Processes of Reclaiming

Bunkers, concrete remains in the Albanian territory represent in the best way the authoritarian ideology that the country has faced for almost half a century. A past not fair enough to be considered history. This article attempts to bring to light projects and proposals that focus on the reclamation and reactivation of war bunkers located in urban situationsor beautiful landscape sites in Albania. After the opening of the Cold War Bunker Museum “Bunk’Art” in Tirana, Albania,the publicinterest is raised, with a desire to develop that particular space, open for the public now. This text will try to analyze a series of interventions that have been conducted as part of the academic curricula of POLIS University in similar structures in Albania. The first study case is a bunker located in the Mamuras commune near the Fushe-Kruje area and considers an empty bunker on the landscape, an unused memorial as “the last of its kind” since it used to be part of a 4-bunker complex. The project envisions this structure potentially becoming a sanctuary honoring religious balance as a defining trait of Albanian identity. Integrated in the natural landscape, it offers a worship place for all religious believers in Albania. Differently, the second study case is strategically located in the heart of Tirana’s Center. An underground labyrinth, part of a series of interconnected rooms not only in a singular structure embedded in the terrain, but part of a wider underground tunnel system placed there during the authoritarian regime. Bed & Bunker is the third case study, an international project conducted as cooperation between universities, where the bunker on study was transformed to a backpackers shelter. Drawing an alternative story of the ethic of preservation, opening a dialogue with the divine. A collage of transplanted pieces inspires to make possible the impossible over the monumentality of the ruins a harmonious relationship built on principles, emptiness and heritage that recalls memories and open a future vision. Process of hybridization and adaptation, evolution based on ruins, evolution and revolution of thinking of new architectural and cultural approaches.