Sustainable traditional settlement of Berat. The relationship between environment, con(struction) and architecture.

Nowadays, architecture is often the result of globalization effects in terms of materials, technologies and use of space and as consequence is becoming more and more flat, homogenized, losing local identity and the relation to the local environment. On the contrary, the traditional settlements had always represented a sustainable built environment related to the local context. This paper will investigate the traditional settlement of Berat, and in particular the urban ensemble of Mangalem case study as a successful sample of organic urban structure closely related to the topography of the territory and characteristics of the soil, landscape and to the external environmental factors, such as climate, light in line with economical, social and cultural . The spatial, typological and distributive models of the settlement focused on the architectonical dwellings are based on the building construction process, the tectonic of form, materials, technologies and their evolution in time, related to the historical, social, environmental and economical context. This highlights the importance that local knowledge and local identity should have in contemporary architecture in order to guarantee continuity with the local identity and sensitivity to the place. The main goal of the paper points out the main spatial, aesthetic, and construction principles of the Albanian traditional settlement and in particular of the architectonical dwellings, valuable for contemporary sustainable design. The expected outcome is the trinity maintenance of environment -(con)struction-architeture.