Transcript
Page 1: Albanian bunkers history

PUBLIC DRAFTWORK IN PROGRESS

N.B.: This is a public draft; all the images are used under International Fair Use and Fair

Dealing doctrines for non-profit educational purposes.

All work created by Concrete Mushrooms project, are licensed under a Creative Commons

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Page 2: Albanian bunkers history

Bunkers in albaniaconcrete mushrooms:

research, production, and project by: elian stefa and gyler mydytifor: cultural planning and coexistenceat: politecnico di milano - 2009

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“BUNKER: A hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks.”

The definition of the word bunker is so legiti-mate and clear, that any person leading a country would consider employing them to protect his or her people against an attack. It would even be a human action, if the threat were real.But, what really happened in Albania? What does a bunker mean for an Albanian?The dictator Enver Hoxha leading Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, from 1945 (after WW-II), until his death in 1985, invested on building hundreds of thousands of so called concrete mushrooms, dotting the

landscape, as if they are sprouting from hills, fields, beaches and roadsides of Albania and at the same time dotting people’s brains with question marks, fear and paranoia.Whatever the investment of Comrade Hoxha was, right or wrong, he achieved to drive the xenophobia to Albanians and keep them busy for 40 years. That was a great success of him – he accomplished his task of defending his territory of the nation against imaginary enemies (imperialists, revisionists and counter revolutionaries) who surrounded Albania and were ready to attack. Thus, making Albania one of the most isolated countries in the world and keeping people distracted from their lack of rights and very poor quality of life.He convinced Albanians that his actions were for the sake of Albanians by continuously bom-

barding them with prpaganda. One of his most famous quotes is: 'The Albanian people and their Party of Labour will even live on grass if need be, but they will never sell themselves for 30 pieces of silver and they would rather die honorably on their feet than live in shame on their knees.'For the visitors of Albania, 750,000 bunkers is a shocking number, but for Comrade Hoxha it was logical to build one bunker for every four Albanians, each designed to protect a family or hold a defending soldier and his rifle.Today, bunkers in Albania are a legacy of the paranoid past, permanent reminders of where this country comes from and the chal-lenges that lie ahead.

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ALBANIA

Tirana

MACEDONIA

GREECE

KOSOVOMONTE NEGRO

ADRIATIC SEA

IONIC SEA

2

2

Area: 28,748 KMPopulation: 3,600,523 Density: 134/KM

albania (41' 20' 0' N, 19' 48' 0' E)

years under a xenophobic dictatorship: 45

Albania is a small country in the western Balkans, between Greece, FYROM, Kosovo, Montenegro, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Albania is currently a parliamentary democracy and a transition economy. The Albanian capital, Tirana, is home to approximately 895,000 of the country's 3.5 million people, and it is also the financial capital of the country.Lagging behind its Balkan neighbors, Albania is making the difficult transition to a more modern open-market economy - this is partially due to the mass exhaustion of the albanian economy during the communist regime.

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There are

in albania...

750.000 bunkers

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They are ever-present, from the shores, to the mountain peaks.

They bring happiness, and tragedy.

Some were destroyed, but most remain, from birth, until death.

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They are ever-present...

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from the shores...

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to the mountain peaks.

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They bring happiness...

They bring happiness...

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and tragedy.

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Some were destroyed...

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but most remain...

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from birth...

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until death.

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So how did these bunkers come to be? This chapter tries to uncover the roots of the bunkers, by looking at Albania’s progression through the last century.

ReclaimingSelf-determination

post-warprogress

war!

keep your enemies far...

and yourfriends farther.

prepared

1912

1939

1946

1961

1962

1978

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As a reaction to this new invasion, the Communist Party of Albania was founded in 1941 and in turn organized the Conference at Pezë in 1942, at which the National Liberation Army was founded. Its purpose was to unite Albanians regardless of ideology or class and to return self-determination to the people of Albania.

After five centuries of oppression under the Ottoman Empire, Albania gained its indepen-dence on 1912, finally gaining self-determination.

Unfortunately, this independence was short lived as the events of WWII unfolded, and the nation was overtaken by an Italian invasion in 1939.

ReclaimingSelf-determination

1912 19421939

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One of the seven members of the provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party was Enver Hoxha who became First Secretary (chief administrative officer) in 1943.

By 1944 the communist partisans (the active members of the National Liberation Army), succeeded in liberating the country and gained control of the country backed by the overwhelming majority of the people.

In 1946, the protagonists of this movement transformed the Com-munist Party of Albania into the Labor Party of Albania which would become the sole legal political party until 1991. Enver Hoxha remained as First Secretary until his death in 1985.

1943 1944 1946

post-warprogress

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friendly states

albaniaunfriendly states

neutral states

After Hoxha’s rise to power, Albania enjoyed significant improvements. Economy was revolutionized. Farmland was confiscated from wealthy landowners and gathered into collective farms that enabled Albania to become almost completely self-sufficient in food crops.

Industry, which had previously been almost nonexistent, received huge amounts of investment. Electricity was brought to every rural district, epidemics of disease were stamped out, and illiteracy became a thing of the past.

As ardent a nationalist as he was a communist, Hoxha excoriated any communist state that threatened his power or the sovereignty of Albania, or abandoned the Marxists principles, denouncing any hint of revisionism.

This would eventually create tensions between Albania and other countries of the Easter Block. After the death of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, for whom Hoxha held a lifelong admiration, his relations with the USSR deteriorated.

1948 1961

keep your enemies far...

albaniapre-1961

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friendly states

albaniaunfriendly states

neutral states

From that point on Albania became a much more radical state ideologically. Albania considered all its neighboring countries as enemies and started immediately preparing for a possible invasion, especially from USA and USSR. Its only ally was China.

Hoxha believed that the U.S.S.R. was becoming social-imperialist and would not operate as a beacon of hope for the world Communist movement, but rather as ano ther capitalist state. In 1961, Hoxha made a speech in which he

called Khrushchev a “revisionist, anti-Marxist and a defeat-ist.” Hoxha portrayed Stalin as the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union. Soon after every Warsaw Pact nation includ-ing the USSR broke relations with Albania.

1962

and your friends farther.

post-1961albanian

intl. relations

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prepared19781972

Feeling threatened, Hoxha aimed for the coun-try to become self-sufficient in every way. This meant that even the defense of the country would be based economically and physically on the workforce of the nation.

A motto of the period was “The protection of the Fatherland is a duty above all other duties.” Therefore except for the military preparation of the country, a great deal of importance was placed also on the fortification of the territory.

The diplomatic relations with China were in turn broken in 1978 after the death of Mao Zedong and China’s rapprochement with the West. From then on, Hoxha spurned all the world’s major powers, declaring that Albania would become a model socialist republic on its own.

Bonus:me and my bunkers!Between the years 1972 and 1983, 750.000 bunkers were built in albania. They were prefab-ricated and transported troughout the whole albanian territory, concetrating on the borders, creating barricading lines, and along the coast.

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but nobody came...

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3

A short period of time (1972-1984) and a huge number of concrete mushrooms (750.000) lead to a stagnation of Albania. This stagnation, since 1985, became a pain for every Albanian.

Albanians have spent much of the last decade doing their best to erase any memory of Comrade Hoxha’s dictatorship. Even if Albanians could smash the Statues and burn the photographs, they could not be blind, and not perceive something they coexist with, something that serves as a tool to fulfill various necessities, very expensive to remove and hard to destroy.

Since the fall of Communism in 1991, bunkers have abandoned their military duty

to become the venue for lovers' trysts and, in the most desperate cases, homes for the thou-sands of internal refugees. Farmers use them for chicken coops. Neophyte businessmen have converted well-located bunkers iside the cities into kiosks, burger bars, shoeshine stands, even discos.

Up close, most are crumbling and weed-choked, memorials to an age of terror long gone by. Many are used as trash baskets or latrines. But in a backward land struggling to get modern in a hurry, the bunkers have also come to have some new, and unique, uses. Some of very large, room-like facilities have been turned into the Bunker Restaurant. In cobblestoned Gjirokastra, one of Albania's southern cities, one bunker is adorned with a

cross, a kind of bunker-cum-church.Others are painted with psychedelic colors to resemble large flowers.That’s a reality, Albania’s reality that went through and will challenge with the barriers for a better one!

Today, even though Albanians ignore them or just forget about them, they are there, still trying to show their potential and disposition to be used.

Bunkers seem to be happy of being born and living in Albania, and above all proud to be Albanians.But in fact their happiness masks an enormous sorrow of the past which would be recovered by their contribution to Albania.

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The bunkers are situated according to a specific strategy that Dictator Hoxha and Military Engineers had in their mind. The purpose of building the bunkers was to protect Albania from the imaginary enemies of Comrade Hoxha. They are mostly found in mass in the coastal line of Adriatic Sea, through which it was thought that Italian invaders would arrive. Coastal bunkers are generally the simple ones as for one soldier. Another part of them are situated in low-land areas and just a few in high-land areas. There are many situated in the along the borders with Greece, Macedonia and Kosovo. I have been informed that this kind of bunkers can be found even outside Albania, as in the ex-Albanian region, actually within the Greek borders, called as Çamëri.There are different typologies of bunkers. They can be found in different sizes. There are the individual ones just for a person, bigger ones for few people or a family, and the biggest ones that are used for various purposes such as to keep the weaponry or this kind of uses, or nowadays some of them are transformed into restaurants, for instance there is one in Saranda (a southern city of Albania), but in fact were designed to host many people or families.

Seeing as how I was not born during the Communism Regime in Albania, bunkers didn’t influence my life very much. But they influenced psychologically Albanians’ lives during this period. The psychology of insecurity, people were living in fear waiting for the invaders to come and the war to start.

During a normal day, I do not come across to many bunkers, because generally the bunkers situated inside the cities are either destroyed or are transformed. But, the moment you go out from the city centers, I mean in the rural areas they can be seen in mass.

There are many bunkers in the same state as they were built, some destroyed or totally extracted from their location and transformed to waste bins. There are bunkers that are used as storages in the cases when are near to the houses, or some are adjusted as car-wahes. Many of them are badly painted or are used as toilets.

What do you know about the bunkers?

What influence have the bunkers had on your life?

How many bunkers do you come across during a normal day of your life?

What is the state of these bunkers, how are they used?

interview #1 arch. Adriola Musaj

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There are bunkers that sank,and those that were recycled,while others were transformed.Some were camouflaged,a few were destroyed,most are forgotten,and the rest are ignored......but not by everyone!

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s a n kThe bunkers were placed throughout the whole landscape of Albania, and many of them which

were located on the beaches were eventually dragged in water the sea as the sand underneath them was transported by the waves, or even covered by the high tides

as the shoreline moved and the beaches eroded.The bunkers located on the lowlands and the highlands were eventually

covered by movements of the land, and expanding vegetation.

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r e cy c le d

The bunkers have used up a signifi-cant amount of resources during their

construction. Being built from reinforced concrete, to this day they still contain all the steel wires which were used for the

reinforcement of these structures. These wires are normally of a length

of about six meters depending on their location, which adds up pretty quickly to a decent amount of scrap metal which

can be recycled.This work is done mostly by unemployed individuals who make their living through

unconventional means.There are also cases of the rubble of the destroyed

bunkers being used as the inert material for the construction of foundations.

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agron'sfast food

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t r an s fo rm e d

Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe, with an economy which is im-proving considerably at a very fast pace, but nonetheless the living conditions still remain difficult for many. Therefore as it has been seen in many other countries

with similar conditions, there is one quality which prevails: resourcefulness.

The individuals who have had access to these bunkers and little else have man-aged to exchange the function of these

structures from that of protection to ones which are more in sync with their own personal needs. The bunkers have been resurrected and given a purpose.

Some of the bunkers have now become kiosks, food stands, stables, doghouses,

silos, vases of enormous proportions, and even residences. The fact remains that this phenomenon is less present

than the other kinds of treatments that these bunkers have undergone, simply because most Albanians see them as a reminder of the past and more as pest

to be forgotten than anything else.

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camouflagedIn populated areas, especially inside larger cities, the bunkers have sometimes been colored, to remove the militaristic undertones that they still carry. This approach goes in accord with

the methods of the current mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama, who has executed a strategy of paint-ing over the old communist residences as the preferred method of reinvigorating and renew-ing them. The use of bright colors sharply contrasts their degraded state. The coloring of the

bunkers has been done also in part by students’ initiatives.The bunkers have also been the target of several graffiti writings, whether it be artistic or po-

litical, and sometimes even commercial advertising has been sprayed on them.

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d e st r oy e d

Some of the bunkers were transported and destroyed – the obvious approach in the eyes of many Albanians, but the fact remains that these bunkers, being built to endure artillery fire, are almost impossible to destroy, and to do so is highly inefficient, as they require an

enormous effort to break apart just one of them, never mind 750,000 of them.

The most diffused method of achiev-ing this difficult goal is simply burning combustibles inside the bunkers until

the temperature of the concrete is suf-ficiently high, then immediately pouring ice-water on the surface of the concrete

to make them crack. This process is repeated until the bunker can be taken apart in pieces. Considering what is the method of taking the bunkers apart, it

becomes clear that this process is com-menced only for the most inconveniently

placed bunkers.

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f o r g o t t e nConsidering the huge number of bunkers, and their location throughout the most remote areas of the land, most of them have been simply forgotten. It is not uncommon to run into bunkers deep into the territory of Albania which seem as if they haven’t been touched by human hands

in decades. This is also helped by the morphology of the Albanian landscape which is highly mountainous, with many areas which are uninhabited.

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i g no re d

The urban counterpart of the

forgotten rural and mountain

bunkers are the ignored ones.

In the same way that the bun-

kers in the territory are located

in unexpected areas and gather

no attention from the inhabit-

ants of the area, bunkers in

populated areas are treated as

boulders of no value and with

no significance. Objects that are

simply there - nothing more,

nothing less.

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c'est cool!!!

wow!!!

es istganzgeil!!

... but not by

everyone!

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e x c e p t i o nIt is interesting to take into consideration the way that foreigners or tourists see the bunkers.

A quick search on the internet on the experiences of those who have visited Albania shows

an incredible fascination that the tourists have for these concrete mushrooms that scour

the Albanian landscape. Most of them are flabbergasted by the sheer number of them. The

bunkers have become the identifying mark of the Albanian landscape, just as memorable as

the nature or the cities.

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hello!

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we wish you:were not builtwill be used

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“Could have, would have, should have”‘s, are not the purpose of this project. We usually aim for pragmaticism, keeping in mind that the world is the way it is; nonetheless in order to properly convey the massive effect that these bunkers have had on the life of albanians, and that they are not be viewed as just something which should be forgotten, we decided to include this short excercise.

We wanted to reach a tangible translation of how much these bunkers have cost, Even by removing all the man-years of manual labor, we managed to get only one real estimate to their cost:

“[The bunkers] cost more than twice as much as France’s infamous pre-WWII Maginot Line, and con-sumed more than three times as much concrete.”

- Daniel Howden BBC News

4

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750.0003.000.000 inhabitants

bunkers

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localization strategiestriple series

strategic points

linear series

All along the cost there are triple series of bunkers, composed of groups of three small (1 soldier) bunkers connected to each other by a tunnel. The distance between each group is 150 meters.

There are groupings of bunkers with different sizes according to the necessity, in higher concentrations at strategic locations such as in borders or gulfs.

Depending on the geography and necessities, in linear series there can be found, groupings of bunkers of different sizes (approx. 80% medium-large and 20% small) as a defense strategy.

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TRIPLE SERIES

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LINEAR SERIES

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STRATEGIC POINTS

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section a-a

Empirically evolved round shape

favours ricocheting.

“Qendra Zjarri” bunkers are objects which are produced as prefabricated elements with various geometrical shapes. These bunkers are transported and are assembled on the decided location through large machines for heavy weights.

These bunkers are a combination of three main pieces:

- a semisphere of a diameter of 3 meters with an opening which can be opened and used to shoot from.

- a hollow cylinder which serves as the structure for the dome

- an outer wall which has a radius 60cm larger than the hollow cylinder (this space is filled with earth).

0.60 .30 .30.30 1.203.00

1.00

aa

Wholy prefabricated, transported and assembled on site.

filled with earth

bunker type

"qender zjarri"

1.20

0.60

0.30

Half of them are found in formations of three.

Three bunkers connected by a concrete corridor.

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aa

section a-a

elevation

“Pike Zjarri” bunkers are also prefabricated and assembled on the site, but the difference is that these bunkers were much larger and heavier, therefore the shell was divided in slices.

Each of these slices weighs 8 to 9 tons. These slices are then monolitized using concrete on the site.

An assembled “Pike Zjarri” type bunker could weigh between 350 and 400 tons.

bunker type

"pike zjarri"

Pre-fabricated elements.Weight: 8-9 tons/elem.

Concrete Door

Elements joined onthe site using cranesand attached with concrete.

Wall Thickness:1m

1.00 6.008.00

5.00

0.70

1.00

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First of all, considering that the concrete is much denser but since asphalt is more

expensive from construction point of view.

We make an assumption that 1m3 asphalt is 1.5 m3.

Lets consider the road 20 m wide with thickness 70 cm that can be considered

high quality in Albania, we know app. the price is 1.000.000 euro/km’

used concrete for bunkers for building roadsComparison

total

"pika zjarri"

"qendra zjarri"

52.500.000 m³

or

2.500 km2.500.000 m

(20*0.7*1.5) m²=

2.870.000 m³

or

136 km136.000 m

(20*0.7*1.5) m²=

+ = 2.636 km

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>cost of maginotline

cost of2xThe main bit of information which can be gathered from that quote is the fact that the bunkers cost more than twice what the Maginot Line of France cost.

maginotlinecost of 3 billion franc

(1939)= =1 franc(1939) 0.37 euros

(2006)€The cost of the Maginot Line happened to be 3 billion 1939 Francs. In order to get a comprehensible amount, the information of what a 1939 Franc is equivalent to in today’s money.

maginotlinecost of 1.11 billion euros

(2006)€=Therefore the cost of the Maginot Line in 2006 Euros is 1.11 billion.

>cost of 2.22 billion euros

(2006)€That places the cost of the bunkers at over 2.22 billion Euros. Quite the amount.

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760 eurosper person€/cost

of1985pupolation of albania

/

2.22 billion euros(2006)€ 2.9 million

In order to get a better idea of what kind of impact the bunkers had, the cost was split amongst the whole population.

3650 eurosper family€ average

family 4.8The cost for a family is 3650 Euros, according to the 1985 familty average of 4.8.

average monthlyincome per family 90€

1985 vs.cost of bunkers

per family 3650€The average income for a family in Albania in the early 80’s was around 90 Euros. Seen in this context, the 3650 Euros spent on building bunkers can gain a real value.

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we wish you:were not builtwill be used

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One's first sight upon arriving at Tirana Airport isn't a large sign of welcome but a line of bunkers, each more forbidding than the next.If travelers are not forewarned that Alba-nia's former communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, was deeply paranoid about being invaded, they might do a double take upon seeing this country's most prevalent archi-tectural sight: concrete defense bunkers. Up close, many of them are broken and weed-choked, legacies of a xenophobic age long gone by. But, most of them remain still waiting, somehow or sometime to be used.

The most important question for the fortune of the concrete mushrooms would be: Will these cone-shaped gray bunkers, loomed across the landscape like giant tortoises, ever be used? Taking in consideration that many of them are still surviving in different original sizes, and being spread all over the landscape, with no regard to the Albania’s geography, they could be transformed either to cheap rooms for the travelers that are fascinated by their existence, or to useful functions according to their location.It could be an excellent occasion for differ-

ent professionals like architects, engineers, planners, artists, students, economists, politicians, etc., even for the residents of Albania, to express their ideas for the bright future of Bunkers that would improve Albania’s prospective developments and to break down the meaning of fear and isola-tion that bunkers hold nowadays. What/How is the bunker of your dreams?The answer to this question would make all the above mentioned people’s dreams come true!In continuation there is a brief explanation of our answer to the question.

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STRENGTHS: What are the good characteristics? - They are spread all over the country, and can be found in abundance in all kinds of different environments. - There are many of the bunkers that are in quite good state to be re functionalize. - There is uniformity in their creation.

WEAKNESESS: What should be avoided? - They are not destructible - Difficult to transport due to their heavy weight - They carry stigma of the communist era

OPPORTUNITIES: What are the interesting trends? - They are so interesting to foreigners - Easy to be transformed because of their uniformity - They have a long life-spam - Different sizes of them provide different functions

THREATS: What are the obstacles the area faces? - Disregard of the Albanian people towards the bunkers - Degradation over time - There is no clear “Ownership”, not only for bunkers but generally in Albania, which at the same time is an obstacle for the foreign investments and integration of the country.

w

to

s

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The Ambassador of the European Commission in Tirana, Helmut Lohan, emphasized the situation of holdings of the ownerships to the Albanian Government, which according to him is an important step of integration of Albania in Euro-pean Union.

“Clear holdings and legal ownerships, are essential for the prosperity of this place. They are essential to attract the direct foreign investments, for the social peace and lastly, but not for the importance, are factors for the integration of Albania in EU.” expressed Lohan.

The Albanian Government also confesses that unclearness of the holdings of ownership in Albania is a real problem in Albania that will last for more time.

“This problem will not have any rapid solution for the following two or three years.” expressed Deputy Minister of Economy, Eno Bozdo.

These declarations were done during a seminary in Tirana, where participated foreign experts, from whom Albania waits for some concrete proposals which will help to solve the issue of the ownership.

The latest news about the ownerships

“Ownership”, a barrier for integration.“Pronat”, pengesë për integrimin. 05/02/2009 15:00 www.top-channel.tv

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can the relics of a paranoid past finally be put to use?

YES, why not?

But, HOW?

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location, location, location:the bunkers fill the landscape and can

be found in abundance in all kinds of different environments,

which makes them the perfect structure (location wise)

to host tourists and backpackers.

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hypothesis:the PRESERVATION AND IMPROVEMENT of the 750,000 bunkers into structures able TO SERVE travellers AND NATIVE POPULATION THROUGH MANAGEMENT

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highlandbunkers

urbanbunkers

lowlandbunkers

typologies of bunkers according to their location

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HIGH LANDs

HighLand Bunkers are located in mountainous regions of Albania. The 70 percent of the country that is mountainous is rugged and often inaccessible. In the far north, the mountains are an extension of the Dinaric Alps and, more specifically, the Montenegrin limestone plateau. Albania's northern mountains are more folded and rugged, however, than most of the plateau.

The rivers have deep valleys with steep sides and arable valley floors. Generally unnavigable, the rivers obstruct rather than encourage movement within the alpine region. Roads are few and poor. Lacking internal communications and external contacts, a tribal society flourished in this area for centuries. Only after World War II were serious efforts made to incorporate the people of the region into Albanian national life. Just east of the lowlands, the central uplands, called Cermenikë by Albanians, are an area of generally moderate elevations, between 305 and 915 meters, with a few points reaching above 1,520 meters. Shifting along the faultline that roughly defines the western edge of the central uplands causes frequent, and occasionally severe, earthquakes.

The mountains east of the serpentine zone are the highest in Albania, exceeding 2,740 meters in the Mal Korab range. Together with the North Albanian Alps and the serpentine zone, the eastern highlands are the most rugged and inaccessible of any terrain on the Balkan Peninsula.

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low LANDs

LowLand Bunkers are located in the only lowland area, which is located along the coast, occupying about a quarter of the total area of the country and containing about half the population.

The transition from highlands to the lowlands is less abrupt, and the arable valley floors are wider. The agricultural and urban areas are mainly concentrated on the lowlands.

A low coastal belt extends from the northern boundary southward to the vicinity of Vlore. On average, it extends less than sixteen kilometers inland, but widens to about fifty kilometers in the Elbasan area in central Albania. In its natural state, the coastal belt is characterized by low scrub vegetation, varying from barren to dense.

There are large areas of marshlands and other areas of bare, eroded badlands. Where elevations rise slightly and precipitation is regular in the foothills of the central uplands, for example--the land is highly arable. Marginal land is reclaimed wherever irrigation is possible.

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urban areas

Urban Bunkers are located in urban areas where nearly half of the population lives, with the rest pursuing a relatively quiet rural existence.

During the former dictatorial regime in Albania, the cultural life in cities was rigidly brought into line with the party's demands. In the years after the dictatorship, little was done for the cultural development of cities (apart from Tirana which benefited from its charismatic mayor, a former visual artist). Lack of money, unclear institutional responsibilities, a run-down infrastructure and the absence of a development strategy made cities fall into cultural lethargy.

City development begins when inhabitants recognise the specific potentials of their city and start creatively using these resources.

Cities are favored by their geographic location. Other cities need integrated policies to become engine for economic development. The role of the central government is crucial for orienting the development pattern of the cities at national level.

Page 90: Albanian bunkers history

s

l

m

SIZEs of bunkersThe small bunkers are the ones that are originally designed to host one soldier with his rifle. They are generally found in low lands especially along all the cost of Adriatic and Ionic sea that are bording the west side of Albania. In these areas they are generally found in groups of three bunkers connected to each other by a tunnel. The bunkers in this size can be found in urbanized areas, too.

The medium sized bunkers are originally designed to host a familly or about four to five people. They are usually found in law lands in groups of a huge amount of numbers, or in high lands.

The third grouping of bunkers according to their size are the large ones, which are originally designed to host heavy artilleries or armaments, or to host more than 10 people. They can be found in the high lands and low lands.

Page 91: Albanian bunkers history

possible transformations

kiosk

public wc

giftshop

cafe

infopoint

b&b

Page 92: Albanian bunkers history

CENTER OF THE NETWORK

giftshop

cafe'

b&b

territory SIZE function

highland bunkersIn high lands, generally there can be found medium and large sized bunkers

s

mThe medium sized bunkers found in all kinds of geography of the territory of Albania can be transformed into gift shops and center of networks

lThe large sized bunkers found high and low lands can be transformed into cheap hostels and cafè-restaurants.

lowland bunkers

urban bunkers

Page 93: Albanian bunkers history

kiosk

CENTER OF THE NETWORK

public wc

giftshop

cafe'

infopoint

b&b

territory SIZE function

highland bunkers

sThe small sized bunkers which can be seen in law lands and ubanized areas can be transformed into info poins, public wc’s and kiosks.

mThe medium sized bunkers found in all kinds of geography of the territory of Albania can be transformed into gift shops and center of networks

lThe large sized bunkers found high and low lands can be transformed into cheap hostels and cafè-restaurants.

lowland bunkersAll kind of bunkers, small, medium and large ones can be found in low lands

Page 94: Albanian bunkers history

kiosk

CENTER OF THE NETWORK

public wc

giftshop

infopoint

territory SIZE function

highland bunkers

sThe small sized bunkers which can be seen in law lands and ubanized areas can be transformed into info poins, public wc’s and kiosks.

mThe medium sized bunkers found in all kinds of geography of the territory of Albania can be transformed into gift shops and center of networks

l

lowland bunkers

urban bunkersAnd in the urbaized areas there can be found just the small and medium sized bunkers

Page 95: Albanian bunkers history

kiosk

CENTER OF THE NETWORK

public wc

giftshop

cafe'

infopoint

b&b

territory SIZE function

highland bunkersIn high lands, generally there can be found medium and large sized bunkers

sThe small sized bunkers which can be seen in law lands and ubanized areas can be transformed into info poins, public wc’s and kiosks.

mThe medium sized bunkers found in all kinds of geography of the territory of Albania can be transformed into gift shops and center of networks

lThe large sized bunkers found high and low lands can be transformed into cheap hostels and cafè-restaurants.

lowland bunkersAll kind of bunkers, small, medium and large ones can be found in low lands

urban bunkersAnd in the urbaized areas there can be found just the small and medium sized bunkers

Page 96: Albanian bunkers history

beneficiaries

Beneficiaries are the people who benefit from the project. A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor, who are grouped as: Aimed Beneficia-ries and Widespread Beneficiaries.

In our proposal of transforming the Bunkers in working and functional structures, the beneficiaries will be the County Residents, who are the residents of each created network providing them different benefits from the upcoming functionalized bunkers.

The second group of beneficiaries will be the Tourists, that are very important factor for the reutilization of bunkers as a shelter serving to travelers for a certain period of time they will be visiting Albania’s landscape and culture.

And the last group that will be benefiting from the brand new and unique bunkers, by either experimenting new ideas of transformation or knowing the legacies of their land and the barriers it passed through time are the Prospective People who belong to the young generation of Albania’s popula-tion.

prospective people

county residents

tourists

Page 97: Albanian bunkers history

stakeholders

Stakeholders are people who have an interest in a project or in a territory where the project is implemented. There are two kinds of stakeholders: the public ones and the private ones.

In our proposal, we have defined the public stakeholders according to the administrative division of Albania. So, the one in the top could be the government, following with county, district, council and municipality. The reason of this definition is due to the network creation in each county having a center as a base, controlling the each proper districts or municipalities belonging to it, and each county to be controlled by the government.

In the other side, the private stakeholders firstly could be the UNESCO which can contribute to re functionalize and protect the bunkers that belong to a very important past and actually have become the cultural heritage of Alba-nia, by promoting international collaboration for giving new ideas and supervising different proposals. Then, native cultural associations and entrepreneurs can also contribute by promoting different initiatives as they have already started by coloring the concrete mushrooms.

government

county

council

municipality

district

cultural associations

unesco

entrepreneurs

publ

icpr

ivat

e

Page 98: Albanian bunkers history

PARTICIPANTS

Participants are people with a role in a project.

In our proposal, the participants could be the residents of the country by taking in consideration the answer to the question how/what would be the bunker of the their dreams, because the bunkers will be the structures serving and proving them different opportunities. The most important participant will be the team leaders that could be the heads of each municipality found in the twelve counties of Albania, therefore being able to manage the implementation of the project by taking legal, economic, political and administrative responsibili-ties, and as a conclusion, by having good relationships and dialogues with other municipalities create a well-working network in each county.

And the dreams of everybody will come true by the participation and contribution of the actual professionals as architects, artists, engineers, etc ., and students as future professionals.

RESIDENTS

ENGINEERS

STUDENTS

ARTISTS

ARCHITECTS

TEAM LEADERS

Page 99: Albanian bunkers history

administrative divisions

COUNTIES / qarqet proposalalbania

berat

diber

durres

elbasan

fier

gjirokaster

KORCE

KUKES

LEZHE

SHKODER

TIRANE

vlore

1

2

2

3

3

4

4

5

5

6

6

77 8

8

9

9

10

10

11

11

12

12

Albania is divided into 12 administrative divisions called Counties (qarqe in albanian), 36 districts and 351 municipalities. Each region has its Regional Council and is composed of a number of Municipalities and Communes, which are the first level of local governance responsible for local needs and law enforcement.

COUNTYQARK

NETWORK

Page 100: Albanian bunkers history

lowland bunkers

lowland bunkers

highland bunkers

highland bunkers

urban bunkers

urban bunkers

urban bunkers

the NETWORKIS COMPOSED OF:

1.

2.

3.

Each Administrative Division in Albania means a County/Qark, at the same time means a Network. The Network, according to the location of County/Qarks that belongs to, is composed of different typologies of Bunkers which are previously grouped as highland bunkers, low land bunkers and urban bunkers and consequently transformed according to the functions as shown in the preceding matrix.

According to the Albania’s geography and administrative division the first category of the networks is composed of the highland bunkers and the urban bunkers

The second category of the networks is composed of the lowland bunkers and the urban bunkers

The third category of the networks is composed of all types of bunkers , the highland bunkers , lowland bunkers and urban bunkers

Page 101: Albanian bunkers history

b&b

Step 1: Add door + window

Step 2: clean

Step 3: add bed + lantern

Bunker to private room in 3 easy steps!

Page 102: Albanian bunkers history

b&b Network creation and management of private rooms

Step 1: map the bunkers, finding the ones worthy of modifying

Step 2: make an infopoint for areas with high density of bunkers which distributes fresh sheets and showers

Step 3: low cost means low price; a new kind of hostel

Page 103: Albanian bunkers history
Page 104: Albanian bunkers history

“Albania spreads its wings”, November 06, 2006, Travel Video, November 2008, <http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=10039_0_1_0_M41>.

Darrow, S., “Albania littered with symbolism -- in the form of bunkers”, March 18, 1997, CNN, November 2008, <http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9703/18/albania.bunkers/index.html>.

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Fink, B., “NOT SUCH A JOKE, Accidentally Enjoying Albania”, October 1, 2006, San Francisco Chronicle, November 2008, <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/01/CMGFCL0FAS1.DTL>.

Haslam, N., “Albania awakes”, March 2007, Geographical, November 2008, <http://www.geographical.co.uk/Features/Albania_awakes_-_Mar_2007.html>.

Howden, D., “Albania’s relics of paranoid past”, July 05, 2002, BBC News, November 2008, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2098705.stm>.

Howden, D., “This Europe: Lovers move into dictator’s bunkers”, The Independent – London, August 12, 2002Neuffer, E., “1,001 uses for Albania's many bunkers”, The Boston Globe, November 14, 1994.

Legge, Ch., “Bunker mentality; Paranoia: Albania's bunkers were the legacy of Enver Hoxha (inset).”, The Daily Mail (London, England), November 05, 2008

"Ownership, a barrier for integration.”, February 05, 2009, <www.top-channel.tv>.

Shenon, Ph., ”Dictator Liked Bunkers. My, They Mushroomed!”, Tirana Journal, April 13, 1996

Bibliography:

Articles:

Page 105: Albanian bunkers history

Shenon, Ph., “Dictator’s paranoia made Albania a land of bunkers: immobile concrete domes dot landscape by thousands.”, Daily News (Los Angeles, CA), April 14, 1996

Vrazo, F., “Bunkers from Albania's paranoid days prepared for possible use.”, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, April 19, 1999.

Wheeler, T., “Albania - Europe's last forgotten corner”, May 09, 2006, Tony Wheeler’s Blog, November 2008, < http://www.lonelyplanet.com/tonywheeler/travel_blogs/albania/albania_europes_last_forgotten/#more>.

Williams, C.J., “Albanians Find a Dome to Call Home”, Chicago Sun-Times, November 27, 1994

http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/hoxha.html

http://www.hansrossel.com/photos/albania-tirana-pictures-images/photography/Albania_IMG_8255.htm

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/tonywheeler/travel_blogs/albania/albania_europes_last_forgotten/#more

http://www.flickr.com/photos/majorclanger/2221815521/in/pool-arkitektura

http://www.flickr.com/groups/arkitektura/pool/page6/

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/dadissad/sets/72157601052685944/?page=2

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