1.5 Purpose of the study

1.5 Purpose of the study

The aim of this study is to investigateand explore the architecture ofthe accommodation tourism structures in post-communist Albania, with the intention to achieve comprehend the development of these touristic structures in terms of architecture, organization of space, form, shapes and volumes, underthe perspective of today’s global tourism. Today tourism is considered one of the primary sectorsof state economical developed, and investments take part in every level of touristic chain, where is invested enormous amount of money, to meet the construction and design needs; although design concepts, reasonability, sustainability and environment are hardly taken into account. The primaryobservation regardingthe tourism in Albania, sustains the necessity raised by this research, which stated that understanding the variation of touristic accommodation structures and integrating them in a sustainable model of development, which also meet the needs for qualitative accommodation must be a priority, especially in a country like Albania, which has a considerable heritage from the communist era, which have not been inclusively studied or considered.

In these terms, this study is dealing with the following research questions:

I. What are the main characteristics of the architecture for tourism in Albania?

II. What effects did the change of political systems transmit in the architecture of tourism?

III. In what extend does the architecture dedicated for tourism take into consideration the environment or surroundings?

IV. Which are the driven forces to a specific design or shape? Is concept, identity features or spatial composition one of them?

V. Which are the national objects and regulations regarding the tourism and how can this research contribute to this extend?

VI. What are the needs for accommodation in Albania in the framework of tourism? VII. Which can be a sustainable model touristic facility in the context of Albania. What are the criteria to be taken in consideration when a new touristic accommodation is proposed? VIII. How are developed the communist hotels.