The coast as an intelligent device: from conceptual to physical interventions

Coastal areas are commonly defined as the interface or transition areas between land and sea, including large inland lakes. Coastal areas are diverse in function and form, dynamic and do not lend themselves well to definition by strict spatial boundaries. Unlike watersheds, there are no exact natural boundaries that unambiguously delineate coastal areas (Pernetta & Elder, 1993). This contribution explores the concept of the coast and a number of possibilities in relation to its transformation, from both an architectonic and a landscape perspective. The coast is explored as an intelligent device that is able to adapt and to address the challenges of climate change, as well as other issues related to energy consumption and production, urbanisation and ‘touristification’ processes, ecosystem protection, etc. The first section focuses on the concept of the coast and how it changed in the centuries, and possible interventions are then presented through different case studies and classified by their relationship with the coast. The contribution results from a pair of lectures organised in the framework of Dr Loris Rossi’s course Design Studio and Theory of Architecture IV entitled `Network Archipelago: New Interpretative Tools to Promote the Albanian Riviera Landscape’, which took place at POLIS University, Tirana, in 2016 and 2017. The two lectures which I wrote and delivered aimed to provide the students the first tools for approaching the design process for innovative touristic devices in the studio.