Portfolio 2021 by Gent Shehu

2021

gent shehu portfolio

AUTHOR

Gent Shehu (1) An architect, with an aptitude for critical thinking. A recent cum laude graduate from The Berlage Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture and Urban Design.

Born in Debar, North Macedonia. Raised in Skopje (MK). Lived in Tirana (AL), New York City (US), Guimaraes (PT) and Vienna (AT). Currently living in Delft (NL).

CONTENT

nota bene

04-13

The Ministry of Things

2021

Bergen, Norway

14-21

Muttsu no Ruto: algae archipelago

2020

Tokyo, Japan

22-27

Security School: Daun Barracks wr Neustadt

2019

Wiener Neustadt , Austria

28-37

An Introspective Manifesto: quest of identity in Europe’s Capital of Kitsch

2018

Skopje, North Macedonia

38-43

Hyper-Panopticon: political prison in a dystopian society

2017

Rome, Italy

44-49

Anti-Fragile Line: mediterranean institute of marine biology Riviera, Albania

2017

THE MINISTRY OF THINGS

(1)

The Berlage Thesis Bergen, Norway 2021

Individual film - “The Ministry of Things” - https://travelagency.theberlage.nl/Destinations Collective film - “Travel Agency” - https://travelagency.theberlage.nl/Collective-video

The Ministry of Things rethinks the representative and organization role of the ministry in the age of the Anthropocene. It clusters bureaucratic offices with scientific laboratories underground, and produces experiments and taxes to help manage Norway’s transition away from the ecologically detrimental oil and gas industry. Walking through the Ministry of Things is like reading a newspaper. Here one finds a scientific revelation, there lies a new policy for sustainable transportation. From a desk full of papers, one flirts with splitting molecules. In such environment the bureaucrat becomes absorbed and seamlessly touches the nature of things. In such environment the scientist is exposed and endlessly becomes part of the production of Norway’s politics. It’s plans reflect an assemblage of ancient ideas, enriching the discourse by stimulating a passage through time and space, a blend of science and culture. It’s reverberating pixelated courtyards, assemble a picture that reminds one of the famous Norwegian Stave Churches, while at the same time, critically engaging with their material technology and architectural identity. “The Ministry Report” is the first periodical document of the Ministry of Things. It reports and visualizes its design process; moving from a deep understanding of the context and the ministry as a building type, to a thorough study of the implications and possibiliteis of building underground.

1. The Ministry of Things is part of “Travel Agency”. Travel Agency is a collective project that speculates on the spatial implications of tourism on Norway in a post-petroleum economy. Thesis advisory team include: Salomon Frausto, Filip Geerts, Ludo Groen, Benjamin Groothuijse and Michiel Riedijk. My thesis Examineer was: Dick van Gameren.

THE BERLAGE THESIS

for a full overview of “The Ministry Report”, please see Appendix

PROGRAM ON SITE

Meteorology Space Tourism

al rm s the eo urce G : So Lab rgy e En

ity

rs ive

the

ds od jor :Bi df Lab nds, in an isla unta mo

Biodiversity Conservation

Kit

h art :E Lab dies Stu

Energy Transition Inspectoriat

nta

e rim pe Ex gy : Lab Ener Bio

ly mb

Cru

Fisheries and Wildlife

Renewable Energy Cogeneration Environmental Impact

Marketing and Promotion

ta en rim e pe orag x :E St Lab rgy e En

Extraction Industry Transition

l nta me eri nd a xp : E ics n Lab chan rtatio Me nspo Tra

+ se eu l R tics a i r o ate ob : M ed R Lab vanc Ad

Education + Training Dep.

International Affairs

b Lo

Pollution Control

Mapping Bureaucracy and Science The Ministry merges bureaucracy and laboratories. The spaces of the Ministry are organized both by their functional needs and by a scientific understanding of the context in Skansendamenpark. The Grid unto which the laboratories and offices are projected is derived from the inclination of the terrain. Its scale its based on the conditions of the Fjord. The rotation of the offices is based on the direction of the terrain, sun exposure, and respects the existing trees.

HUMIDITY, VENTILATION, AND LIGHT

high ground exposure

<754

586

419

215

167

<83

positioning at the highest sun exposure places of the ground - offices

<15%

yearly = kWh/m3

25%

45%

85%

reaching constant temperature of the underground - laboratories

overlapping patterns of glass panels

offices

wooden structure

Laboratories

office spaces

relative ground and underground temperature change

glass huts structure and light penetration

high permeability

low permeability

very low permeability

extremely low permeability

light reflection and penetration through the help of mirrors

underground moisture permeability and prevention - offices and laboratories

natural ventilation (chimney effect) during summer - offices

mechanical ventilation (variable air volume) - laboratories

FACADE

If we were to come across a slope in the meters long-and wide, with empty gla punctured soil channeling light, a sombe would say, “There are bureaucra That is a

TOWARDS A NEW MONUMENTALITY

e woods, forty meters high, one hundred ass huts spread here-and-there and a er mood would come over us and a voice ats and scientist working here”. Ministry!

LABORATORIES 00

10 6

3 6

3 9

6 3

3 3

3 2

5A. Laboratory of Experimental Energy Storage 5B. Laboratory of Material Re-use and Advanced Robotics 5C. Laboratory of Experimental Mechanics and Transportations 5D. Laboratory of Experimental BioEnergy 5E. Laboratory of Earth Crust Studies 5F. Laboratory of Biodiversity 5G. Laboratory of Geothermal Energy

0. Entrance 1. Lobby 2. Locker Room 3. Toilet 4. Cleaner’s Room

6. Mechanical Room 7. Storage Space 8. Archive 9. Data Storage 10. Exhibition Space

OFFICES 01

12 11

0. Lobby 1. International Affairs 2. Marketing and Promotion 3. Environmental Impact Assesment Review 4. Education and Training 5. Kitchen 6. Pollution Control

7. Extraction Industry Transition 8. Renewable Energy Sources and Cogeneration 9. Energy Transition Inspectoriat 10. Biodiversity Conservation 11. Fisheries and Wildlife Services 12. Meteorology, Space Travel and Exploration 13. Assembly

20m

BUREAUCRATO-SCIENTIFIC

International Affairs

Restroom

Locker Room

Environmental Impact

Lobby

Renewable Energy Sources and Cogeneration

Lab: Material Re-use and Advanced Robotics

Storage Room

SECTION C-C

Energy Transition Inspectoriat

Lab: Experimental BioEnergy

Fisheries and Wildlife Services

Storage Room

Lab: Earth Crust Studies

Meteorology, Space Travel and Exploration

10m

Muttsu no Ruto: an algae archipelago (1) Project Global - The Berlage Tokyo, Japan 2020

for a full overview of Project Global please visit: https://projectglobal.nl/Power

here is an old and new consciousness for Tokyo. The old perceives Tokyo as a mechanism. The new acknowledges Tokyo as an organism. Muttsu no Ruto is an extension of the later. A biological revolution is thus established, in which, photosynthesis serves as the modus operandi - and algae - as its most adhered and loyal plant. Acknowledging Tokyo as an organism means translating its in-between gaps into the breathing apparatus of this organism. Like a musical composition that makes no sense without its ‘rest’, Tokyo makes no sense without its gaps. For in a city that is suffocating with signs and edifices, Muttsu no Ruto becomes its only breathing pause. With the rise of the global warming, algae’s outstanding performance of converting CO2 to O2 have seen them extrapolate into various systems. Patent after patent, algaes are proliferating. Their resilience is unquestionable, however what remains to be validated, is their integration as a systemic whole; for, outperforming the existing power systems through environmentally conscious techniques requires more than innovation. Muttsu no Ruto thus considers integration as the basis for urban resilience. Its non-hierarchical structure, enunciates the emergence of a new systemic paradigm that feeds on the waste of other systems. It’s extrapolation in 6 basic systems forms the basic framework for an integrated, self-sustained system. Like a sentient benevolent virus, entering systems at different stages only to make them outperform their old industrial mechanisms, Muttsu no Ruto’s systemic identity rests in ‘circular processes, converting what our cities expel into Energy and Oxygen.

1. Mutsu no Ruto is an indispensible part of Project Global. It is a consequence of a thorough collective understanding of the culture and territory of Tokyo - through catalogues and lexicons, atlases and mini-atlases, undermined by The Berlage Generation 30 students, along with tutors Filip Geerts and Sanne van den Breemer. Feb-June 2020

Architecture Housing + Energy Production

Housing + Energy Production

Housing + Algae

Biorefinary - Algae Waste Treatment

Energy + Algae

Architecture

WastewaterTreatment + Activities

Wastewater Treatment + Algae

PROJECT GLOBAL 15

System

Territory

FROM WASTEWATER TREATMENT TO POWER GENERATION

Architecture

Territory

Architecture

A TALE OF TWO SYSTEMS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

In the man-made lands of Tokyo, all kinds of imaginative stories unravel. One might enjoy the reflection of the immaculate clean water of lakes, not knowing that it is a result of a sewage treatment process. Another might swim on the 27th floor of a funny looking

building, which on its ground floor is removing large metals. The water of the pool is heated from the adjacent building that burns waste at 900 degrees. And yet, we still think that Delirious New York is delirious! However, a system in disguise is not the best that a dense metropol-

itan condition can offer. Because injecting algae into the filtration of wastewater, allows for the system to save economically and environmentally, by reducing the usage of chlorine in the process of wastewater treatments.

TOKYO GAPS

“To pierce through Paris - one needs to create a boulevard, to pierce through Tokyo - one simply ought to make a house”

1 Gap = 90 Trees The 21st century Maison Dom-ino is a prototypical - systemic platform for mass algae infiltration in-between the gaps of the buildings in Japan. It transforms the gaps into synthetic tool of all system of the ‘house’. It integrates suspenders - absorbing the shocks of earthquakes - with the wastewater treatment facilities. It systemizes algae photovoltaics with combustible power generation. The math is easy - a single Algae Gap produces enough energy to sustain both houses, and a CO2 absorbtion rate equivalent to 90 trees!

21ST CENTURY MAISON DOMINO

A FRACTAL LABORATORY

Biorefinary - Algae Waste Treatment

Housing + Energy Production

Wastewater Treatment + Landfill Disposal Sites

Biorefinary - Algae Waste Treatment

Energy + Algae

NII-JIMA, TEPCO’S FAVORITE ELECTRIC FANTASY

TEPCO’s experimentation alongside Niijima’s earthquake swarms, invite the 21st century Maison Dom-ino to join the cycle of Power - both in its electrical and environmental sense. Through a direct link between earthquake disaster

management, renewable energy generation and control, reduction of CO2 and wastewater management, TEPCO’s favorite electric fantasy can finally become a reality. Through a technocratic injection of algae systems - Muttsu no

Ruto settles its circular processes from raw materials to waste . In Tokyo’s laboratory-like symphony, Algae becomes its only guiding principle. For isn’t Tokyo a Metropolis where utopias are ultimately manifested?

Security School: Daun Barracks wr Neustadt (1) BUSarchitektur Wiener Neustadt, Austria 2019

It is an interesting task to position oneself within the spaces around Akademiepark. The omnipresence of the Military Academy gave us the first answers for the design: the location of the school required a space where representative events could take place. The institution of a Security School in the Military Campus of Wiener Neustadt enables these multiple synergies to occur, but at the same time remains true to its essence; i.e. a place of respect and discipline - of a complex social system - manifested in a public park. We believe that architects are scouts of reality. Hence, at this particular location, the desire for modern architecture is not merely a set requirement, but a founding philosphy of the project. We believe that the Security School must take the role of the catalyst, for it bears responsibility on the early education of the future generation. The security school is established in a time where the conventional and traditional ways don’t necessarily provide the answers. That is also the reason why we have designed both the school and the student dorm with small communal spaces.

2. Security School: Daun Barracks wr Neustadt is a proposal from BUSarchitektur (where I was employed as a freelancer for 2 months) for an invited competition organized by Militärisches Immobilienmanagement for the design of a military school and student dorm in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. For more, visit https://www.busarchitektur.com/drupal/en/project/wr-neustadt

BUSARCHITEKTUR

Personal Contribution: For this competition I was part of a group of 6 architects and designers. I contributed substantially both in the schematic design, design development and drawings/post-production phases. I was particularly involved in the development of the plans for the student dorm, the overall facade design and 2D drawings and post-production of all the facades and sections.

SECTION (A-A), PLAN (EG) AND FACADE (EAST)

SECTION (B-B), PLAN (1OG) AND FACADE (NORTH)

SECTION (C-C), PLAN (2OG) AND FACADE (SOUTH)

MSC THESIS DISSERTATION U_POLIS

(2)

Manifesto: With Skopje 2014, the un-architectural or unconscious reality of ‘unresolved socio-cultural issues’ became conscious and architectural. My methodology hence becomes similar to that of a psychoanalyst. Skopje laying on its bed, confesses its dream. While I as an architect, confront the cities pathological ‘break-downs’, materialize its un-architectural desires and eclipse its madness.

1. An Introspective Manifesto is my thesis MSc project developed first as a dissertation at Universidade do Minho, Guimaraes, Portugal and then substantiated in the form of a manifesto and a monument design at U_Polis, Tirana, Albania. Thesis advisors include: Joao Ricardo (U_Minho) and Ledian Bregasi (U_Polis). Sep. 2017 - Sep. 2018. 2. Digital Collage by author “Ceci ne pas Skopje”; La Veduta di citta ideal (1477); Gemaldegalerie, Fra Carnevale, The Ideal City (1484); Skopje Collage: thebohemianblog.com, projects. aegee.org; Renè Magritte, The Palace of Curtains III (1928-1929)

An Introspective Manifesto: rhetorical quest of identity in Europe’s Capital of Kitsch (1) MSc Thesis Dissertation - U_Polis Skopje, North Macedonia 2018

hen ‘Skopje’ awoke one morning from a troubled dream, it found itself changed into a monstrous neo-classical architecture. The city, laying on its tough, concrete foundations, and raising its head a little, managed to see – only through its shadows – the expense of pediments, sculptures, domes…the irrational use of orders, all raised above the triumphally distorted pedestals. ‘What’s the matter with me?’ it thought. It was no dream. It was obvious that Skopje, had escaped its ‘programmed existence’, the future it had been given…This Metamorphosis had become both a singular personal intuition and the result of an overall effect that no one intended…a break-down of the line between political calculation and psychopathology... a fantasy, a sickness that consumed its victims. The concrete death of identity thus was materialized with some people chanting heroically about the exuberance of the new facades, and others disgraced and intimidated thinking: Ceci n’est pas Skopje. In Skopje, a paranoid critical activity has already become a reality. The dysfunctional attribution to the past served as a virus whose contingency did not only trouble the future, but also made Skopje’s citizens more paranoid and helpless about the past and present. The history-less abyss of Skopje, created a time delusion and ‘propounded a problem which this manifesto, to a certain degree, solves. Skopje 2014 diagnoses, and this manifesto imagines a treatment. But the remedy proposed here does not cure. It merely brings the malady back into normal life. It merely helps to accept it.’

ASSOCIATIVE GEOMETRY

Towards a Complex Identity: Associative geometry is both a metaphorical and literal projection of the sociocultural context of Skopje. Literal in the sense that it combines geometrical elements to render new meanings and interpretations (a technique used during the Baroque period). And metaphorical for it associates the singular geometries with the different ethnicities and cultures in Skopje. The Parametrics of Associative Geometry opens several doors of interpretation and metanarratives become present and vivid.Geometry was utterly neglected on the project ’Skopje 2014’, hence my return to its fundamental is imminent, for it allows the projection of complex un-architectural issues unto architecture.

THE GRAVITATIONAL FORCES OF GENIUS LOCI

r ci

hi st

or ic

Natural and Historical Pulling Vectors of Skopje

The Contingency of an Associative Geometry

Energy Lines in the City Center of Skopje, Cross-Section

CONTEXTUAL ADJUSTMENTS

Force to Form: There is a black hole in the Macedonian Square. The diversified energy lines of the cities architectural history are sucked and unable to get out. The contingecy of earthquakes and destructions, have altered the natural evolutive configuration of the citiy center...the latest imposition of the neo-baroquen ‘Skopje 2014’, marked another degree of destruction...which imposed a cul-de-sac of architectural evolution and imagination. A complex system of interractions thus is formed, where ‘light’ cannot find its way out. The progressive revolutions of Skopje’s city center are finally finding their double, and their ultimate symbolic representation.

TRANSLATION AND RECONSTRUCTION

Sources of Inspiration: Aldo Rossi, Louis Kahn and Francesco Borromini

An Architectural Manifesto: The Paradigm of Complex Identity

ARCHITECTURAL SIMULACRUM

From Golconda to Episcopus:

(1)

From the ruins to the revival of ruins...from the diamonds, to the plaster facades...The journey ‘From Golconda to Episcopus’ makes us aware of the falsity of representation. If on Magritte’s original painting the line between individuality and group association of men is blurred, on the collage of it, the singularity of sculptures and architectural buildings (hence their identity) is blurred. This collage, ultimately becomes both a “representation of the moment and the momentary refusal...by representing a temporary architectural superimposition with a permanent effect. Hence the Transitory Monument. A black hole manifested, bringing out the reality of Skopj’s architecture and its radical illusion face to face.

Digital Collage by author “From Golconda to Episcopus”; Renè Magritte, Golconda (1953), The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas // Skopje - thebohemianblog.com /projects.aegee.org

THE COMPLEX UNITY

Plan of the Monument

Stripped Underground Facade

THE MONUMENT

Plan of The Black Hole

Section A-A of The Black Hole

THE ECLIPSE OF MADNESS

C’EST SKOPJE The Surrealist Master reveals the final illusion: an object made of degradable plaster (like Skopje 2014), that eventually will disappear and its remains will be found under the gigantic hole. An ultimate symbol of a period which exhausted itself … and left a black hole, a ruin, a memoir of an incredibly complex and ambiguous time ... a concrete manifestation of a troubled sociopolitical context as manifested - par excellence - in architecture.

Hyper-Panopticon: a political prison in a dystopian society (1) Advanced Architecture - U_Polis Rome, Italy 2017

ome, the city of historical stratification of architecture, has arrived at a stagnation/self-destruction point. Rome has realized that because of its obsession with the “Euclidean dimensions of its history”, it has lost its most ‘authentic feature’ – Progressive Revolutions. Thereafter, it has no architectural answer for today’s fractal, random, exponential society. In the desperate search of its new symbols, Rome makes a Faustian bargain and exchanges its history for its future. Rome believes that it needs a “catastrophe”, not in the sense of a material apocalypse, but in the sense of an overturning of all rules, so it can reclaim that lost resonance of power and prestige. Ultimately, Rome trades one of its historical symbols “The Mausoleum of Augustus” (the site of the project) with a contemporary architectural symbol. Misled by the global trends, Rome’s exchange soon becomes fatal, for the place where its historic leader rests (mausoleum) becomes a place where its future leaders will die (prison). The prison is thus able to ‘reincarnate The Mausoleum of Augustus” and surpass its model’ by not only injecting the strength of ‘Rome’s architectural syntax’ (the roman arch, the vaults, the dome), but also by adapting such features to a dystopian and globalized hyper-sameness world. The Prison deconstruct the “historical idea” of the Mausoleum and converts it into a disturbing paradigm applied as a metaphorical representation of a dystopian society. The prison adapts Michel Foucault’s interpretation of the panopticon to the dystopian reality, and transforms itself into a hyper-panopticon, where the prisoners are subject to their own alienation while Rome becomes enslaved in its future history.

1. Hyper-Panopticon is a Studio Project from the IV academic year - Advanced Architecture course - at U_Polis, Tirana, Albania. Tutored by Dr. Antonino di Raimo and Dr. Gerdi Papa. Conducted from Sep. 2016 - Jun. 2017. The work was exhibited at “IF - Innovation Factory”, Polis University.

ADVANCED ARCHITECTURE - U_POLIS

THE DIVINE TRAGEDIE’S PLAN

The Big Brother The Big Brother - is the central panopticon tower of the 21st century. Digital surveillance, and fully automated aparatus watch over and control the movement of the prisoners

Hyper-Panopticon The glass cells and their geometrical arrangment create endless surveillance. Hyper-Panopticon doesnt have a central tower or guards. In it, the prisoners become subjects of their own surveillance and annihilation.

The Dinning Hall The Dinning Hall - makes use of the classic circular distribution and itself is divided into two floors under one cupola. The light enters the dinning hall through a restricted threshhold between the hall and the outside.

A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN SECTION

INTERACTION, BEHAVIOUR, AND TECHNOLOGY

Technological Section + Facade construction Detail

Big Brother

14th-15th-16th Cell Cell

Cell Cell

Dinning Area Dinning Area

Cell

10h-11th-12th Cell

Cell

Cell Big Brother

Silicon Sealant with Backer rad

ALBANG 703 Connector Stress level measuring transmission

Seamless Steel Tube

Full Weld Floor

Weather Recognition

6h-7th-8th Cell

Cell

Albang Spider Fitting Tempered Glass

Cell Interactive - Weather -- Opacity Glass

Cell

Dinning Area

Dinning Area Cell

2h-3th-4th Cell

Cell Cell

Big Brother

Inc om ing

“hu ma nw ast e” f rom the city

GRASSHOPPER GENERATION

circuimscribed square

hyper-vaults xyz axis

roman arch

scaling the vaults

intersecting vaults

inscribing the square

HARDWARE / SOFTWARE The Hyper-Panopticon’s hardware is divided into 4 models, each consisting of a “Big Brother Surveillance space”, three adjacent floor of Hyper-Panopticon Prisons and a Dinning Hall. The Software manages the information from each model and puts the stress level of the prisoners in interaction with the opacity of the facade. It also controls the opening of the cells and manages the incoming human waste from the city. Its Regenerator (located at the bottom of the mausoleum) is capable of converting the human waste into bio-fuel - puting the prison’s apparatus in motion. The stairs serve as a spine from which information and power are transfered throughout the building.

arraying the vaults

connection and closure

Anti-Fragile Line: mediterranean institute of marine biology

(1)

Studio IV - U_Polis Albanian Riviera, Albania 2017

This project seeks to invent new ways of interpreting the relationship between sea-scape and landscape, by not only bridging the gap between architecture and nature, but also managing their respective limits. The project dwells in a series of scales; from an understanding of the area (1:10000) to an architectural design and ultimately to a program that suits the needs of the landscape. The project takes into account the future dangers imposed by the imminence of the sea-level rise. The future scenario triggered the name and philosophy behind this project - The Anti-Fragile Line - inspired from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’seminal book, from which the main idea is translated into the landscape conditions; the fragility of the thickness of a line is perceived as a potential developing factor for the landscape. The line, thus, gains not only from the disorder between the vegetations of the zone, but also from the sea level rise. In the future scenario, the disorder caused from the sea-level rise, highlights this line as a surviving entity where architecture and nature can coexist. The line becomes a path, an object and eventually an institute of Marine Biology. The specificity of the institutes aims at understanding the bio-diversity of the landscape in the Albanian Riviera while coming to terms with the imposed dangers from the sea-level rise.

1. Anti-Fragile Line is a Studio Project from the IV academic year at U_Polis, Tirana, Albania. Tutored by Dr. Loris Rossi, Dr. Laura Pedata, Enrico Porfiodo and Guisseppe Resta. Conducted from Sep. 2016 - Jun. 2017. The work was published in “Fragile Edges and Floating Strategies along the Albanian Coastline”, The Plan Journal 2: 685-705, (2017)

STUDIO IV U_POLIS

PRESENT CONDITION + SEA LEVEL RISE THREAT

FUTURE SCENARIO

This project analyzes the present conditions of the site as natural blueprints unto which, future scenarios can be foreseen and projected. Following the sharp borders between various vegetation densities and topographical divisions, the diagrams analyze how run-

off water, the presence of the river, and underground water have together influenced the morphology and vegetation of the site. Parallelly, drawing from the historical presence of water in these areas, one might speculate on the future influence of a probable sea-lev-

el rise. High up the slope, the institute becomes a place that foresees the dramatic natural play between water and land. For further experimentation and observations, the institute establishes several sea based research center.

INSTITUTE OF MARINE BIOLOGY

The institute is divided into two parts. The laboratory - totally immerged inside the cliff (the line). And the workplaces of the institute - cantilevered overlooking the whole area. The project, thus, is defined with two horizontal planes which seem to float seamlessly between earth, sea, and sky. The structure is self-supportive by immersing 1/3 of itself inside the rocks. The institute’s floors are distributed in a way so there is endless vertical and horizontal circulation between them. movement+entrance

PLANS, SECTIONS, DIAGRAMS

super-structure

spatial distribution

This Portfolio represent a selected body of work from 2017-2021. For more, contact: genttshehu@gmail.com + 31 6 29 51 23 73