7.1 Conclusions

7.1 Conclusions

Albania is considered an intriguing country to visit, due to his long isolation history during communism then for the reason of its natural, historical or other extra resources. Albania welcomes every year more visitors and tourists than a year before. The most developed type of tourism is considered to be the maritime tourism, with the most preferred regions with the biggest number of visitors and provider of accommodation, are considered the Region Durres-Kavaje, the seaside of Vlora and seaside of Saranda. The concentration of these areas in a densified spots in the meantime, limiting the tourism to the monopoly of one type of tourism, creates disbalances, need for distribution of the touristic activities in the whole country

There is still a lack of research regarding the communist heritage of tourism in Albania. Other Eastern – European countries have developed structured documentation, furthermore strategizing their use and rehabilitate by different methodologies the use of the hotels and holiday camps, to serve the requirements of today’s tourism.

The Socialist Party in Albania, managed to transform and use all the material forms and socio-cultural spaces into their own dogmatic purpose to achieve simultaneously the toughness of the regime, enforce the regime’s principles and follow a delirious approach towards the tourism and foremost architecture

The research further on focuses on The Touristic Accommodation establishments in Albania with the focus in the City Hotels.

The period of construction for the majority of the hotels, more than 60% corresponds to the Rational Period, which consists of pure forms, decoration free and characterized by linearity, solidity, rhythm, purity of forms and repetition of elements.

The case studies have been analyzed in the layers:

- Relation with the Urban Morphology - Volume Mass and Form - Patterns of Design (Architectural elements and principles)

The relation with the urban fabric generated types and situations behind the reasons of positioning of the hotel in the actual site and the role that It played. In six situations a descriptive analysis has been performed where the trends and patterns are identified.

Analytic Analysis of the Volume, Mass and Form creates the first step towards understanding the primary visible architectural features and the impact in the territory. Seven typologies regarding volume and form were identified towards an organization of knowledge input and further possible researches

In the analyzation of Hotel “Turizmi”, the form is intended as a representation of the combination: shape, volume and mass, as the primary concepts from which a building is identified.

The types generated from the analysis can be divided in two main groups:

a) Types which consist on a single volume, without differences in facades, or height.

The Types Mono-Volume (TYPE B), “L” Block (TYPE C) “T” Block (TYPE D), “U” Block (TYPE F) and Distinctive Block, (TYPE G) are essentially structures with clean volumes, regular, symmetrical, displayed linearity. They are generally organized around a main horizontal axis.

b) Types which are compounded by a conglomerate of two or more volumes.

The types A and E, accordingly recognized as High Rise Tower + Platform and Complex Block, are considered more complex compared to the others, formed by a conglomerate of volumes, generally cuboid but the linearity in these typologies is fragmented through a combination of vertical and horizontal linearity. The process followed from the architects is frequently the “additive transformation” (Ching, 2014, p. 54) which constitute in a more irregular volume, altered height and dynamic composition. The combinations of the form of these structures can be understood as intersecting volumes, or Face-to-Face Contact (Ching, 2014, p. 62)

Considering the simplicity of the volumes, based on the primary volume of Cube, their composition remains perceptible, visible and easily recognizable in different perspectives or distances.

The Variations of Tower Rise + Platform Typology, (TYPE A) is represented by a Type compounded by two main volumes, one Vertical and one Horizontal with are altered between these combinations:

Platform-Integrated

The Platform-Integrated Variation consist in the combination of the vertical and horizontal volume in a face-to-face composition maintaining its visibility, where the union of volumes is harmonically realized producing a solid conjunction and the two volumes are expressed by the same architectural language, use of materials and textures. Ex. “Arberia” Hotel, “Tirana” Hotel

Platform as Extension

Consists on the combination of volumes where the Platform is partially or totally perceived as an extension of the primary vertical volume, generally on one side. This modality often enforces a configuration of an “L” shape in façade or in plan configuration and diminishes the characteristic of contrast that the previous combination represents: Ex. “Apollonia” Hotel.

Volume-Suspended

The Volume-Suspended combination is quite similar with the Platform-Integrated variation, which is clearly defined by the visibility and perception of the vertical and horizontal volume. The peculiarity in this case is referred to the way of connection between these two, which is interposed by a sequence, as segmentation of this correlations which imposes a perspective of suspension for the vertical volume. Ex. “Rozafa” Hotel.

Type A is also generally intertwined by another additional volume of the vertical circulation corpus, which often is present in one the facades of the building, adding to the verticality component of this archicture.

The Articulation of the architectural language:

In the case of Hotel “Turizmi” is considered the legible combination of volumes, shapes and planes in the façade, which combined together result in a constituent display to achieve a harmonic aesthetic.

Still there are underlined patterns which correlates with a symbiotic architectural language in the hotels of the communist period, especially those of the Rational Phase. The individuality of the building is emphasized by refined motions in an architectural component, like the use of the lodges, balconies which are evident through repetition, or the use of windows which are more present through the principle of rhythm.

The Spatial Organization of the Floor Type

While the ground floor of Hotel “Turizmi” is always associated with the public space represented by the services, with a more flexible spatial organization, the other floors are designed according to the concept of “Floor Type.

The linear space organization creates interior spaces in series, by repetition process, which are usually defined by a standard. Organized around a linear connective hall, these spaces are considered with an equally importance, while other notable spaces, generally are not part of this space organization, but function in another context. The linear organization, is related with the expression of movement and direction which aims to serve its function, even though it is not considered flexible or space differentiative

Elements and Patterns in Design

The patterns of design identified during this research are grouped regarding two components:

The main architectural elements used to form the architectural language of the communist hotels are considered: Differentiation of Clear Volume, Emphasizing of the Entrance, Open Hall sometimes combined with atrium and use of Windows, Pilasters, Balconies or Lodges for the composed architectural language.

The Architectural Principles mostly identified with the hotels of the city in the Rational Period are consequently:

Rhythm and Repetition configured by the use of windows, balconies, lodges and Pilasters Linearity, Solidity, Proportions configured by the Volume and Form And Visibility established by the position in the urban morphology