EDI RAMA

THE ARTIST & PRIME MINISTER OF ALBANIA

EDI RAMA

“We hope that in the next five years, around 2030, Tirana, will become a destination for the admirers of architecture’s marvels.” EDI RAMA

Artist, painter and sculptor, EDI RAMA, who spent some time in France at the Beaux Arts, back in Albania, became the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports (1998-2000), the Mayor of Tirana (2000-2011) and is the actual Prime Minister of Albania since 2013.

As Tirana keeps emerging for the next coming years as the 

“New York of the Balkans”, attracting global attention and investment, Edi Rama, the brilliant artist and prime minister of Albania, keeps scouting the very best talented creators around the world willing to participate in the revival of Albania.

Exclusive interview with Edi Rama for SOON magazine, at his summer residence in the Albanian riviera, in Dhermi, along the Ionian coast. 

INTERVIEW by Mário de Castro

(Special envoy to Dhermi (Albania)

MdeC: Edi Rama, what is your vision for Albania? 

ER: There is a lot of good news coming out, which was not the case until some years ago. 

When someone heard about Albania outside, was double ignorance, or not knowing where this country is, or the stereotype of something dark and dangerous, and criminal, and drugs and mafia and this and that.

Now, it has changed, and this is amazing for us, because it was a very long way to come out of that. This thing with a massive tourism, which has its own downsides, of course, and its own dangers, it’s a very good thing for, I would say, for the mouth and ears, this distribution of news. But of course, we know -or at least, we think we know – the dangers, and that’s why we are doing our best now to move faster on the high-end side, and to create more capacities for higher consumers in tourism.

So, to put it very brutally, to get more money and less pollution, that’s why also we are engaging all these architects, it’s a very good, very good thing that’s happening, because we’re having more and more of them interested. Until some years ago they were few, and it was not easy to engage others, because, you know…

But now, they are even asking to come, to join, so, we have created this army, the Albanian art army, I call it.

Listen I always say, you know, we are small and we have to never fall for grandeur, because it happens sometimes to small countries, that they look for grandeur, and we paid a very high price from that with most ruthless dictatorship, and so I tell also my people, be aware of the map, and that we’re just a drop of water in a big ocean, and we have to keep our feet on the ground, and just try to build a country that is nice to people, and nice to its people, and when people say to me “how do you see Albania in 20 years?” I say I hope like a Little Italy with all the genius, and, we thought without pretending to fix every mess, because first it would be impossible, second, it’s going to be terribly boring, God forbid it will become like Switzerland, for example.

Where everything is fixed and proper and it works like a clock, and then you can also become suicidal, you know, because you can’t really see space for yourself and for everything you want to change.

MdeC: In five years from now, I heard that you are planning to put Tirana and Albania as the ’destination’ for architecture? Tell me more…

ER: We have Álvaro Siza Vieira, from Porto, to whom we went together to visit in his studio and to ask him to get engaged in new projects. He is very old, he’s ninety-one, and he told me that I was late, because he doesn’t travel anymore, because he has also a spine problem, but then, it worked, so he’s doing two projects, together with Camilo, one in the north, one in Vlora, the Vlora one is a tower, a mixed-use hotel, hotel and apartments, in the north, a fantastic spot, it’s also a hotel and resort, so Eduardo Souto de Moura was also engaged lately with the tower in Tirana, and then we also have this is amazing young studio, OODA  and Diogo Brito. 

MdeC: OODA Architects they are quite active in Tirana?

 ER: OODA Architecture has won an international competition for the design of the headquarters of the national television Klan TV. The new private television headquarters will occupy an area of ​​10,000 square meters in an area of ​​Tirana. Their newest project for Tirana is the 50^th floor Bond Tower, a building that unites residential, commercial, office and hotel space, in the western part of the city. Lately, HORA VERTIKALE, is a project under construction in Tirana, featuring residential buildings arranged in a vertical settlement. Another talented architect, Manuel Aires Mateus was just hired a few weeks ago for a new project, here.

At this very moment, when we are speaking, we have at least 8 or 9 Pritzker Prizes working on architecture projects in Albania.

MdeC: What about the French, the British, the Italians and others? 

ER: Dominque Perrault Architecture for the French side is also participating on a new project as his studio in Paris was the first to compete for the Masterplan of Tirana, back in 2012. Another French architect, Jean de Gastines is involved as the European partner for Shigeru Ban, on the construction of the Tirana Multifunctional Tower.

For the British…We are in contact with the Graftons, and they have expressed interest, but we are going to possibly, probably we’re going to have a first engagement with them in the fall, because they are already busy with work. Who else? Well, yesterday, I was talking with Amanda Levete, she also has something here.  Who else is British? I don’t recall now…

MdeC: And from the USA ? 

ER: From the United States we have, Steven Holl Architects, they won the competition for Tirana’s new large convention center and hotel, Expo Albania. We have Jeanne Gang, Elizabeth Diller…

MdeC:  Spanish and Italian architects too? 

ER: Spanish Architectural Studio Selgascano and FRPO won a competition to design in the northwestern city of Shkoder, the New Rozafa tower adjacent to the Rozafa Hotel, the Danish firm, Cebra to design new urban landmark in Tirana,  the  Brussels office 51N4E architects have been active in Tirana since 2004 with the design of the center Skanderbeg Square and more…also Italians like Stefano Boeri , Marco Casa Monti Massimiliano Fuksas  Andrea Caputto, Piero Lissoni. We, as the government, we just put them in contact with private developers to embellish the city and the country.

MdeC: Has Albania gone mad about architecture? 

ER: We have around 65 Architecture companies working in Albania, actually. We also have, Diébédo Francis Kéré, the first African and Black architect to earn the 2022 Pritzker Prize, a native from Burkina Faso living in Berlin. Japanese, of course, Kuma…Danish, Dutch, Belgian…

It is not about dropping and picking famous names in 

architecture but more on bringing to Albania, architects who are involved in local creations and connected with the local culture, we don’t want to become like Dubai or London, for sure. We want to build something more authentic. It’s all about finding in Tirana, buildings that you will not find anywhere else. 

We want to build something more authentic. It’s all about finding in Tirana, buildings that you will not find anywhere else. We tell all this architects that they have the right to build but also the duty to connect with the country’s culture. It’s a joint interest and they understand it.

We hope that in the next five years, around 2030, Tirana, will become a destination for the admirers of architecture’s marvels.

@visit.albania.al

www.ooda.eu

@oodaarchitecture