Tirana Design Week 2019 Foreseeing Uncertainty | Design and Non-normativity

Tirana Design Week (TDW) this year, in 2019, approaches Tirana’s 100th anniversary as

the capital of Albania. Comparing photos of a bucolic Tirana in 1920 with what one sees

from Polis University’s fourth floor today, inevitably raises doubts about the endurance of

design, while conspicuously evincing the fluctuating tendency of what constitutes a norm

in a world continuously oscillating between what is desired or imagined as an endogenous

equilibrium and exogenous menaces. The objective of Tirana Design Week is to draw

current research and design practices, as well as theoretical speculations on the topic of

uncertainty and non-normativity in multiple scales and contexts, in and from the city of

Tirana, with the latter understood as a dis-position, a tendency to change position.

The significance of addressing such topic from Tirana is that this city is a harsh and

unmediated example of what is already a global symptom: a strong contrast between an

ideology of normativity on the one hand, and its actual impossibility on the other; between

the aim for responsible design practices and ethical boundaries impossible to overcome;

between education and merciless economic reason, between standardized production

and mass-customized desires, between daily ideologies of inclusivity and an increasingly

predominant exclusivity, between plain design narratives and irresponsible political

decision making; between expensive normativity affordable only by few, and not-so-cheap

sub-normativity for the many; between frenzied building development and destruction of

urban artifacts; between ’glittery’ shapes in the center and chaotic sprawl in the periphery;

between style and non-style. What happens in-between is dimmed as ‘uncertain’. TDW

this year aims precisely to enhance such uncertainty from the perspective of different

practices such as design, architecture, sociology, urban and environmental studies, theory

and history, innovation, writing, research and pedagogy, among others. Not so much to

propose another new agenda - we already have plenty of those, but rather to juxtapose

these practices with what is already happening ‘out there’, and speculate how they can

potentially inflect, positively or negatively, this ‘out there’: the un-reason of non-

normativity and the commodification of normativity.

We invite designers and architects to join the debate through the proposal of a ludic project

– or installation – that could speculate about the issues presented above: those of Un-

Certainty and Non-Normativity. The idea of the Committee is to foster the participants a

Research Through Design approach to foresee possible future scenario for one iconic

place within the municipality of Tirana, the Farka Lake (Liqeni i Farkës), that could

revitalize a currently underrated and depressed area.

We welcome every proposal that could synthesize, and enhance, the topic that will guide

every event and moment of the Tirana Design Week 2019.

Wishing you a great success for the competition, and looking forward to meeting you in

Tirana,

The Curatorial Team

PhD Skënder Luarasi

PhD Valerio Perna

Useful Links:

http://www.tiranadesignweek.com

http://www.tiranadesignweek.com/competition.html

Location of the Farka Lake (Liqeni i Farkës) in the municipality of Tirana

A Pier in the lake International Design Competition | TDW 2019

[The brief]

«A lake is a landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth's eye; looking into which

the beholder measures the depth of his own nature» (Thoreau, H.D., 1954)

The Farka Lake (Liqeni i Farkës) is an artificial lake in the southeast part of Tirana, 9.6 km away from

the city center. With a dimension of 75 hectares (more significant than the Artificial Lake of Tirana),

Liqeni I Farkës is one of the leading environmental systems of the capital of Albania. Despite its

importance, either from an ecological, social, or spatial point view, today the future of this basin is

still uncertain. Outside political pressures, uncontrolled sprawl of the urban fabric, and the anxiety

of collecting ‘free space’ in an area that is continuously increasing its land value are just some of

the factors that are menacing its equilibrium.

Watching the Lake from above it is easy to spot the hectic development situation of the Tirana.

Luxury residences – imagined as gated communities for wealthy people – are fastly growing

seamlessly with rural settlements and low-rise informal patterns.

Satellite view of the lake

[CONCEPT]

The competition aims to gather speculative design proposals that could propose new visions, and

synergic acts, to defend the future of this by now non-normative (as sometimes its perceived) actor

of Tirana’s urban-scape.

Following the tradition of artists and architects of the last decades, the challenge is to design a

hybrid system able to explore new ways of living the lake and, at the same time, to save it from the

uncontrollable growth that it is facing today due to economic reasons. Architecture, design, and

art should act as ‘guardians of the lake’ through empowering its feature of urban – and ecological

– catalyst in the contemporary fragile equilibrium of the capital of Albania.

Suggested materials: steel and wood

Farka Lake (Liqeni i Farkës)

[OBJECTIVE]

Participants are engaged to imagine a new Pier in the Liqeni i Farkës. The pier must necessarily

deal with the edge of the water, mediate between the shore and the settlements, and attenuate

the state of liminality within ‘land and water’. The structure must relate to the history of the park,

the existing physical features and views, and offer the visitors a new and unexpected way to

explore the basin. The pier must contribute to the sustainability and longevity of the park as one

of the citizens’ most important ecological actor in Tirana. The projects must serve both as touristic

spots for foreigners visiting the city; remain active as self-sufficient structures for the citizenship

during the whole year, and offer an opportunity to reconnect and create a network with the

consolidated urban fabric and the outside area of Farka

[COMPETITION DELIVERABLES]

The competition design proposals need to present a possible scenario in which a new pier - a piece

of architecture/design that works as a new landmark and public space on the river side - could

reactivate the area and the interaction within people and the environment they live in.

Entrants must submit their proposal via email no later than: September 08, 2019 (23:59 GMT +1) to the following email address:

submit@tiranadesignweek.com

Each team must send the following material

a. TWO A1 FORMAT BOARDS (841mm x 594 mm) VERTICAL FORMAT with the project. all the boards should have the provided TDW Logo and name of the team/project at the top-left

Please check all details in the Official Brief.

b. THE OFFICIAL CONTEST form containing participants personal information Please specify in the reason for payment and the object of the email: Competition TDW 2019

[AWARDS]

First Prize | 1000 €

Second Prize | 400 €

Third Prize | 250 €

+ 5 honorable mentions

[SUBSCRIPTION FEE]

Special Registration | € 50 | Deadline June 30th, 2019

Early Registration | € 75 | Deadline July 25th, 2019

Late Registration | € 100 | Deadline August 31st, 2019

[JURY]

Ledian Bregasi (AL) POLIS University, A.U.A. Albanian Union of Architects and Urban Planners

Saimir Kristo (AL) POLIS University - a10 new European architecture cooperative

Joana Dhiamandi (AL) POLIS University

Loris Rossi (IT)

POLIS University of Tirana - OMB Observatory of the Mediterranean Basin Department

Hassan Osanloo (IR) Soore University of Tehran - University of High Education of Alaodole, Garmsar

Alessandra Battisti (IT) ‘Sapienza’ - Università di Roma

Endrit Marku (AL) Metropolis - Associated, Architecture, and Planning

James Stevens (USA) Lawrence Technological University, Detroit

[Materials Provided]

All the provided material for the competition can be downloaded at the following link:

http://tiranadesignweek.com/events.html

[ELIGIBILITY]

Students, architects, engineers, planners, and designers are invited to participate to this

competition. There is no age limit for participants

Admissions will be accepted for individuals as well as teams. Teams should be made up of no more

than five members and can be multidisciplinary.

The registration fee is for teams and not for each participant or member of the team. Each team

may submit only one project proposal that corresponds to the amount paid. The submission of

more than one project proposal may be made only after the payment of an additional fees.

Every copyright infringement will be punished with immediate disqualification, excluding any

compensation for the registration fee.

The works reached out of time will not be considered as eligible for the competition.

Awards are intended for teams, regardless if the participation is by individuals or groups.

The prize includes bank commissions and taxes.

IT IS ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED THE PARTICIPATION TO THE COMPETITION OF A JURY MEMBER,

A RELATIVE OR A PERSON OR BODY CONNECTED PROFESSIONALLY TO THE JURY.PARTICIPATION

IN THE COMPETITION IMPLIES FULL ACCEPTANCE OF THESE RULES