, Edizioni ETS, Pisa, 2010 , p.10

Viale Dellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Impero/ Bulevardi Deshmoret e Kombit

Introduction: Political context Albania of the XX century, in the back light of the complex political history of a country that, like few others, was crossing point of strife and conflict. The main focus of this dissertation is to try and situate the development of the city of Tirana within the political context of the country during the period of time between 19291945. In order to reach a thorough understanding of the relevance of the political instability in the architectural history of the country, it is necessary to have a fair knowledge of the political history of the country. Albania has been through dramatic political changes in a relatively short period of time, which have had strong effects on the social, cultural and architectural development of the country.1 Beginning from the early XX century and Albania being a kingdom, to the Italian Fascist period, the Dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, to the 90’s until today, building in Albania has been dictated by politics. Architecture has and will always be linked to the political, historical, sociological and cultural context of a country. In some cases this link has been more direct than in others. As we have seen in many cases during the history of architecture, the relationship between architecture and politics has always been quite close. Politics influence architecture even before a building is built, during the design process, through the building process and long after the completion of a building. On the other hand, Architecture has been a tool for politics and various political ideas, in many cases it has even been used as a symbol or a representation of an ideal in built form. In the following chapters we are going to see how Tirana and especially the center of the city has developed from the 1920’s to what it is today. In a political context we could divide the history of the country in Republic/ Kingdom (1925-1939), Italian Occupation (1939-1943), German Occupation (1943-1944), Socialist Albania (Dictatorship) (1944-1991) and finally The Republic of Albania (1991-Present) with a short break from 19971999 due to the Civil War. In a very similar way the Architectural History of the country could be catalogued within the different political regimes. My personal aim here is to decipher this complex relationship and see how it has changed or has not changed through the past century and in which way one has influenced the other. In order to achieve that I am going to be focusing on the relatively short period of time between 19291945, which is the period of dramatic changes in the grain of the city from an urban point of view and the most iconic buildings of the city were built during this period by the Italian Fascist Regime. “The architectural issues are the most important issues for a country.” Says Maks Velo. “In fact architecture is one of those documents which, can lift, praise or dishonor a country. In this sense, Tirana has many issues. One thing that is always in my mind is the fact that Tirana has the innumerous possibilities to become an extraordinary city. Those possibilities are given to the city by the presence of the sea and the Mountain.”2 In order to have a good understanding of this relationship I have decided to focus on a specific area of the center of Tirana that, in my opinion is the part of the city, that has been affected the most by Mussolini’s imperialism and is a clear example of colonial politics translated into architecture. Starting from Bulevardi Zogu I, moving south to the Seshi Skënderbeu and through Bulevardi Dëshmorët e Kombit ending in Sheshi Nënë Tereza. Although Tirana does not have a defined center, this area would be the most central and logical bit of the city. Starting from the early XX century and the Kingdom this area has been the subject of endless conversations and speculations. It has been the main preoccupation for every single regime how to create an extraordinary master plan for the center of Tirana after which the rest of the city would be developed. As we will see not a single one of those proposals was carried through to completion whether it was due to a change in political regime or economical reasons. It is an area that has been visibly and directly affected by the political instability of the country and that makes it the most suitable site to focus on for this dissertation. Apart from the role of the political regime in the development of the city, the role of the architect will be constantly discussed and in many cases it was made meaningless due to the power of the political influence. The study starts with a proposed master plan by Armando Brasini in the mid twenties. The plan consisted in an eclectic scenography created by baroque spatiality and neoclassical halls. The proposed plan was never to be built due to the occupation of the country by the Italian Fascist Regime.3

1 Maria Adriana Giusti, XX Secolo- Architettura italiana in Albania, Edizioni ETS, Pisa, 2010, p.11 2 Maks Velo, Betonizimi i Demokracisë, UET Press, Tirana 2013, p. 20 3 Maria Adriana Giusti, XX Secolo- Architettura italiana in Albania, Edizioni ETS, Pisa, 2010, p.13-14

The big changes in the city of Tirana came with the occupation by the Italian Fascist regime in a relatively short period of time, between 1939-1943. In April 1939 the Kingdom of Italy against the Albanian Kingdom carried on a brief military campaign. The occupation was the result of the imperialist policies of Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator. The country was quickly invaded and King Zogu I was forced into exile. The country became part of the Italian Empire as a separate kingdom in union with the Italian Crown. Albania was an important strategic point for the Italians giving them control of the Adriatic Sea and access to Greek territory from the north.1 Nevertheless the Italian-Albanian relationship had started long before this invasion. After a failed attempt by the Italian Kingdom to invade the country in 1920, Benito Mussolini, after taking power in Italy, started a “diplomatic invasion” to the Albanian economy. First in 1925, when Albania agreed to allow Italy to exploit its mineral resources, followed by First Treaty of Tirana in 1926 and the Second Treaty of Tirana in 1927, according to which Albania entered into a defensive alliance with Italy.2

Architectural Context During this period of 20 years, the Albanian capital went through an architectural transformation with a series of projects that gave the city a strong identity and emphasized the representative role of the city center. These projects document a monumental selection of Beaux Arts derivation to a simplified monumentality with rationalist declinations. This is the result of 20 years of debates and the search for more “schools” of Roman and Florentine origins. The first Plans come from the hand of Armando Brasini in the mid 1920s. Brasini worked on an eclectic scenography for the capital of Albania with baroque spatiality and neoclassical halls with the intention of extending the roman metaphor to the new Albanian Capital. His proposal for Tirana reflects on his research of a systematic monumentality as an image of the “Urbe Massima”. The proposed plan is based on a long axis as link to the two piazzas, in an elliptic form, in which the eclectic buildings are situated: as a united front to the street and articulated volumes that open to the gardens. From the piazza, modeled in a berninian archetype, expand the diagonals in direction to the agricultural landscape. The radial geometry is emphasized, in plan, by the garden’s design and tracks in elevation from the urban doorways that shield the enclosed space hidden from the celebrations in key moments from political and administrative power. To mark this celebration there is a triumphant arch compressed behind the tribunal building and the building of justice.3 Another variant of the plan proposed by Brasini comes from the hand of Florestiano di Fausto; a successful attempt, welcomed by King Zogu I, who wanted Tirana to become a modern European City. According to Brasini’s plan, “Piazza Skënderbeu” was going to be a huge park in a semi-circular shape serving as a viewpoint for the surrounding administrative buildings. Di Fausto does not completely deviate from the initial idea. In his plan for Piazza Skënderbeu, the piazza remains the central element, changing the shape of the plan to a rectangular with a semi circle on the north side and a semi hexagon inscribed in a circle on the south side. Di Fausto proposed the conservation of the existing Mosque of Ethem Beu (1789) which although interferes with the symmetry of the square, it enriches its volumetric composition. Next to the Mosque he proposes to build the Ministry of Exterior Affairs, surely Di Fausto’s most successful building, a C shaped plan with the entrances in an angle connected with semicircular openings.4

1 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p. 37 2 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.19 3 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.20-22 4 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p. 44-45

The ornamentation of the façade is very rich, the numerous planes of arrangement of the wall surface are treated with various materials, accentuating the vertical arrangement of the façade. Finishing up the square on the south end there is the Ministry of Public Labor building, in a 45-degree angle from the original axis established by Brasini. The original plan contained only two floors topped with a pitched roof, at present; the building has been built over losing the original proportions. In regard to the buildings on the north side of the square that were supposed to finish off the square, creating a monumental exedra, only one of them was built, the City Hall until the late 1960s when it was demolished to make space for the National Museum. Subsequently, in 1935, under the direction of Giulio Berté, a new system of gradients was created in order to modify the perception of the proportions between the buildings and the open space, due to the fact that the dimensions of the square were exaggerated in relation to the height of the buildings around it. A decision was made to modify the dimensions of the gardens to 1.5 m. The newly built blocks had a remarkable architectural quality strongly imposed to represent King Zogu’s new state. The Ministries Complex was highly inspired by the Italian Renaissance, reinterpreted and executed by Di Fausto in a “modern” way.1 Shortly after the invasion an office in charge of the development of the city was created. The “Ufficio Centrale per l’Edilizia e l’Urbanistica dell’Albania”. The U.C.E.U.A. was responsible for the vast production of projects for the center of Tirana and other Albanian Cities, controlled and financed by Zenone Benini, parliamentary secretary of the Albanian Affairs, and Francesco Jacomoni de Sansarino, General Lieutenant of Tirana. This institution became very active in a period of disciplinary debates and normative acquisitions in regard to the urbanism and protection of the monuments and environment that defined the social function of the urban projects. The “first job” that was presented by the U.C.E.U.A. to the Comssione Centrale del Consiglio dei Ministri was the plan for the piazzale and Viale dell’Imperio by Gherardo Bosio in 1939. Ivo Lambertini and Ferdinando Poggi adding the viale Di Tirana Nuova made changes and further additions to the original plan in 1940 and 1942. Florestiano di Fausto continued the project extending the avenue to organize and connect the different parts of the expanding city. The avenue extends the existing track and becomes a link between the “Casa Littoria” on the left of the hill to the “Caserma della Guardia”, a proposal to be built in the field near the viale Vittorio Emmanuelle. Piazza Littorio, now known as Sheshi Nënë Tereza, is a synthesis and critical revision of the roman model that develops without resolving the continuity of the projects for “la terza Roma”. The great audience of the piazza is thought of as an ancient theatre; circumscribed by steps, accessible via lateral ramps that are interrupted to introduce the lateral scenes defined by the Opera Dopolavoro Albanese and the palazzo della Giuventu del Littorio Albanese, whose characteristics are important to the homogeneity of the decorative and material values. The architecture of some of the buildings is consumed by the absolute monumentality of the staged space. In order to celebrate this monumentality, Bosio had planned sculptural emblematic ornaments representing eagles, the allegory of labor, the Roman heroes and the march of the fascist youth, the legionnaires and aviators. The tower like volume of Casa del Fascio contributes to the metaphor of the elevation of values of heroic ethics. The building marks the central space of the event, celebrated in the expanded base that extends towards the square below using three views, resolved by the interception of the continuity of the steps by using successive ramps.2

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p. 44-45 2 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p. 45-46

Brasiniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s monumental axis

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Piazza Skenderbeu by Brasini

Perspective view of Brasiniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposal

Piazza Skenderbeu in the 1920s

Di Fausto’s Plan

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Bosio’s Plan

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Piazza Skenderbeu, 1930

The old Town Hall, 1930

6 4 4

1. National Bank of Albania Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo 1937-1941

5. National Theatre Pater Costruzioni Milano 1939/1954

3. Ministry of Economy/ Ministry of Exteriors and Presidency Florestiano di Fausto

6. Hotel Dajti Gherardo Bosio 1940-1941

1929-1931

2. Ministry of Public Labor/ Ministry of Internal Affairs Florestiano di Fausto 1929-1931

GSEducationalVersion

4. Ministry of Finance/ Ministry of Justice Florestiano di Fausto

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7. Lieutenantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Headquarters

10. Palazzo della Giuventu del Littorio Albanese

8. Sede INFAIL

11. Casa del Fascio

Gherardo Bosio 1939-1940

Gherardo Bosio 1940-1943

Gherardo Bosio 1940

9. Opera Dopolavoro Albanese Gherardo Bosio 1940

Piazza Skenderbeu: Ministry of Economy and Ministry of External Affairs

The complex of Piazza Skenderbeu was composed by three couples of buildings, designed by Florestiano di Fausto. Initially, the design of the piazza included four more buildings on the North side forming therefore a circular stage, of those four buildings only one was built, the old Town Hall, which was later demolished in the 60s to give way to the National Museum. Next to the Ethem Beu mosque is located the Ministry of Economy building, and opposite the Ministry of External Affairs. These twin buildings have both a “C” shaped plan with the entrances in an angle circled by the round open space. All the points of rise for the vertical circulation are located on the diagonal axis going through the entrances, conserving in that way the perfect symmetry in plan. The load bearing structure is mixed; reinforced concrete frame and load bearing walls, a construction solution that allowed the existence of large naturally lit spaces, like for example the ball room on the back side, and conserve at the same time the character of the typical massiveness of the walls, present along the external skin of the building. The ornamentation of the façade is quite rich the various planes of arrangement of the wall surface are treated with a variety of materials such as stone, bricks and plaster. This material richness intensifies the vertical arrangement of the façade accentuated by stone pilasters behind which the openings are framed. It is a formal inventory, which favors the wall surfaces where the lodges are embedded or from where the volumes protrude, in which the compositional acts are concentrated on the theme of the complex rhythm of the façade. At present, the building on the east side of the piazza houses the Town Hall and the one on the west side remains as the Ministry of Economy, proving the flexibility and adapting qualities of the design.1 Ministry of Public Labor and Ministry of Internal Affairs. Exiting piazza Skenderbeu form the south side there are two identical buildings, on each side of the street, at a 45-degree angle to the monumental axis. These were the Ministry of Public Labor and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This couple of buildings acted as a scenography side scene in order to frame the monumental axis that was lost in the horizon. The architectural ornamentation of the façade is particularly articulate. On the background wall the different rhythms stand out progressively protruding framing the windows. There are square window frames, enriched with pictorial circles, the overhangs of the balconies, shelves in reconstituted stone, the dentils and the various profiles of the cornices and also the segments of the base with respect to the joint and so on, all make a rich façade composition. In full-bodied tone of the plaster, the light creates an effect of “chiaroscuro” which distinguishes the Italian architects from those of Northern Europe. The two buildings were perfectly symmetric with monumental entrances on the central axis and then a longitudinal body completed with a 45-degree rotation operating as a funnel for the piazza in relation to the other buildings of the complex. These two buildings have been modified through the years. The central tripartite roof terrace has been lost due to the addition of one floor.2

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.115 2 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.121

Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Justice

These two buildings introduce the Piazza Skenderbeu to the monumental boulevard. As all the other buildings on the piazza designed by Di Fausto they are of a notable architectural quality that strongly imposed a representation of the state of King Zogu’s empire. The complex of Ministries was highly inspired by the Italian renaissance properly purified and reinterpreted by Di Fausto in a process of linguistic reduction typical of the exponents of the Roman school. The construction of these buildings was done with mixed techniques, reinforced concrete and masonry walls. The architecture of the time was characterized by the use of large pieces of natural and opaque materials as load bearing elements proceeding to the update of these systems with the use of new materials such as reinforced concrete and steel. The change towards a modern construction was at the time more theoretical than practical, there is a preference of a concrete frame with heavy wall infill, which from a static point of view secure a rigid structure.1

Piazza Skenderbeu- The ministries Complex

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.127

Ministry of Economy- Ground Floor Plan

Ministry of External Affairs- Ground Floor Plan

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Ministry of Economy and Ministry of External Affairs- Elevation

Ministry of Public Labor and Ministry of Internal Affairs- Ground Floor Plan

xiii Ministry of Public Labor and Ministry of Internal Affairs- Elevation

Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Justice- Ground Floor Plan

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Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Justice- Elevation

Via dell’ Impero: National Bank of Albania The National Bank of Albania was designed by Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo in 1941. Morpurgo had already designed the Bank of Albania in Durrës and Korça. The building was planned to be built in 1927 with a rather classicist design by Fiorini, a typical approach to monumental architecture in post-Unitarian Italy, with the presence of an Arch of Triumph on the façade and an elevation of reliefs that ran along the whole building. In 1930, Morpurgo presents his first proposal for the site with a “C” shaped plan and a main entrance composed with a portico of eight Doric columns surmounted in an order of round arches almost simulating a roman aqueduct suspended from the building. The corners of the building presented an ashlar treatment and on the last bay of the portico the wall had curved niches. On the back elevation an eversion of the central body was found in a semicircular shape punctuated by an order of tall and slender pilasters. On the final proposal the main body is simplified to a longitudinal volume bent around a cylindrical central volume between the piazza Skënderbeu and viale Mussolini, now known as Rruga e Kavajës. The building is constructed in reinforced concrete and clad in ceramic bricks and slates brought from Italy. On the central portico there was a change from Doric columns to four thick rectangular columns clad in stone, contrasting thus the red brick wall.1 The interior of the portico is decorated in special terracotta reliefs by Alfredo Bigini. The interior of the circular Hall, where the counters were, was lit from above through a vault that stood on a drum decorated with a mosaic by Giulio Rosso. The main body on the interior of the courtyard has a cylindrical shape, a reminder of the first design by Morpurgo, on this façade the roman architect tries out different planes of treatment for the wall surfaces designing by subtraction a gigantic order that frames the openings made even more evident by the different textures of the exposed brickwork. The design theme that Morpurgo proposed in this building is strongly relevant and current, carving and subtracting materials in order to create hollow spaces with a massive character. These themes are well reprehended in the winning proposal on the competition for the re-functionalization and extension of the building in 2007.2 The location chosen in the late 20s is a strategic point, due to the crossing between the piazzas and the Rruga e Kavajës, the building is placed on the converging point of the urban and suburban traffic. The solution realized by Morpurgo substantially modifies the design proposed a decade earlier, but also maintains the generating principle, so as to speculate a change on the already set route. Such speculation, obtained by the documents that make testimony to the continuous activity of the Bank, is amenable even in the morphological findings. The comparison of the two proposals by Morpurgo allows for a verification of the process of unitary organization of the main body of the building via the convexity, which incorporates the lateral joints. The most significant aspect of such operation is the adjustment of the Bank to an innovative image of a “rationalized monumentality” which conceals or incorporates the columns in the abstract rhythm of the corner pilasters. The compact surface of the front is motionless; the texture of the bricks plays on different planes and laying systems, in order to imitate the twisted effect of the huts and the crude soil on the facing corner highlighting the attempt of bringing back the textures of the traditional Albanian building methods. An Architecture, therefore that searches for a dialogue between the local identity and modernity, in close continuity with the urban connection system of the piazzas, the gardens and the wide avenues. Brick, stone and red pigmented plaster are the “autarkic” materials that give the building its character and identity, conserved to date in their physical consistency and spatial organization between an interior space hinged to the circular volume and an exterior that multiplies visuals, underlining the junction of the confluence of the squares and streets. Due to the formal and material character the building fully responds to Piacentini’s idea of “Italian Modernism” and to the specificity of the Roman School. “Between the Romans” says Piacentini in 1930 “prevails, as it is natural, the broad and solemn sense with forms freed from the old architecture drawing inspiration from the imperial ruins and resetting the arts of the 15th century, from the long surfaces of the mighty drafts and the superb shapes.”3 1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.133 2 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.136 3 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.107-110

National Bank of Albania- Ground Floor Plan

xv National Bank of Albania- Elevation

xvi National Bank of Albania street view

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xviii National Bank of Albania- Brickwork details

Hotel Dajti

Hotel Dajti was designed by Gherardo Bosio in 1939-40. The building fits in the urban regulation of the Viale dell’Impero, except for its recession from the street line. The Hotel was built near the intersection of the monumental axis and the Lana River in an area that was occupied by shacks owned by the “Comando Aeronautico di Tirana”. For its architectural and mechanical devices and its refined details was on of the most renowned hotels in Europe at the time. Its inauguration was therefore seen as an event of great importance so as to designate the role that the Albanian nation was destined to have in the touristic scene after the war. The hotel, at the time it was built, was certainly an avant-garde jewel with a series of comforts unknown to the Albanian society of the time in addition to being functionally rational and modern. The ground floor consisted mainly of a reception area, restaurants and all the typical collective activities of a hotel. The basement was mainly a services area. The administrative offices occupied the first floor while the top three floors were rooms, many of them with en-suite bathrooms. The entrance hall develops a double height with an effect of a generous and luminous space thanks to the large windows on the main façade. Across the great hall, in marble, there is access to the upper floors, where the rooms are located, and a mezzanine level, where the direction offices were. The first floor was the noble floor. All the rooms on the front façade were given a balcony area that served as a solarium. At the front, the proportions of the façade are respected in height and length with a recurrent module of 4 meters centers. The rhythm of the façade is set by the framed structure of 8 meters between columns. The rooms can be divided in 5 typologies and various surfaces according to the quantity of beds and bathrooms they have. The type A is the largest, overlooking the Boulevard, with two beds and an en-suite bathroom with a hot tub. The configuration of the room with en-suite bathroom is repeated along the main façade permitting thus the articulation of the symmetric walls as fitted walls, that include in their thickness, clad in timber, a wardrobe and a desk. These rooms are adjacent, via passage zones, to the heaters. The type B room was a one-bed room with shared bathroom and in some cases connected to the type A room through the corridor. The type C rooms looked through small lodges to the back yard. They had one bed and shared bathrooms. The type D rooms were located in the short side of the hotel. They did not have en-suite bathrooms, they were fitted with a small washbasin and they all shared the same toilet located at the end of the corridor. The type E rooms are again two-bed rooms with en-suite bathrooms along the corridor and a greater surface than the type A rooms although they did not share the great views of the boulevard. All rooms were fitted with plug walls; these were partitions that served certain needs such as wall fitted wardrobes, desks and in some cases a washbasin or the access door to the adjacent room. The articulation of these walls varies from one room to another. The room is not considered as an empty perimeter to be filled with furniture, but rather the intersection of the volumes is carved and modeled according to the dimensions of the human body both in plan and section achieving thus functional, rational and aesthetic coherence of all the spaces. The structural footprint of the building, which Bosio identifies in the 4-meter module, was taken as a reference in the design of the rooms. The compositional-structural grid has helped to create a variety of special solutions and different versions of the plan interconnected by the same distributive logic: from the arrangement of the rooms plugged to the corridor in which each room occupies one module, to the rooms on the front façade which occupy two modules and create the suites. The extra space if the room is obtained through the paratactic composition of carved volumes.1

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.215-221

The building is composed by an eight meter high stone clad base hierarchically pronounced on the front by tall windows set on a continuous plinth, which reveal a full height internal volume. On top of the base sits the “L” shaped body rendered and highlighted on the main façade by the iterated series of deep loggias, developed in three orders. The module of four meters per floor set by the urban regulation on the Viale dell’Impero is expressed on the façade with the exposure of the concrete slabs, the architect achieves that way a sense of lightness and transparency of the façade without the use of large glazed surfaces. The language used is deliberately raw with an emphasized contrast between the volumes of the base and the elevation and the chiaroscuro effects of the loggias.1 During the course of time the building has not suffered any significant changes in neither architectural nor functional terms. Therefore it has conserved its original character even during the successive dictatorship it has continued to be the favorite place for accommodating important events and personalities: in people’s minds it has always been associated with the high-class society. The hotel today is in a decadent state due to the lack of maintenance and the fact that it has not been inhabited for years. Not having undergone major restoration work the building still maintains its original materials, the compositional articulation, the decorative order and the floor plans. In 2005 the City Council decided to dismantle the building and convert it to the new Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the change of use the hotel will obviously suffer a considerable remodeling of the interior. The access to the hotel is occupied by overgrown vegetation with tall pine trees making the building practically invisible from the street.2

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1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.145 2 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.139

Hotel Dajti- Ground Floor Plan

xx Hotel Dajti- Front Elevation

Hotel Dajti- Mezzanine Level Plan

xxi Hotel Dajti- First Floor Plan

National Theatre

In the area between the streets Abdi Toptani and Sermeid Said Toptani behind the Ministry of Public Work one can notice the modernist rigor of a prefabricated architecture such as the National Theatre. The National Theatre, originally destined to be the Italian- Albanian culture club, was designed in 1938 by the Milan based office “Pater costruzioni speciali”. It was a mixed use building with swimming pool, sports courts, restaurants and a theatre, organized in three main blocks organically linked by a portico. The volumetric composition was strongly symmetrical made evident on the main façade by two towers corresponding to the two long blocks. The interior space of the courtyard was contained between two arcades, a long one between the two towers and another on the circular stage at the back. The elevations of the two symmetrical long blocks were reminiscent of a post futurist language halfway between Antonio Sant’Elia and De Chirico. The compositional logic of the design anticipated the construction of different “boxes” structurally and functionally independent that formally simulated the joint between pure volumes following the logic of a continuous wall rather than a discontinuous structure finally chosen.1 From a constructional point of view the building was one of Pater’s experiments. It was constructed using the innovative patents of the Pater Company, which guaranteed speed and economy. The use of materials prefabricated in Milan facilitated a construction of “bold solutions” in a context in which the qualified hand of labor was scarce. Such a construction system guaranteed a monumentality worthy of a project executed by the Regime. The Theatre was built in an experimental construction system that is framed in a wider context of experience in the period between the two wars all around Europe specially in the field of housing buildings, industry and temporary structures, which required the use of timber as the main construction material with particular consideration of the cost and durability of the artifact. The research and application were characterized by inventiveness, economy, mechanization and standardization of the production and combination with other materials like concrete and steel. In the construction system used by Pater we can find different materials inspired in the principles of self-sufficiency; concrete, wood and a new material called “Populit” or “Patercemento” which was a mixture of concrete and straw patented by the company and prefabricated in plates.2 The building has undergone various modifications through the years. In 1943 both arcades were to be demolished and rebuilt, but that did not happen. Between 1945 and 1946 there was a modification of the arcade at the back of the building and a repurposing of the theatre, successively there was a modification done to the ceilings of the theater’s service areas and the offices. In 1954 the backside of the courtyard was enclosed with a rectangular timber block.3 Today many of the original functions of the building have disappeared and the complex is exclusively used as a theatre. The arcade of round concrete columns that linked the two buildings has been demolished and the interior of the complex has undergone considerable changes including extensions that have modified the volumes and the structure of the courtyard. According to a Master Plan for Tirana in 2002 the building was to be demolished, although that has not happened yet instead several competitions have been held for the revitalization and repurposing of the building to a Museum of the City of Tirana.4

1 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.127 2 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.205-206 3 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.151 4 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.209

xxii

xxiii National Theater street views

xxiv 26

National Theater- Ground Floor Plan and Elevation

xxv

xxvi

Antonio Santâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Elia- casa a gradinata for the Citta Nuova, 1914

Giorgio De Chirico- Enigma of the hour, 1912

Lieutenant’s Headquarters

The Palazzo della Luogotenenza, designed by Gherardo Bosio in 1939-1940, has an austere monumental character bound to its institutional function. The building was part of the monumental axis of the Capital and is included in the vast urban planning project done by Gherardo Bosio in 1939. It is fundamental for the determination of the convergence lines on which is based the rigorous relationship between the volumetric plan and the boundary elements of the avenue. In fact, the complex architectural project of the axis resulted perfectly organic, the relationship between the facades constructed with a maximum height of 14 meters and the width of the street of approximately 25 meters and the dense use of gardens and green spaces gave the axis a monumental character of a spacious city, which is still valid today. Furthermore this long north-south axis born as a pause between the old town and its new expansion as an expression of political authority, houses the most representative buildings for the State between which the Palazzo della Luogotenenza represented the maximum executive authority.1 The asymmetrical main body emerges from the juxtaposition of two rotated “C” shaped elements. To this complex plan corresponds a rather severe façade, which enhances the asymmetry by putting a nodal open space on one side revealed on the façade by three tall vertical openings. The rest of the façade is treated with rhythmic openings, which show the fours meter distance between the axes present in other buildings that arise on the monumental axis. The main material on this building is the “travertino rosato” which is expressed in the cladding of the façade by the exposed vertical joints. The construction of this building occurred between a series of different phases from 1939 to date, with several extensions and modifications in the volumes due to functional modernization reasons foreseeing the addition of more buildings around the main body. The buildings added in the 1980s still maintain the arrangement of the original building with an exception on the cladding materials adopting plaster and reproducing with cement based materials the cornices and window frames of the main building. The organization of the spaces that alter the purist volumes of the original building is reinforced by an inadequate arrangement of the exterior spaces. The different construction phases of the complex are legible also in the interior.2 The building was initially designed as one volume of an articulate way and constituted in 2 main blocks. The main block in a “C” shape with 3 levels, that faces the axis, and another recessed lateral block of the same “C” shape rotated 90 degrees with respect to the main block. This second block was intended as a supporting element to the main building as it shows by; it being lower in height, its façade facing a side street and the treatment of its façade is simply rendered. As a result, the plan is very articulate and through the years has lent itself to various ways of interpretation. Within these was of interpretation it is interesting to remember the one, which identifies in the plan of the two blocks the letters “F” and “L” as initials of the term “fascio littorio” (Fascism). Regardless of the political propagandas, it is important to pick in the articulate plan the designer’s intention to create an architectural organism about open courts, in order to reinforce the relationship of permeability between private and public space. The front of the main block, regularly punctuated, is set on the asymmetry of the access. The device, which incorporates a symmetric setting on the façade, gets its main compositional reason from the empty corner and the articulation of the two lateral blocks. The convergence of slender openings over the entrance allows one to guess the internal structure on the first floor and therefore the double height volume of the reception hall. The large empty corner on the main façade accommodates an allegorical sculptural remark and is considered a perspective trick able to accelerate the effect of visual escape of the longitudinal volume of the building along the Great Boulevard. Finally a reworked vertical hierarchy and the specialization of horizontal zone of architectural stratification obtained by the use of different materials and textures is a clear declaration of a compositional code that derives from the classical language and the Florentine precedent.3

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.229 2 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.157 3 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.231

From a structural point of view, it is a heavy construction formed by a concrete framework enclosed by brick walls all resting in part on the continuous foundations and the reinforced concrete plinths. Nevertheless, the building is perceived from the exterior as a stone building due to the fine cladding materials imported from Italy. In fact, on the main building one can pick out two cladding typologies; the “travertino rosato” from Monsummano and the “travertine chiaro” from Rapolano used for the frames of the openings. This attention to detail is surely due to the architect’s dedication, but also to the clear disposition of the “Ufficio per Urbanistica”, which for the arrangement of the Viale dell’Impero and for all the buildings on it defined the types of materials used in a building from floor to ceiling. The construction of the building started in 1939 following Bosio’s drawings, which defined the structure and the morphological order, but was completed by Ferdinando Poggi due to Bosio’s death in 1941. The completion of the project occurred in two phases; first in 1939 the main building was built while in the second, the side block was built between 1939 and 1940. A testimony to the completion of the two phases is the presence of technical joints. The original design shows that the building was conceived as two block, therefore the only reason for the division in construction was speed. Later on, political circumstances, such as the end of WWII and the start of an Albanian dictatorship, lead to a new interruption in the construction of the court, although the building was almost finished. In the following years the building conserved its representative role changing its use from Lieutenant Headquarters to Cabinet of Ministers, soon resulting too small for such function. Therefore in the 1980s there was an extension designed in the same stylistic language as the existing building. The intervention consisted in the construction of two blocks that enclosed the open courts of the two “C” shapes and the addition of one more level to the side block. The extension of the building has led to the definite loss of Bosio’s original intentions. The typological change of the building, now with courtyards, has meant the loss of the features of permeability with the public space of the city. Furthermore, the signs of this last transformation can easily read on the building’s four elevations, now almost a big block with two courtyards that do not link. The west elevation, the one facing the avenue, is affected by the loss of the hierarchical relationship between the heights of the two blocks. While the north elevation has suffered a total contortion with the creation of a forepart porch, which works as a pinpoint for the forced symmetry of the new block. On this elevation the original stone details are imitated in plaster and cladding materials of a mediocre quality. Finally the on the east elevation, the signs of the fractioning are visible on the discontinuity of the cornice and the inaccuracy in the use of materials. The organization of spaces that alters the pure modernist volumes of the original project is also emphasized in the interior mainly in the materials and finishes.1

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.233-234

xxvii

xxviii Lieutenantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Headquarters street views

xxix Lieutenantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Headquarters- Ground Floor Plan and Front Elevation

xxx 32

Lieutenantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Headquarters-1980s Extension Ground Floor Plan and Side Elevation

Sede INFAIL/House of Parliament

The “sede dell’Istituto Nazionale Fascista Assicurazione Infortuni sul Lavoro” was already under construction in 1940, although it is not perfectly clear who it was designed by it has been attributed to Gherardo Bosio. The first proposal, which was not built, was far more interesting than the final built proposal. It was a square plan with a cinema/auditorium in the center connected to the main building by the means of two colonnaded wings. The contrast between these two masses created a volumetric tension in the interior of the court that was emphasized by the different architectural characters of the two volumes: one long and tall and the other central and lower. The elevation of the building on the exterior skin presented a rather compact façade treatment with the predominance of the protrusions to the voids, a rhythmic treatment of the elevation in four orders of fenestration all different to one another, overcome by a loggia on the attic level, which served as an element of longitudinal continuity. On the southeast corner an element of dissymmetry was introduced, which constituted of a protruding corner tower taller than the rest of the façade clad in diamond pointed stone. The tower also included a loggia on the top floor. The presence of stone cladding in the tower and the loggia represented the strong resemblance of the language use in the Casa del Fascio, also designed by Bosio. This Design was not built, however the footprint of the built proposal resembles the initial design making one assume that it was a variation of the work in progress. The existing structure presents a strong classical architectural language, with a rusticated base “a cuscinetto” on which sit a series of pilasters and windows. On the southeast side there is a tower-like element following the footprint of the initial proposal. On the base, the rustication is interrupted by three arched openings and the ornamentation of the tower is much richer than the rest of the building making it the eccentric central element of the building.1

xxxi 1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.163-166

xxxii

House of Parliament- Ground Floor Plan and Elevation 34

xxxiii

Initial Design Ground Floor Plan and Elevation 35

xxxiv 36

Initial Design- 1:100 Bay Study

Piazza Littorio/ Sheshi Nënë Tereza: Opera Dopolavoro Albanese On the west side of the Piazza Littorio is located the Opera Dopolavoro Albanese, another building designed by Gherardo Bosio during 1939-1940. The plan is a T shaped plan containing the composition of the great space of the theatre with the longitudinal splint of the offices. Bosio puts in action his precedent study of another typological setting here: a block in court with a high portico on the façade to the piazza, positioning the theatre space always at the back and parallel to the piazza. In the final version he decides to rotate the theatre in order to create a very compact façade to the piazza, so is mass is set against the Palazzo della Giuventú del Littorio Albanese.1 The layout of the volumes in plan has a very precise relationship with the other buildings of the piazza and a unitary urban space. Bosio on the design prefers simplified architectural lines, which develop on a single level on the main façade. He creates a central portico as the entrance and modular openings on the sides, giving the building a rational and monumental aspect. At the back, the building consists in more volumes arranged in a horseshoe shape with a central splint that forms two large volumes. The stone finish is , in this case, smoother than the one used in the Casa del Fascio; the overhangs are replaced by cornices and marble covered coronations. The construction of the Opera was done at the same time as the rest of the buildings on the piazza Littorio and concluded in 1942. Therefore a journalistic propaganda was published on the same journal and same edition about their conclusion.2 “The new head office, all done in marble, of the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro Albanese. Here all the workers of the “Great Albania” will find a second home. From this office will radiate the whole organization, which will unify in one block those who, working in silence, form the pulsating activity of a “Nation” that moves towards progress…” 3 On the back he highlights the volumetric composition of the plastered buildings on a stone base, interrupted by ramps and stairs. The main façade had an austere aspect with rhythmic openings and its smooth finish; in the center, in correspondence with the full height arcade of the G.L.A, a slit is opened on the façade with an entrance portico of five bays. The articulation of the mural ornamentation is totally absent; this is probably the building that differs the most from the language of the buildings of the Ministries Complex in Piazza Skënderbeu. Movements of pure masses are preferred to the different planes of arrangement on the façade, there is an implicit vertical hierarchy, almost abstract in their serial language of openings. The denial of the two dimensionality of the façade in favor of a hidden depth of the mass, in connection with the balance of the floor becomes in itself the architecture, the verticality of the openings that articulate the succession of the interior spaces seek for a modern language other than the “white dream” of the Modern Movement. Bosio had certainly a modernist approach on the design of this building, he belonged to the generation of integral architects, that came from the Schools of Architecture, clearly influenced by the ideas of Giovannoni and Piacentini but also closely looked at the cultural revolution in motion. He, indeed, was one of the promoters of the “gruppo toscano”, emerging successively in 1933 due to disagreements with Giovanni Michelucci. Bosio, already graduated in engineering, frequented the Architecture School of Florence, although due to several work commitments he never managed to graduate. Nevertheless, in 1933 he worked in the school as an assistant delegate in design and composition. Today the building is home to the Academy of Fine Arts.4

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.175 2 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.149 3 Opera del Fascio,”Tomori”, Quotidiano Fascista d”Albania, Year II,nr. 258, 28 October 1942 4 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.175

xxxv Piazza Littorio- Gherardo Bosio 1939

xxxvi 38

Opera Dopolavoro Albanese street view

xxxvii Opera Dopolavoro Albanese- Ground Floor PLan and Elevation

Palazzo della Giuventu del Littorio Albanese- Archeological Museum of Tirana

The Palazzo della Giuventú del Littorio Albanese on the east side of the Piazza Littorio, designed by Gherardo Bosio. The building has a plan with an open courtyard, two asymmetrical lateral blocks linked with a slender porch that runs around the courtyard. The necessary symmetry on the front, facing the Piazza, is guaranteed by the compact headers of the two principal blocks, meanwhile the two lines of columns lead through the portico to the open courtyard.1 It is a rather complex building given that it was designed to house the offices of the athletic and cultural organizations of the city, it is an interface between the two new piazzas that are created, the piazza Littorio and the piazza Italia, which is located between the building and the Olympic Stadium at the back. The “U” shape of the plan allows for a special distribution of the offices in two levels in elevation in the two long wings. The building also acts as a filter thanks to the two types of views of the public spaces, both studied in relation to the surrounding buildings, in order to create a precise spatial and form response to those. Towards piazza Littorio, the architect has achieved a smooth permeable surface, thanks to the spacious double height colonnade, which frames the stone stairs of the Olympic Stadium, while from the other side he creates a collective space, framed on three sides by a colonnade, a piazza within the piazza, slightly raised in relation to the piazza Italia. Between the two main blocks of two floors aboveground, Bosio creates on the internal face a colonnaded space, which due to the full height columns, blends in with the high colonnade of the main façade, which in addition creates a walkway bordered by an elegant marble parapet. The whole building is perceived as a rectangular volume resting on a marble base and is elevated from the street level by two steps.2 The language of a simplified classicism is manifested repeatedly by means of low beams resting on elegant square columns made of concrete and clad in stone, they can be interpreted as a modern simplification of classical architecture. Bosio had already used this language in another colony in Oriental Africa with the Tribunal of Gondor in 1936-37 and the Palazzo del Governo del Comissario in Gimma 1937-38. Today the north block of the building is the Archeological Museum of Tirana and the south block is house to the Library of the Polytechnic University of Tirana. In the courtyard an extremely banal fast food building was been placed in the center of the courtyard, which apart from ruining the beauty of the space, also blocks any direct access to the Stadium behind GLA from the Piazza Nënë Tereza.3

xxxviii

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.169 2 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p153 3 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.169

xxxix Piazza Littorio- Gherardo Bosio 1939 Relationship between buildings 41

Casa del Fascio

Casa del Fascio was part of Gherardo Bosio’s masterplan and was designed be Bosio between 1939 and 1940. In conceptual terms the whole complex of the Piazza Littorio as a theatrical stage surrounded by powerful steps taking the Casa del Fascio as the element of the artificial scenery placed in front of the natural scenery of the hill, was supposed to ignite in the citizen a self affirmation and make him/her feel an integral part of the urban presentation. The construction of Casa del Fascio, an emblematic building for the representation of the new authority, symbolizes an important occasion and it is a point of arrival for Gherardo Bosio: designing the piazza Littorio and the entire political-sports complex he reaffirms his urban conception, in which open space and built form, voids and volumes come together in a balance and unity of shapes. At an early stage of the project, in 1938, Bosio foresees the building as the southern testimony of the Viale dell’Impero. In the final proposal Bosio modifies the position of the building on piazza Littorio, still placing the Casa del Fascio as the culmination of the Viale, defining that way the current shape of the piazza, notice how the open space and buildings of the piazza Littorio are conceived in a totally different way to the ones in piazza dei Ministeri, both in a stylistic way and in the relationship between the volumes that surround the piazza.1 The use of the buildings also differs from the Ministries area: here the intention to create spaces for the cultural and physical formation of the Fascist youth, as seen on a page of an Albanian journal of the time: “The austere aspect of the Littorio tower on the Casa del Fascio in the Capital: here the youth of the Littorio generation will find their home, here they shall start their organizational effort, that will increasingly reinforce the Nation, made great by the will of Mussolini, founder of the Great Albania.”2 A rather hypocritical and controversial text, that explains the social situation in Albania at the time, and the reason why it was so easy for the new Regime to build practically anything. The people of Albania had no say, whatsoever, in any of the administrational issues and “journalists” were forced to write lies that nobody really read and if they did it was not by choice. The most important part of the text, apart from the pathetic attempt to please the Italian officials with these words, is the word “Nation”, which can be interpreted in many different ways. Does the author mean the Albanian Nation? Does he mean the Italian Nation? Or maybe, and most probably is Mussolini’s Fascist utopia? Whichever the right answer might be, it most certainly was not the Albanian Nation as the Albanian society of the time perceived it. By using the term “Great Albania” the author definitely caught people’s attention, however, Mussolini’s idea of a “Great Albania” was more of an Albanian senate of his Great Fascist Empire, while Albania’s idea of a “Great Albania” was something totally different. In conceiving the Casa del Fascio, the architect evokes the idea of a fortress, reinterpreting, According to him, in a modernist manner the vernacular Albanian “Kulla”, which is the typical house-tower in the North of the country. Nevertheless, I choose to see it as another desperate attempt to justify the imposing figure of the tower as a representation of the Fascist authority. It also cites the traditional Italian architecture using large arches and marble columns obtaining a building which is imposing, linear and moderate transforming it into the main attraction of the piazza as well as a background setting for the Viale dell’Impero. As Bosio declares in various texts, the colonial politics looked to adapt to the spirit of the place, therefore the architecture that is developed is a combination of the “imperial” and the “native” style.3

1 Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.145 2 Opera del Fascio,”Tomori”, Quotidiano Fascista d”Albania, Year II,nr. 258, 28 October 1942 3 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.181

The multiple changes in level achieved by the numerous stairs and the stylobates of Casa del Fascio, on one hand create various view points for the piazza, and on the other hand hold together organically the buildings that are part of it, as if there were a monumental podium dug into the ground expecting the buildings to be built on it. The Casa del Fascio is characterized by compact rectangular ashlars intersecting between them giving the impression of a fortress, some say are reminiscent to traditional Albanian towers, but most probably were inspired by the medieval Florentine palazzo, reinterpreted into a modern understanding of the typology. This accomplishment becomes the image of the New Tirana, although being repeated the same year in the project for the Albanian Pavilion in the “Fiera del Levante” in Bari and the “Mostra Triennale delle Terre d’Oltremne” in Napoli. It is curious to see the same project, with almost no alterations, being proposed by Bosio for the piazza del Governo Gondar. This formal coincidence makes one question the author’s relationship with and attitude towards the places and the local culture of the cities he designed for. The uniform treatment of the ashlar exceeds the traditional vertical stratification of the façade in base-elevation-conclusion, giving the building an almost metaphysical purity. The temple of a “New Albania” has a condition of formal abstraction compared to the rest of the buildings in the Littorio Complex, a similarity of sensations to the ones experienced in the EUR complex, in Rome, with the Palazzo della Civilta, different figures but a recurrent character: purity of volumes, symmetry, scale, elevated position, seriality and uniformity of materials. This relation to the Palazzo della Civilta makes more obvious the importance of the Rationalist/ Fascist ideals in the design of the buildings and it is, in my opinion, a clear example of political message/ ideals translated into architecture and expressed in a built form. Nevertheless the building is a good example of civic architecture and has survived through the years and adapted to modern day functions housing the Ploytechnic University of Tirana.1

1 Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.181-184

XLI

Casa del Fascio

Palazzo della Civilta, EUR, Rome

XLII Casa del Fascio, Ground Floor Plan and Elevation

Conclusion:

The city of Tirana confirms today its status of a “laboratory”, assumed during the end of the second half of the 1920s, during which time it was a field of experimentation for the contemporary urban design. The redevelopment of the city through implication of emerging architectural culture, alongside the elaboration of the normative instruments and, above all respecting the rules, established a politico-cultural program of public administration. Architecture played a key role in this redevelopment chosen as a representative factor for the cultural rebirth of the country. As seen in the previous chapters, the building of the viale dell’Impero and the buildings on it was the result of Mussolini’s attempt to not only rule Albania, but diplomatically revive the country and transform it into a self conscious and integral part of the Italian Fascist Empire. The effect that these few years under Italian rule had on the country is much stronger than most Albanians would admit today. The power of architecture as a tool to control a nation is immense. By dictating the shape of the center of the Capital, the architect did not just create a certain period of time instead those buildings are still part of the day-to-day life of the city. It is easy to understand why such big statements were made in that period of time without really having much public reaction or questioning. The Albanian nation at the time did no yet have a sense of identity, after 500 years of Ottoman Turkish rule, the country went straight to yet another Monarchy with a King that knew nothing about the country’s culture and whose only interest was to please the Great European Monarchies and increase his own fortune. As King Zogu himself explains: “ The average Albanian knows nothing about nationality. He has always looked up to the head of his tribe, or his Bei, as the supreme authority. He had to be taught gradually to transfer this local allegiance to the national government, so the nascent education system sought to encourage administration for the saviour of the nation and great leader of our state.” 1 It is true that the average Albanian did not have a sense of nationality and ironically, it was not until during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, 1944-1990, that this sense of national identity was created. A dictatorship based on the idea of a national identity mixed with Leninist and Stalinist ideals, which scarred the average Albanian for generation after it was over. It seems as if the country always had a need for a greater nation to control it; the Italians during the first half of the century and later on during Hoxha’s dictatorship the Russians and the Chinese. In my opinion, it all comes down to that lack of self-consciousness, as a country. I cannot help but wonder what Tirana would look like today if this area of the “Monumental Axis” was actually designed and built by the locals. Perhaps it would not be great but still I think it would mean a lot more to the nation. People of older generations seem to be grateful to the Italians for all their contributions; roads, bridges and buildings, however I personally am not able to get myself in that sort of mindset and still believe that they cannot be called contributions because they were not really for the people of Albania, instead it was all part of Mussolini’s great dream, Albania was a small part of his vision of a new Great Empire reminiscent of the Great Roman Empire. It was a huge socio-political experiment, which from an architectural point of view was great, a lot was learnt from it and great architecture was built for us to enjoy and learn from today, but in social and cultural terms I do not think it was successful in the sense that the so called cultural centers for the people of Albania were not actually used by the people of Albania. Maybe it is this history of political corruption and continuous oligarchic regimes that have damaged the country the most and these sort of organizational systems have been embedded into the Albanian society so deep that still today, almost a century later, they cannot get rid of it.

1 Jason Tomes, Jason Tomes looks at the reign of King Zog, History Today, Volume 51, issue 9 Sept. 2001

Bibliography: Books • Maria Adriana Giusti, XX Secolo- Architettura italiana in Albania, Edizioni ETS, Pisa, 2010 • Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006 • Martin Blinkhorn, Mussolini and Fascist Italy, Hoboken : Taylor and Francis, 1994 • Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture- A Critical History, Thames & Hudson, London, 2006 • Petraq Kolevica, Arkitektura dhe Diktatura, Marin Barleti, Tirana, 1997 • Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012 • Semi Pashallari, Arkitekti i Heshtur, Shtepia Botuese Shtypshkronja, Tirana, 2011 • Maks Velo, Betonizimi i Demokracisë, UET Press, Tirana 2013 • Miranda Vickers, Albania- From Anarchy to a Balkan Identity, Hurst & Co, London, 1999

Journals/ E-Journals • Opera del Fascio,”Tomori”, Quotidiano Fascista d”Albania, Year II,nr. 258, 28 October 1942 • G. Bruce Strang, Imperial Dreams: The mussolini’Laval Accords of January 1935, Cambridge University Press, The Historical Journal, Vol. 44, No. 3, Sep. 2001- http://www.jstor.org/stable/3133584, 09/01/2015 • Jason Tomes, Jason Tomes looks at the reign of King Zog, History Today, Volume 51, issue 9 Sept. 2001http://www.historytoday.com/jason-tomes/throne-zog-monarchy-albania-1928-1939, 05/01/15

Images I. http://tiranaworkshop09.pbworks.com/w/page/22285758/TiranaWorkshop09-CONTEXT- 03/10/14 Ii,iii. Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.34 Iv. Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.35 V. http://www.zhurnal.mk/data/news/tirana-1937.jpg,10/01/15 Vi,vii. Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.44 Viii. Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.26 ix. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7420/10868032786_1e7fe0e700.jpg, 10/11/14 X,xii-xv,xx-xxi,xiv,xxix,xxx,xxxii-xxxiv,xxxvii,XLII, Drawn by the author Xi. http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/8500000/Tirana-albania-8583146-799-549.jpg, 11/01/15 Xvi. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/ALB_20070720_img_1467.jpg, 03/01/15 Xvii,xviii. Maria Adriana Giusti, Albania- Architettura e Città 1925-1943, Maschietto Editore, Firenze, 2006, p.118-119 Xix. http://www.gizmoweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/tirana.jpg, 10/10/14 Xii. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/National_Theatre,_Tirana.jpg, 03/01/15 Xiii. http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/16271823.jpg, 03/01/15 Xv. Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture- A Critical History, Thames & Hudson, London, 2006, p.89 Xvi. https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/262/flashcards/705262/jpg/830200d1329446238735.jpg, 11/01/15 Xvii. http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/75407138.jpg, 11/01/15 Xviii. http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/108330776.jpg, 11/01/15 48

Xxxi. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Nd%C3%ABrtesa_e_Kuvendit_Popullor_t%C3%AB_Shqip%C3%ABris%C3%AB,_Tiran%C3%AB._Il_Palazzo_dell’Assemblea_Nazionale_dell’Albania,_Tirana._National_Assembly_Building_of_Albania,_Tirana._Foto_by_Dritan_Mardodaj..jpg, 08/01/15 xxxv. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QpXPOzethzA/UPGD16A0JgI/AAAAAAAAAJE/1QDQZ_K1it8/s1600/Architetti+e+Ingegneri+Italiani+in+Albania+Milva+Giacomelli06.jpg, 05/10/14 xxxvi. http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/16022664.jpg, 05/10/14 xxxviii. http://photos.wikimapia.org/p/00/01/18/76/15_big.jpg, 05/10/14 xxxix. Anna Bruna Menghini, Architettura Moderna Italiana per le Città d’Albania-Modelli e interpretazioni, Collana Archinauti 40, Bari, 2012, p.60 XL. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/University_in_Tirana.JPG, 10/10/14 XLI. Picture taken by the author